Brewers Yeast or Niacin for duckling

I use nutritional yeast that you can get at your local grocery store usually in the health food section. It was just easier for me to obtain this the other choices. My welshy went through leg weakness too and came out of it after a few weeks. I just mixed 1 c with 10 lbs. she's fine know. They are 12 weeks now so I just stopped mixing in the yeast. I also sprinkled yeast on favorite treats like peas to help boost intake for her.
 
This is my first post. I am a new mom of 14 Indian runners. They are now 7 weeks old.. They had a very ruff time getting to me. They was mailed out on a Tuesday and I didn't get them till Friday. The mail sent them to the wrong state. The place I got them told me to expect them all to be dead but all 15 plus the buffer(the extra one you get) but as you can tell I lost 2 but I have been very lucky. Pour baby's. Anyway everything has been good. I think I has a runt. She (i think) is a beutiful pencil. My question is how much nicticon and browser yeast do they get a day. My runt her name is little foot. Has one shaky leg . The left one and one of the whites just started shaking.
They have water 24/7. Feed 99%. No feed when they go to bed. They have a pen that is over 2,000 square feet. The coop is a big dog kennel. With heavy duty tarps on top and three side to keep them safe. They get locked up every night. They was on chick starter till just now. I got them 16% complete egg ration. It's a chicken pellet food. 16% protein. I got niacin and the brewers yeast today. Had to drive a hour to a GNC to get it. No feed store from home to there Batesville carry duck feed. Can anyone tell me how much the need during a DAY? Please.
 
You can use either niacin or brewer's yeast, I don't think anyone recommends combining the two . . .

Folks who use it, generally add a tablespoon brewer's yeast per cup of food.

I am not sure what you mean, feed 99%?

I like the brewer's yeast because it has other B vitamins. On the other hand, it's a little imprecise. The niacin (plain, not no-flush, not timed release) is mentioned in Storey's Guide to Raising Ducks - 100 to 150 mg plain niacin per gallon of drinking water, for 8 weeks.

hugs.gif
 
You can use either niacin or brewer's yeast, I don't think anyone recommends combining the two . . .

Folks who use it, generally add a tablespoon brewer's yeast per cup of food.

I am not sure what you mean, feed 99%?

I like the brewer's yeast because it has other B vitamins.  On the other hand,  it's a little imprecise.  The niacin (plain, not no-flush, not timed release) is mentioned in Storey's Guide to Raising Ducks - 100 to 150 mg plain niacin per gallon of drinking water, for 8 weeks.

:hugs
99% means they eat 99% of the time. They don't eat when I put them up for the night. Thank you for your help.
 
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Hi there,

I'm new to BYC. Adopted two wild orphan mallard ducklings two weeks ago, one died this week. It's very sad because now the other one is left alone... He (or she) seems to be doing great though. He has a mirror and now gets more attention from us humans. I am concerned about him not getting enough niacin so I got brewer's yeast and I am thinking about mixing it in his food. I am very scared about giving anything to him though because his buddy died suddenly - I was upstairs sleeping for a few hours so reason unknown - while I am very careful with them and I cannot have anything happen to him, too... I have been reading about ducklings since we adopted them to be able to give them the best possible care because I didn't have any knowledge beforehand.

So I was wondering if brewer's yeast meant for human consumption will be fine for this little one. The tablets contain about 1,8 milligrams of B3 each. Does 3 tablets per 10 grams of food sound okay?

Also this is the feed he is having now: http://www.versele-laga.com/en-BE/countrysbest/Products/country-s-best-gold-1-2-mash
I make sure he always has food because I read that ducklings need constant access to food? And plenty of water, of course.

Thanks for any insights or ideas!!
 
Again, huh?



I tried Niacin in the water ... you need to get just the right kind of niacin, and it needs to be "refreshed" at least once per day as it is a water soluble vitamin and therefore deteriorates quickly in water ... and you know how ducklings are with water ...

I think a more practical solution is adding a niacin supplement to their feed, and that can be done with either Brewer's Yeast or Nutritional Yeast. There is a brand of Brewer's Yeast which is promoted on various poultry forums ... it also contains garlic, which you may or may not want to be feeding to your birds.

However, Nutritional Yeast has a lot more niacin than Brewer's Yeast. 

Here are links to the nutritional data for each type of yeast ...

Brewer's Yeast: http://nutritiondata.self.com/facts/custom/1323569/2

Nutritional Yeast: http://nutritiondata.self.com/facts/custom/1323565/2

Though the headline suggests a "custom" quantity, I've "tweaked" both of those to display the nutritional value of 1 ounce (28 grams) of each so it is easier to make a direct comparison.

You can see 28 grams of Brewer's Yeast has 9.3 mg of Niacin.

You can see 28 grams of Nutritional Yeast has 98 mg of Niacin.

So, Nutritional Yeast seems a more practical option to me. You can add less. It is what an animal nutritionist recommend I use ... sprinkled over their feed. 

How much you would add depends on how much is already in the feed you are providing, but as niacin is water soluble, there is little worry about overdosing with the niacin ... I'm not so sure about the other nutrients in the yeast products, though. 

Nutritional Yeast can be bought in the bulk bins of grocery stores ... I'm pretty sure Brewer's Yeast can be found there, too. Certainly both are available on the shelves, but that would likely cost more than the buying it in bulk. 
 

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