Name: David
Question: Are ducks and duck eggs clean to eat?
Hey David, while Christians cannot eat pork as it was never cleansed. It’s not so clear about birds. God never provided a list of birds that are clean to eat. God only provided a list of birds we are not to eat.
So that means, we are not going to find a definitive yes or no from Scripture, but I think we are going to get close.
Let’s read God’s health food law concerning birds together.
Leviticus 11:13-19
13 And these are they which ye shall have in abomination among the fowls; they shall not be eaten, they are an abomination: the eagle, and the ossifrage, and the ospray,14 And the vulture, and the kite after his kind;
15 Every raven after his kind;
16 And the owl, and the night hawk, and the cuckow, and the hawk after his kind,
17 And the little owl, and the cormorant, and the great owl,
18 And the swan, and the pelican, and the gier eagle,
19 And the stork, the heron after her kind, and the lapwing, and the bat.
Also: Deuteronomy 14:11-18
Most of these birds are meat eaters. From reading Leviticus 11, pretty much anything that eats meat seems to be off limits.
As I look through this list, the swan jumps out. While swans eat vegetables which may lead us to believe they are clean, God said do not eat them. Taking a deeper look, we find the swan belongs to the “Anatidae” family of water birds which includes ducks and geese.
That leads me to believe ducks are probably unclean since they are a part of the same bird family as swans. I say that, as the Bible does not say chicken is clean or unclean. Yet, chickens belong to the “Phasianidae” family which includes the; partridge, peacock, pheasant, and quail.
We know quail are clean birds as God sent them to the Israelites to eat during their time in the wilderness, (Exodus 16:13, Psalms 105:40). Since quails are clean, this is how we can conclude that chickens are clean. Through this same methodology, we can conclude, ducks are most likely not clean to eat.