How much should I feed my pet ducklings?

[Duck momm]

Hi! I’m new on here but I’ve always read threads from here and I have a question! How much should I feed my pekin ducks? Right now they are a week old and I give them free choice but they got too fat and have trouble walking, I take them swimming in a kiddie pool everyday but they only swim for 5 minutes. All they do is sit!! Please help! I also give them 1.5 tbsp of niacin(brewers yeast) for every cup of feed

 

[Isaac 0]

Most people tend to offer feed free choice, I have for years with no problems, even with Pekins.

What brand of feed, and brewers yeast are you using?

 

[416bigbore]

Hello Duck momm, Welcome to BYC. Great pic of your Babies ! Keep posting as they get bigger.

 

[Duck momm]

Most people tend to offer feed free choice, I have for years with no problems, even with Pekins.

What brand of feed, and brewers yeast are you using?

I feed them the manna pro starter crumbles, and the brewers yeast is from josh’s frogs

 

[Duck momm]

Hello Duck momm, Welcome to BYC. Great pic of your Babies ! Keep posting as they get bigger.

Thanks! Ok! I’ll keep you guys updated!!

 

[Isaac 0]

Ok, the leg issue may be due to them lacking niacin in their diet. The feed you are feeding isn't adequate enough, and the yeast looks to be livestock grade, so the niacin content per scoop is going to be somewhere around 2mg most likely. What I'd suggest is switching to a feed formulated for all poultry, or one specifically for ducks. Purina Flock Raiser, All Flock Feed, Mazuri, and Manna Pro Duck starter are a few good brands.

*Most* of these brands tend to have a niacin content somewhere around 55/65mg per kilo, and that'd be fine for your medium/smaller weight breeds, but with Heavyweight Pekins we really want to aim around the 70mg/kg mark, so an addition of nutritional yeast (Which contains more niacin then brewers yeast) or niacin capsules into their water would be advised.

Offer that to them free choice, give them plenty space, provide deep water, and you'll have healthy ducklings.

You can stop the niacin supplement after they reach eight/ten weeks of age.

 

[Isaac 0]

Thought I might add that a few sources say 55mg/kg in a diet is fine for Pekins, but we have seen with many people's experience this is not sufficient. So I go off of this.

http://avianmedicine.net/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/46.pdf

 

[Duck momm]

Ok, the leg issue may be due to them lacking niacin in their diet. The feed you are feeding isn't adequate enough, and the yeast looks to be livestock grade, so the niacin content per scoop is going to be somewhere around 2mg most likely. What I'd suggest is switching to a feed formulated for all poultry, or one specifically for ducks. Purina Flock Raiser, All Flock Feed, Mazuri, and Manna Pro Duck starter are a few good brands.

*Most* of these brands tend to have a niacin content somewhere around 55/65mg per kilo, and that'd be fine for your medium/smaller weight breeds, but with Heavyweight Pekins we really want to aim around the 70mg/kg mark, so an addition of nutritional yeast (Which contains more niacin then brewers yeast) or niacin capsules into their water would be advised.

Offer that to them free choice, give them plenty space, provide deep water, and you'll have healthy ducklings.

You can stop the niacin supplement after they reach eight/ten weeks of age.

Ok! Thank you so much! I’m buying Purina Flock Raider right now and I’ll add more niacin into their diet!