Can Niacin be overdosed?

[WannaBeHillBilly]

Hi Friends,

can niacin be overdosed? Today i received 100 grams of pure niacin powder, with a little spoon that allows one to "measure" ~½ gram. I mixed a cup of mealworms with ~250mg of Niacin, added two teaspoons of glucose, two cups of water, grabbed Limpy Duck and sat down to feed him some extra nutrients. - He has gotten a bit slim these days.
Curiosity, one of my other female ducks forgot all dignity and fear and joined us on the patio begging for some treats too - who can resist a greenish orange beak, soft quacks, large blue eyes and webbed feet…
While i was feeding some worms to her i did not notice that Limpy gulped down all the mealworms (1 CUP!) and drank half of the water so he may has gotten a dose of >100mg of Niacin.
Usually he eats a quarter cup of mealworms, so that would have been ~20mg and the rest would have gone into everybody's supper. He might had been afraid i would give away "his" mealworms and gobbled them all down.
That was an hour ago, so far he's doing fine, no signs of an intoxication.

 

[snow5164]

He will have just celebrated a Canadian thanksgiving dinner !!

My understanding is niacin cannot be overdosed , from my weeks of duck experience 1 tablespoonful per cup of feed is how I feed it.

What is the protein amount on limpys food? You could also treat with wild bird seed

 

[WannaBeHillBilly]

He will have just celebrated a Canadian thanksgiving dinner !!

My understanding is niacin cannot be overdosed , from my weeks of duck experience 1 tablespoonful per cup of feed is how I feed it.

What is the protein amount on limpys food? You could also treat with wild bird seed

So it is similar to Vitamin C? What is too much will just leave at the other end.
Good to know!
I feed them a local waterfowl brand that has 18% protein and lot's of brewers yeast.
Finally autumn has arrived here in WV and i noticed that Limpy has more problems with his legs when it is cold (i am the same, that's why i hate winter!). He also isn't eating too well over the day, he prefers to sit in a nice spot and observes everything. Tonight will be the coldest night since my Duckies are around (already down to 12°C) and i want to make sure that he has a full stomach to generate heat.

 

[snow5164]

Yes he’ll pee it out

Have you tried adding warm water to the feed? Sprinkle some treats in it to make it interesting... I’m not sure how to fatten up a duck , your food sounds good . Straw is the best insulation for their patio , try to find a bale or two.

I’d give you a bale but the shipping would be crazy

 

[Jpat]

Yes he’ll pee it out

Have you tried adding warm water to the feed? Sprinkle some treats in it to make it interesting... I’m not sure how to fatten up a duck , your food sounds good . Straw is the best insulation for their patio , try to find a bale or two.

I’d give you a bale but the shipping would be crazy

Pee it out? haha

 

[WannaBeHillBilly]

Yes he’ll pee it out

Have you tried adding warm water to the feed? Sprinkle some treats in it to make it interesting... I’m not sure how to fatten up a duck , your food sounds good . Straw is the best insulation for their patio , try to find a bale or two.

I’d give you a bale but the shipping would be crazy

Thank you for the offer, that is really nice!
I have secured six bales of straw at the local farmer's store - could not get more into our SUV and my wife was already mad about the mess. I also have a lot of hay from my own pasture and at the moment Duckies have about 30 cm of dry leaves (Oak, Chestnut, Tuliptree) in their bed. First they hated leaves:

But now they love to bury themselves in those. Sometimes only their heads stick out.
I feed them an extra bowl of cracked corn, mixed with mealworms or peas every evening, so that they have their bellies filled.

 

[WannaBeHillBilly]

Pee it out? haha

Yeah! With Limpy i'm not so sure, he may fart it out… Limpy the stinky!

 

[Soon2BChixMom]

People can have issues if they ingest too much Niacin, so I would just keep an eye on Limpy. He probably drinks enough water to help flush out any extra.
https://www.drugs.com/mcf/niacin-overdose-what-are-the-symptoms

Is he skinny because he's getting more exercise now or because the other ducks aren't letting him eat?

 

[WannaBeHillBilly]

People can have issues if they ingest too much Niacin, so I would just keep an eye on Limpy. He probably drinks enough water to help flush out any extra.
https://www.drugs.com/mcf/niacin-overdose-what-are-the-symptoms

Is he skinny because he's getting more exercise now or because the other ducks aren't letting him eat?

He isn't eating well over the day, when the other four are running from A to B to C to D to … (runner ducks!) he follows them, but at the new location he sits down and rests instead of foraging. This evening i had him on my lap, feeding him his portion of meal worm soup (with a little vitamin C, niacin and dextrose), with no competition he ate only half of it then wanted to be released to his friends. He is still strong, he flew from my lap almost 5 meters to the grass where he belly-landed. But he's only feathers, bones and muscles no fat at all. Unfortunately i don't have a scale to weight him, beginning of September he weighted 2.2 lbs and i doubt he has gained any weight at all.

 

[SkyeT]

My husband loves your runners! He wanted to get runners, but alas, we must have near silent ducks until we move to the country.

We use a vitamin supplement once every 2 days that is liquid. I have to work it into the crumble. Our feedstore also had us buy wild bird seed with cracked corn, black oil sunflower seeds, millet, and other seeds for our now 6 month olds. We also give our ducks live fish for hunting twice a month.

My oldest Muscovy, Confetti, ran into issues at about 9 weeks old where she wasn't eating well. It was affecting her movement, her activity, everything. I panicked, came on here to read everyone's talk about birds suffering from not eating well and ended up hand feeding much like you. I gave her a mixture of finely chopped romaine, grapes, tomatoes, crumble, oats and watermelon. I also held a bowl of water for her to drink from as she ate. I did this for a week. She obviously recovered, but it was a scary time. All of the foods in her meals that week contained niacin. I made sure I did the research.