Feeding Ducklings Medicated Feed - The Myths and the Truth

I'm really tired of the myths about medicated feed in general. This is great to see one get debunked. Thank you!

This is a good reference article that discusses the myths and how they came about, as well as the truth about them.

I trust Holderread and Metzger's findings - HOWEVER - there is good reason to be concerned about thiamine deficiency in waterfowl. Ducks and geese require twice as much thiamine as do chickens [1]. Medicated chick feed given as the ONLY food risks thiamine deficiency two ways.
1) unmedicated chick feed and layer pellets have lower levels of thiamine than duck/waterfowl feeds [so low it's not reported on the feed tag, compared to Purina duck thiamine 27.27 mg/lb] feeds.
2) adding a THIAMINE BLOCKER to low-thiamine feed makes it even less available.

Turns out this is a problem even with chickens!
Hens feed an amprolium-medicated layer feed produced eggs with low yolk thiamine levels and resultant high late-incubation embryo mortality and high numbers of weak/dead chicks in the hatching trays [2].

I looked into this because I feed my ducks/geese unmedicated layer pellets. It's no problem because they also eat fish, frogs, worms and some cat food when molting.

[1] Nutrient Requirements of Poultry: Ninth Revised Edition, 1994 (1994)
[2] Estimation of Thiamine Requirement for Optimum Hatchability from the Relationship Between Dietary and Yolk Levels of the Vitamin. https://www.semanticscholar.org/pap...-Ott/ac50510ede562d8ae63591c7ffe3744bf264ca88

Fantastic article! Well written, and sources were cited. Thank you Pyxis!

Facts!

Very useful information that makes me better educated when making decisions regarding feed. Thanks for writing!

great article that debunks a common myth, very well backed up by credible research. THANK YOU!

Well stated - a long overdue rebuttal of urban legend.

Excellent to know as ducks may be my next step. Thank you.

I had always thought Amprolium was bad for ducklings because it is harmful for developing feet- like when it caused crooked toes in my chickens. But apparently not.

Very good research and very good references to sources and a very good conclusion of how this myth came to life. Excellent article!

Good resource for feeding Ducklings

This is a very helpful article. It not only gives useful, accurate information, but cites the study sources, as well. It's well written and easy-to-read - a real bonus in my opinion! And it doesn't hurt hat the duckling pic is absolutely aDORable! I may eventually have to give in to DD's request for a duck (or two or three or ...,) so this is very useful info to have. Thanks!

Thanks for putting together such a good article.