giving ducklings niacin supplements??

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RainForestBird said:
All I have is the flush-free niacin and I have a month old duckling that is pigeon toed and shaky on its legs. I have put it in with the Younger ducklings to keep it warm as they tend to get all muddy and wet outside in their run with the pool. I have been feeding chick starter, the medicated kind because I don't want to have problems with pasty butt and I have pullets. Sometimes I mix it with gamebird and poultry feed that has no corn or soy. I don't want to give all the ducklings higher niacin if I don't have to. But I don't want to separate the poor pigeon toed little duckling from the others. It has been cold at nights so I always bring the ducklings inside where it can get cold but not freezing. The younger ducklings stay inside the warm house in the laundry room.
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NEVER feed medicated chick starter to ducklings! They eat too much and get too much of the meds! I used nutritional yeast to supplement my ducks. I had 3 that were lame. the Nutritional yeast might have helped some but adding some (a few droppers) of colloidal silver to their food seemed to do the trick for them. 2 recovered completely and the 3rd one is still having issues. Get some non medicated feed!
 
I've done a ton of research for my babies. I'm posting a couple of different articles regarding niacin for ducks. Everything I've read state that it is very important to supplement with niacin in the beginning weeks for ducks to help strong leg and get development since ducks are much heavier than chickens. I get my niacin from the tractor supply or southern states farm supply. There are instructions for dosage based on age right on the label.

Article 1
Niacin is a critical vitamin required for the correct development of ducklings and goslings. In fact, waterfowl have a higher requirement for niacin (also called nicotinic acid) than chickens.Niacin is formed from the amino acid tryptophan and waterfowl do not synthesize niacin well from tryptophan.Mar 13, 2011

Article 2
You can feed ducklings regular chick starter feed but since they require more niacin than chicks do, to help with bone growth especially in their legs, you will need to add brewers yeast to the feed (at a ratio of 5% or roughly 1/2 lb (3 cups) brewers yeast per 10 pounds of feed). I use Thomas Labs Brewer's Yeast & Garlic Powderand just sprinkle a bit over the top of their feed a few times a day. This mix gives them the niacin they need plus garlic which has immune system and other benefits to growing ducklings.

The ducklings should start on chick feed (20% protein) for the first 2 weeks, then can switch to a waterfowl starter or starter/grower (15-16% protein) until they are 18 weeks old or so and then switch right over to a regular (16% protein) layer feed - or waterfowl feed if you can find it in your area.
 
Tawnya Blackburn said:
I've done a ton of research for my babies. I'm posting a couple of different articles regarding niacin for ducks. Everything I've read state that it is very important to supplement with niacin in the beginning weeks for ducks to help strong leg and get development since ducks are much heavier than chickens. I get my niacin from the tractor supply or southern states farm supply. There are instructions for dosage based on age right on the label.

Article 1
Niacin is a critical vitamin required for the correct development of ducklings and goslings. In fact, waterfowl have a higher requirement for niacin (also called nicotinic acid) than chickens.Niacin is formed from the amino acid tryptophan and waterfowl do not synthesize niacin well from tryptophan.Mar 13, 2011

Article 2
You can feed ducklings regular chick starter feed but since they require more niacin than chicks do, to help with bone growth especially in their legs, you will need to add brewers yeast to the feed (at a ratio of 5% or roughly 1/2 lb (3 cups) brewers yeast per 10 pounds of feed). I use Thomas Labs Brewer's Yeast & Garlic Powderand just sprinkle a bit over the top of their feed a few times a day. This mix gives them the niacin they need plus garlic which has immune system and other benefits to growing ducklings.

The ducklings should start on chick feed (20% protein) for the first 2 weeks, then can switch to a waterfowl starter or starter/grower (15-16% protein) until they are 18 weeks old or so and then switch right over to a regular (16% protein) layer feed - or waterfowl feed if you can find it in your area.
Click to expand...
K v I
Tawnya Blackburn said:
I've done a ton of research for my babies. I'm posting a couple of different articles regarding niacin for ducks. Everything I've read state that it is very important to supplement with niacin in the beginning weeks for ducks to help strong leg and get development since ducks are much heavier than chickens. I get my niacin from the tractor supply or southern states farm supply. There are instructions for dosage based on age right on the label.

Article 1
Niacin is a critical vitamin required for the correct development of ducklings and goslings. In fact, waterfowl have a higher requirement for niacin (also called nicotinic acid) than chickens.Niacin is formed from the amino acid tryptophan and waterfowl do not synthesize niacin well from tryptophan.Mar 13, 2011

Article 2
You can feed ducklings regular chick starter feed but since they require more niacin than chicks do, to help with bone growth especially in their legs, you will need to add brewers yeast to the feed (at a ratio of 5% or roughly 1/2 lb (3 cups) brewers yeast per 10 pounds of feed). I use Thomas Labs Brewer's Yeast & Garlic Powderand just sprinkle a bit over the top of their feed a few times a day. This mix gives them the niacin they need plus garlic which has immune system and other benefits to growing ducklings.

The ducklings should start on chick feed (20% protein) for the first 2 weeks, then can switch to a waterfowl starter or starter/grower (15-16% protein) until they are 18 weeks old or so and then switch right over to a regular (16% protein) layer feed - or waterfowl feed if you can find it in your area.
Click to expand...
Thank you for this. I didn't know you could get brewer's yeast at Tractor Feed. I've been searching for it in the bulk section at the grocery store but they don't carry it that way any more. I've been getting it as a nutrional supplement in the vitamin section which isn't cost effective with a flock of 20 ducks. I lost one a couple of days ago but I don't think he was deficient. I think it was the cold weather. The domestic ducks just aren't as hardy as their wilder counterparts like Australian spotteds which are doing much better. Mazuri waterfowl feeds are very hard to get and as far as I know aren't sold in retail stores. You have to order it online. I wrote the company (senior management) asking them to carry it in feed stores but they ignored me.
 
I've searched everywhere for brewer's yeast and haven't found any other than the natural remedies aisles at Walmart. It entirely too expensive there and is rather not give my babies pills that are meant for humans. Fortunately this little bottle of granules guess a very long way. It's called durvet vitamins & electrolytes. 1 scoop per gallon of water will do 20 gallons. I tried the liquid niacin first but it cost more for 4 ounces with dosage of 2 ounces per gallon then the granules. Plus the liquid was really smelly and sticky.
 
I am perfectly ok with giving my five month old ducklings pure brewer's yeast as I feel it is a food product. Its also called nutritional yeast. It used to be sold as a bulk food item, but for some reason they stopped doing that in health food stores and now they sell it in jars or plastic containers at a much higher price. There has got to be a farm store, or a bulk food store that still sells it. I did find a supplemental feed at Tractor Supply called Prairie Pride NatuPlan that has brewers yeast in it. Its about $12 for a 3 lb bag. Here are the ingredients:

Wheat Middlings, Soybean Hulls, Calcium Carbonate, Alfalfa Meal, Hydrolyzed Yeast, Yeast Extract, Molasses, Brewers Dried Yeast, Zinc Proteinate, Natural Flavors, Yucca Schidigera Extract, Copper Proteinate, Silicon Dioxide, Soy Oil, Corn Distillers Grains With Solubles, Propionic Acid (A Preservative), Sorbic Acid (A Preservative), Acetic Acid (A Preservative) And Benzoic Acid (A Preservative).

Guaranteed Analysis:
Crude Protein (min.) 10%
Lysine (min.) 0.5%
Methionine (min.) 0.1%
Crude Fat (min.) 1.8%
Crude Fiber (min.) 19.5%
Calcium (min.) 3.5%
Calcium (max.) 4.5%
Copper (min.) 2 ppm
Zinc (min.) 200 ppm

I still think that pure brewers yeast is the best thing for ducks. I also have flush free Niacin but I have to crush the pills and you never know when you put it in the water how much they ingest and how much ends up as sludge in the bottom of the water barrel. My ducks waste so much feed that way.
 

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