It has come to my attention that some Stardew Valley players do not know that ducks can swim in ponds, so this is me letting you know that, yes, ducks can now swim in ponds. Does it change any of Stardew’s deep farming systems or mechanics? No. Is it extremely adorable and warms your heart? Absolutely.
The ability for ducks to swim in water was quietly introduced in the massive Stardew Valley 1.5 content update launched back in December 2020. But, under the hundreds of game tweaks and changes ConcernedApe included in the update, this change to ducks went relatively unnoticed to the point where some players, even today, are only finding out that our buoyant buddies now have this newfound ability.
And that’s not all. It’s not only the ducks that can swim, the ducklings can too. That’s right, those tiny yellow fluffs can now also take a dip in Stardew’s refreshing waters. Many players, including myself, have now moved their coops near bodies of water to watch these birds in action and the results are adorable —I don’t think my heart can take it.
Stardew fans have said that it’s quite rare that your ducks will actually jump in and have a paddle, but I didn’t seem to have an issue. If you are having issues, try moving your coop as near to a water source as possible, and make sure to give your ducks a petting.
I’ll drop a couple of Reddit threads below with some screenshots.