Do we, or the makersof feed actually even know what ducks need for nutrition

[Kimmyh51]

just wondering if anyone else out there, who has ducks, ducklings, and considers themselves to be oretty well educated on their nutritional needs, (ie niacin leg deficiency, needs for laying birds, etc, has had birds which have shown signs of what look to be nutritional deficiencie, despite you feeding what you have been told or have throuh your own research, learnt is the correct and balance diet for your birds?

also anyone who has had the odd duck with a deficiency when others have not, ie you have a clutch of ducklings, say 7 or 8 ducklings. You feed them all the same, and despite giving what shouod be enough niacin, you get one duckling with leg problems that ends up needing a lot more than the recommended amount of niacin before the legs improve?

just basically looking for anyones stories that relate to ducks you were being very careful to research and feed the correct nutrition to, following the advice of vets and other reputable resources, and yet you still had some ducks or ducklings with deficiency syndromes.... and if so what symptoms, what test results at the vet if a vet saw them, and what happened, if they recovered what did you give them to correct the diet, what dose what age and weight were they... all of the info you have?

I am asking because more and more, I feel like the current veterinary understanding of nutrition for ducks, and maybe birds in general, still has a lot of gaps in it. And some birds are falling through those gaps.

 

[MysteryChicken]

I did nothing special with my ducks, I raised for meat. This was only my second time raising ducks in my life.

I fed them Purina Flock Raiser from day 1, & no problems with deficiencies of any sort. Then I fed a mix of Purina Flock Raiser, & Nutrena Naturewise All Flock Pellets together for the rest of their lives before butcher. Only extras they got were corn, & free ranging.

 

[Jenbirdee]

i have ducks that are 8 years old and doing fine they get mazuri waterfowl maintenance and also eat nature wise all flock pellets plus oyster shells on the side . i supplement about twice a week with Bragg nutritional yeast and my pekin gets some liquid B complex about once a week.

there was a new member who joined a few weeks ago, who said they were an expert on poultry nutrition. I think they have a college degree in it or something and they wanted to be on here to help people and give advice, but I forget their name maybe if you reposted this in the, feeding and housing forum too , you might find them, and also more replies from others. By the way, my ducks also get snacks like peas, kale, lettuce, and mealworms. plus whatever they catch or dig up in my yard lol