Duckling with Neuro problems

[DaniD26]

So we got four ducklings from our local Country Max on Friday. I left for work on Saturday afternoon all were fine fresh water food and bedding. I got home and checked on them because I've read that they need fresh water multiple times a day. I noticed one of them was not using him right leg I checked it for a break didn't see one but they're so small I wasn't sure. It was after 11 pm so I called my sister we decided to wait til the morning as it was still eating, drinking , and getting around ok. The other ones weren't bullying him. On Sunday we decided to take the limping duckling out of the main cage we out him in a different cage with a stuffed animal and his own food and water. At this point he isn't using either of his legs but he still has feeling in them bc when I touch them he can move them. And he scooches around but not using his legs. We made a vet appointment for today and the vet said I was right they aren't broken he has a neurological problem, but does not go in to detail about how it is caused. He said he most likely will die bc it has effected both sides in such a short time, Unfortunately he was right he passed tonight. However it gets more complicated! While my husband was upstairs he checked on the others they were running around and all of a sudden the other Rouen duck stopped seized and died! What is going on! That one had shown no signs of anything wrong with it. We now have 2 runners that came from the same place as those two are those ones at risk? I cleaned everything in the cage before I put the other 2 back in the cage. someone told me the heat light could of fried their brain is that true?! How do I know if its to hot and my husband was in the middle of changing the water when the one died could it of choked? I'm desperate for some answers.What causes neuro problems? Can anyone out there help me please?? I need some peace of mind that I'm not a baby duck killer!

 

[Amiga]

Please read the sticky on Raising Ducklings. It details things like proper temperature.

Ducklings with neurological problems often are lacking B vitamins, especially niacin. Here is my writeup on that:

People often get confused about what to use, so please stick with me here

.

You have some options.

I would go with brewer's yeast. Forgive me for using capital letters, but for anyone else who may casually look over this thread, NOT baking yeast, NOT winemaking yeast. Brewer's yeast is a nutritional supplement and it provides niacin and a few other vitamins.

Generally, folks who supplement with brewer’s yeast use a tablespoon per cup of food.

Ducklings need about three times the niacin chicks do. And some ducklings get leg problems or seizures if they don't have enough niacin.

If you cannot find the brewer's yeast, or if you happen to have (here come the capital letters again, please forgive me) PLAIN niacin - NOT no-flush, NOT timed release, then dissolve 150 mg niacin per gallon of water for the duckling’s drinking water.

Another approach is to use B Complex capsules, and use the B3 - niacin - levels as a guide. Again, 150 mg B3 per gallon of drinking water.


Keep the little one on the supplements for about 8 weeks.

Sometimes it only takes a few days to see improvement.

You can also see how it went for Qwackers and Bentley from these threads.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/857143/treating-wry-neck-in-crested-duckling-edited-title

https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/761308/peking-duckling-with-crooked-neck-help

 

[DaniD26]

Where can I get brewers yeast? And I'm pretty sure niacin can be bought at like a drugstore? What I don't understand is how it just went from being totally fine to dead. I mean with the one I had some time to come to terms with it. The other one just literally dropped dead!? Is this normal?

 

[Kimmyh51]

Please read the sticky on Raising Ducklings. It details things like proper temperature.

Ducklings with neurological problems often are lacking B vitamins, especially niacin. Here is my writeup on that:

People often get confused about what to use, so please stick with me here

.

You have some options.

I would go with brewer's yeast. Forgive me for using capital letters, but for anyone else who may casually look over this thread, NOT baking yeast, NOT winemaking yeast. Brewer's yeast is a nutritional supplement and it provides niacin and a few other vitamins.

Generally, folks who supplement with brewer’s yeast use a tablespoon per cup of food.

Ducklings need about three times the niacin chicks do. And some ducklings get leg problems or seizures if they don't have enough niacin.

If you cannot find the brewer's yeast, or if you happen to have (here come the capital letters again, please forgive me) PLAIN niacin - NOT no-flush, NOT timed release, then dissolve 150 mg niacin per gallon of water for the duckling’s drinking water.

Another approach is to use B Complex capsules, and use the B3 - niacin - levels as a guide. Again, 150 mg B3 per gallon of drinking water.


Keep the little one on the supplements for about 8 weeks.

Sometimes it only takes a few days to see improvement.

You can also see how it went for Qwackers and Bentley from these threads.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/857143/treating-wry-neck-in-crested-duckling-edited-title

https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/761308/peking-duckling-with-crooked-neck-help

I always read to use brewers yeast, but recently have read that bakers yeast is a better source of niacin than brewers yeast, as it has a higher percentage of niacin.

I checked the nutritional content and sure enough bakers yeast appears to have almost 1/3 as much niacin again as brewers yeast.

So wondeing what your reasons are for saying not to use bakers yeast?



Personally I started out with brewers yeast as it was what was always recommended, but I had a duck develop niacin deficiency despite me liberally sprinkling it over every feed (i am sure it was this, as when I gave the affected bird a niacin suppliment every day by oral syringe, it recovered a few days later)
I later had other ducks develop the same problem, so on the advice of a local vet nurse who had raised ducklings for years on canned cat food, i switched to a diet of canned jellymeat type cat food for the first 6-8 weeks and stopped using brewers yeast. Over here all canned cat food has animal meat as the main ingredient, and from what i have read niacin is much more bioavailable to ducks via animal sources such as meat, liver etc than vegetable sources.

this I have also read, is the main reason ducklings need extra niacin when on chick feed - beacause niacin in chick starter etc is mostly plant/grain derived and not as bioavailable to ducklings as chicks. I'm not sure how yeast and yeast extracts are supposed to compare to grains or meat for niacin bioavailability

But anyway, as above, I have been reading thqt bakers yeast has a higher concentration of yeast than is in brewers yeast and alparently as bioavailable.... which leaves me wondering why brewers yeaat has always been recommended...

I personally no longer trust brewers yeast, maybe its only the stuff thats available local to me, but I prefer to use canned cat food and have not had a single duckling on that develop niacin deficiency symptoms, or if I cant afford to feed that, then supplementation of chick starter etc with multi b, or yeast extract (spreads like vegemite) and recently have added bakers yeaat into the feed of breeding adults...

Everything i read says the niacin level is higher in bakers yeast, and i cant find anything to imply it would be less bioavailable, so not sure what the reasoning is behind everyone recommending brewers yeast. Which for starters, c apparently comes in two forms, a nutritional suppliment form and a beer brewers form, and one form (i think the nutritional?) has far more b vitamins than the other and the other is no use at all as a supplimentary form of niacin. so if you get it from somewhere that cant tell you anything about what type it is, you dont know if it even has much bioavailable niacin in it...

 

[Miss Lydia]

Please don’t use bakers yeast what is the purpose of bakers yeast? To make bread rise can you imagine bakers yeast inside a nice warm environment in your little duckling that would not be pleasant. Nutritional yeast is a much better way of getting niacin into your ducklings and much safer.

 

[Kimmyh51]

Ive found numerous sources that state bakers yeast has a higher content of niacin than brewers yeast. What is the reason you say it is of no value? Can you point me to some studies or evidence that the niacin in it is not bioavailable for some reason?

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baker's_yeast

The percentage of niacin in the wiki on bakers yeast is the same as other info I have found and apparently higher than brewers yeast..so i dont understand why it would not be a valid source of niacin

Brewers yeast will also make bread rise, I have made bread with brewers yeast instead of bakers yeast, for the maltier taste, and it rose just fine

Please don’t use bakers yeast what is the purpose of bakers yeast? To make bread rise can you imagine bakers yeast inside a nice warm environment in your little duckling that would not be pleasant. Nutritional yeast is a much better way of getting niacin into your ducklings and much safer.

 

[TSOWOATNKC]

Nutritional yeast is definitely preferable over brewers. Baking yeast isn’t really high in nutrition. That’s why it isn’t used as a supplement because it’s not of much use outside of baking.

 

[Fisherlmiranda]

Yeast needs sugar to create the gas that makes bread rise. Is there any sugar in the feed?

 

[PheasantCreekFarm]

Please read the sticky on Raising Ducklings. It details things like proper temperature.

Ducklings with neurological problems often are lacking B vitamins, especially niacin. Here is my writeup on that:

People often get confused about what to use, so please stick with me here

.

You have some options.

I would go with brewer's yeast. Forgive me for using capital letters, but for anyone else who may casually look over this thread, NOT baking yeast, NOT winemaking yeast. Brewer's yeast is a nutritional supplement and it provides niacin and a few other vitamins.

Generally, folks who supplement with brewer’s yeast use a tablespoon per cup of food.

Ducklings need about three times the niacin chicks do. And some ducklings get leg problems or seizures if they don't have enough niacin.

If you cannot find the brewer's yeast, or if you happen to have (here come the capital letters again, please forgive me) PLAIN niacin - NOT no-flush, NOT timed release, then dissolve 150 mg niacin per gallon of water for the duckling’s drinking water.

Another approach is to use B Complex capsules, and use the B3 - niacin - levels as a guide. Again, 150 mg B3 per gallon of drinking water.


Keep the little one on the supplements for about 8 weeks.

Sometimes it only takes a few days to see improvement.

You can also see how it went for Qwackers and Bentley from these threads.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/857143/treating-wry-neck-in-crested-duckling-edited-title

https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/761308/peking-duckling-with-crooked-neck-help

Is nutritional yeast adequate and acceptable? I found it at my local coop grocery store in the bulk vs buying brewers yeast- I had one Pekin that almost appeared to have neurological disorder- (although always very vocal and believed to be a female) she developed issues where she wasn’t standing or walking properly and her feet were contracted as if you could imagine someone (a human) with severe arthritis in their hands.. I never took a video of it. For about a day and a half I had to supplement a food alternative while waiting for my next bag of 20% chick starter from DUMOR. In that time I fed steel oats, scrambled eggs, fresh greens, canned mackerel, chicken breast and a baby food supplement with iron. I had misplaced my niacin supplement for that day and a half. And one other Peking duck besides Delilah, the vocal one, Appeared to have leg/feet problems. My final third Pekin was normal. Rest assured I found a new proper loving home for all my ducklings as I realize I wasn’t able to care for them properly. If you could kindly go back up to the top where I just asked the question about nutritional yeast supplement versus Brewers yeast and answer that to the best of your knowledge. I’d appreciate it. Thank you.

 

[PheasantCreekFarm]

Nutritional yeast is definitely preferable over brewers. Baking yeast isn’t really high in nutrition. That’s why it isn’t used as a supplement because it’s not of much use outside of baking.

Could you kindly read my question just posted about nutritional yeast?