Help me help the people, please!

[BoCRon]

So I work at TSC. I was originally hired for my knowledge in dog/cat health and nutrition, (I was a vet assistant for 10 years) as well as for my experience as a dog trainer. The store has an employee who has been a horse owner for years and another who owns chickens, Geese, ducks, pheasants, goats and sheep, so between the 3 of us we could help most customers. My experience with chickens was as a small flock(40 or so) owner but I hadn’t had any chickens for about 7 years, although I got back into chickens this past winter. Anyway the woman who has all the poultry knowledge has had to cut her hours way back in order to take care of her mother and aunt. So I have become the de facto poultry person in the store. We get about 200 chicks in per week and I do most of the care and selling to customers. I really enjoy getting new people started. Every once in a while we would get ducks in but they usually sell out in one day so I had minimal experience with them. The only thing I knew about ducks is that they need niacin, so I would point out the food for ducks to those people. But now we are suddenly getting in goslings and Turkey poults. I have no idea what to recommend so was hoping folks here could give me a few pointers on things I should be aware of. Do they need niacin? Is there a type of food that is good or bad for them? Any info would be greatly appreciated!

 

[sylviethecochin]

Turkeys do need niacin. As with ducks, flush-free and slow-release niacin will not work if you need to supplement. According to what I've read on here, turkeys should have a 28% starter, though I've never seen that in any TSC. I believe most people make do with the 24% for a longer period of time?

(Niacin deficiency in chickens may be prevented by feeding a diet that contains niacin at ≥30 mg/kg; however, many nutritionists recommend 2–2.5 times as much. An allowance of 55–70 mg/kg of feed appears to be satisfactory for ducks, geese, and turkeys. Ample niacin should be provided in poultry diets so as to spare the utilization of tryptophan.) —https://www.merckvetmanual.com/poul...ltry/vitamin-deficiencies-in-poultry#v3347988

If you live in a blackhead (histomaniasis) area (and I have no idea whether you do or not) then they should not be kept near chickens as babies, because the chickens can carry blackhead without showing any signs, and infect them. (not usually an issue at a feed store, but on a farmyard?)

https://www.merckvetmanual.com/poultry/histomoniasis/histomoniasis-in-poultry

I can't speak for the veracity of this article, but Sumi wrote it, so I'll believe it. https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/brooding-and-raising-turkey-poults.67484/

If you need other information, I suggest tagging 007Sean or R2elk. They're the experts.