Niacin Overdose

[Sarahf95]

Yes, I got the label. Do you have the brand name?

Oh sorry it’s bulk powders https://www.bulk.com/uk/b-vitamin-complex-tablets.html

 

[Isaac 0]

Oh sorry it’s bulk powders https://www.bulk.com/uk/b-vitamin-complex-tablets.html

Let me see if I can find a better one for you. It's pretty low in thiamine which is the vitamin were trying to rule out here. We want about 5mg thiamine per tablet, this one only has 1.1mg.

 

[HalfWayUpAMountain]

@Isaac 0

Is it also important to consider how much they are drinking and eating at the same time that you are dosing Issac ?

For example, with our very poorly ducklings, they were barely drinking or eating (supplemented with BY) at all - the dose in the water was quite high but their intake of anything was very low indeed. I also made sure they at least had a nibble of something at the same time as having their bill dipped. We tried dropper feeding before and I suspect that contributed to one of our poorly ducklings dying.

My reasoning was I know if I take supplements on an empty stomach, I can end up feeling queasy.

Once they started more normal ducky behvaiours with their food and water (standing in it, throwing it everywhere) I tapered down the dose because I read that as a sign they were recovering and eating and drinking more.

Thank you for the info - I think its super important to understand as much as possible on the dosing and quality of supplements.

 

[Isaac 0]

@Isaac 0

Is it also important to consider how much they are drinking and eating at the same time that you are dosing Issac ?

For example, with our very poorly ducklings, they were barely drinking or eating (supplemented with BY) at all - the dose in the water was quite high but their intake of anything was very low indeed. I also made sure they at least had a nibble of something at the same time as having their bill dipped. We tried dropper feeding before and I suspect that contributed to one of our poorly ducklings dying.

My reasoning was I know if I take supplements on an empty stomach, I can end up feeling queasy.

Once they started more normal ducky behvaiours with their food and water (standing in it, throwing it everywhere) I tapered down the dose because I read that as a sign they were recovering and eating and drinking more.

Thank you for the info - I think its super important to understand as much as possible on the dosing and quality of supplements.

May I first ask what they had, that they weren't eating and drinking, and one died?

 

[HalfWayUpAMountain]

We don't know exactly - we do know the new breeding pair (Cayuga) had a very high fail rate with successfully hatching and then surviving beyond the hatch (either that or Mr Buff our Don Juan of the boys has awesome super genetics which meant every hatchling survived last year).

We won't be breeding from either of them moving forward or their offspring.

Where the eggs were from the breeding pair, I think we had one out of seven survive, with two dying post hatch. Where they were crossed with a KC or a Buffling, we had a better but still not great rate of something like one in two.

All I can say is that for the survivors, connected or otherwise, their symptoms were: poor overall development (they seemed premature even at 28 days+) lack of strentgh, poor co-ordination, bad positioning in the egg, trembling, poor appetite, splayed legs and one case of wry neck. Some were still absorbing as they came out the shell so had that additional challenge.

I've shared Wonkys story on the board - (s)he probably had most issues whilst managing to survive.

I supported Wonky with bill dunking (food and duck lucozade) for nearly two weeks.

 

[Isaac 0]

How old were they when you first started supplementing? With ducks that arent drinking/eating much, orally is the way to go.

 

[HalfWayUpAMountain]

For the ones that survived ? Essentially as soon as the yolk had finished being absorbed.

For most of them, it was like they barely had the energy and / or focus to get to the shallow bowls to sort themselves out even when they knew where they were.

They all responded to bill dipping - we did one at the start with a dropper, they got better then tanked and died with (new) breathing problems.

Appreciate that could be our technique rather than all attempts via a dropper being bad !

Our choice moving forward will be bill dipping

Edited to add: when I say bill dipping, I mean I dipped their bill and then they joined in and took a little drink themselves. Still very very low volume compared with what ducks usually get through.