3 week old duckling with Niacin Deficency

[Ltilden]

Hi all, I’m new to raising ducklings (have been raising chickens for 2 years now) and I have one I’m concerned about. I have 2 Cayuga and 2 Rouen ducklings that are 3 weeks old. Last week I noticed one of the Rouens was having a harder time walking than her siblings and would have to sit down more often and trip over her feet occasionally. I had heard of niacin deficiency when researching raising ducklings so I knew pretty quickly that’s likely what the cause was. I have been feeding them Purina Flockraiser which is supposed to have the correct amount of niacin for ducklings in it, but now I’m not so sure, although only one of the four is having issues. The day I noticed this I immediately went out and bought Niacin vitamins and have been crushing them up and putting them in their water. I didn’t see much improvement however so I read the sticky thread on this forum and ended up getting the Durvet High Level Vitamin B Complex and have started adding that to the water instead of the vitamins. I’m still not seeing much improvement however after over a week of treatment and I’m getting more concerned by the day since I know this is the most important time for proper growth! I’m hoping I’m getting the dosage right. They currently have a 5 gallon bucket waterer with cups and I’ve been adding 16 ml of the vitamin b complex to it ( assuming they drink about a gallon of water a day, four ducklings should get about 1 ml of vitamin b supplement per day). Does this sound right? Also is there anything else I can do to help her out? I bought nutritional yeast that I can add to their food but I’m afraid of giving them too much, especially the other 3 who are not showing any symptoms. Is it normal for progress to be this slow? Any and all advice is appreciated so I can ensure this sweet girl has a healthy and happy life!! Thank you!

 

[KaleIAm]

I'm sorry to hear about your duckling.

I haven't had this specific problem with my own ducks, but I have read about it here quite frequently. It seems like one duck can have a niacin deficiency even when they are all being fed the same thing and living in the same environment.

Since you can't really be sure the duckling with issues is getting an entire dose can you change your delivery method? Will the duckling with issues be too stressed to eat if you separate her from her flockmates for a little? If not, you could do that and have her eat the niacin on her favorite treat by herself. Or, at 3 weeks she probably isn't too tiny to safely medicate by syringe, if you feel comfortable doing that.

At one point my adult ducks needed calcium supplements and my avian veterinarian told me to stop dusting their mealworms with calcium because they weren't getting an accurate dosage and give it to them by syringe. It worked. But eventually I bought tablets and hid them inside grape tomatoes so my ducks would eat them like pill pockets/treats.

I'm not sure how soon she should be responding to the treatments.

 

[CoriM]

I had a duckling with niacin deficiency. She was a pekin and at about 3 weeks she just started sitting much more than the other ducklings, had a hard time getting up, and I could see she was getting splay leg. I used the liquid vitamin D and added it to their water liberally. I had their water in a small ceramic pie plate so it wasn't very diluted - a 5 gallon waterer is probably too big because they won't get all the vitamins before you need to change out and clean the water. I also added it to their food. I was able to give it to her over a bread crumb once, but then she rejected it. You don't have to worry so much about the proper dose, because you can't overdose them, it will just go through their system, but if you under-dose them they won't get the benefits.

 

[CoriM]

I should add that all my duckling received the vitamin B complex and there were no problems! I don't think you need to separate them unless you're needy one isn't getting her share. If she has splay leg, where the legs go out to the side and she has a hard time getting up, you can hobble her. If it's pigeon toe and she's stepping on her own feet, maybe just the vitamin B.

 

[HollowOfWisps]

With 5 gallons of water they probably are not getting enough. For preventive measures I dilute in water, but if I see an actual sign of a deficiency I always give orally with a 1 cc. Syringe to make sure the duckling is actually getting the correct dose.

 

[KaleIAm]

I had a duckling with niacin deficiency. She was a pekin and at about 3 weeks she just started sitting much more than the other ducklings, had a hard time getting up, and I could see she was getting splay leg. I used the liquid vitamin D and added it to their water liberally. I had their water in a small ceramic pie plate so it wasn't very diluted - a 5 gallon waterer is probably too big because they won't get all the vitamins before you need to change out and clean the water. I also added it to their food. I was able to give it to her over a bread crumb once, but then she rejected it. You don't have to worry so much about the proper dose, because you can't overdose them, it will just go through their system, but if you under-dose them they won't get the benefits.

x2 I completely agree, there is likely no need to separate when giving niacin over treats unless the one with issues isn't getting her share.

 

[DuckDuckSook]

I agree with previous posters about not enough of the vitamin b complex. I put 1 ml of the b complex in a quart of water. When I did the tablets, I emptied an entire capsule into a quart of water just to be sure they got enough. When my big girl kept laying a lot and not being as active as the others, I was worried for weeks. But after doing all the added supplements, she just kind of grew out of it. She is my biggest runner duck and she always was the biggest so I think she just grew at a much faster rate which is why she always laid down and needed more niacin. Hope this helps! P.S. She's great now. No issues. You would never know she had been laying more than the others early on.

 

[TwistedTayy]

Hi all, I’m new to raising ducklings (have been raising chickens for 2 years now) and I have one I’m concerned about. I have 2 Cayuga and 2 Rouen ducklings that are 3 weeks old. Last week I noticed one of the Rouens was having a harder time walking than her siblings and would have to sit down more often and trip over her feet occasionally. I had heard of niacin deficiency when researching raising ducklings so I knew pretty quickly that’s likely what the cause was. I have been feeding them Purina Flockraiser which is supposed to have the correct amount of niacin for ducklings in it, but now I’m not so sure, although only one of the four is having issues. The day I noticed this I immediately went out and bought Niacin vitamins and have been crushing them up and putting them in their water. I didn’t see much improvement however so I read the sticky thread on this forum and ended up getting the Durvet High Level Vitamin B Complex and have started adding that to the water instead of the vitamins. I’m still not seeing much improvement however after over a week of treatment and I’m getting more concerned by the day since I know this is the most important time for proper growth! I’m hoping I’m getting the dosage right. They currently have a 5 gallon bucket waterer with cups and I’ve been adding 16 ml of the vitamin b complex to it ( assuming they drink about a gallon of water a day, four ducklings should get about 1 ml of vitamin b supplement per day). Does this sound right? Also is there anything else I can do to help her out? I bought nutritional yeast that I can add to their food but I’m afraid of giving them too much, especially the other 3 who are not showing any symptoms. Is it normal for progress to be this slow? Any and all advice is appreciated so I can ensure this sweet girl has a healthy and happy life!! Thank you!

I just had this problem with my flock, they are 3 weeks old and have been on Flock raiser so I did some research and FR has a niacin level of 55ppm vs I switched them to Mazuri starter (162ppm). Just posted in the brewers yeast vs nutritional yeast thread if you wanna know the whole story, but Im starting to feel like the FR just doesn't cut it by itself lol.