Muscovy duckling what to feed and questions

[Kaybear1950]

We had one muscovy hatch this afternoon. The attached picture is what we have for our adult muscovy ducks can we use the same feed for the ducklings or do we have to modify it? If we have to add Niacin how do we do it? Also, only one hatched so far and he still is not standing, our chicks usually are walking by now. Is this normal?

 

[Soon2BChixMom]

I am not sure how much they stand after hatching. I got my 'scovies when they were a week old. But, they did (do) sit down a lot.
What is the protein content of the food? Does your food have any niacin? If so, you might not need to add more.
Niacin can be bought as a b complex (liquid), or as brewer's yeast, you could also buy niacin in capsule form, but make sure it is not the non-flush.
I don't know the amounts for the liquid. The brewers yeast is 1 tbls per cup (I believe). Some people just sprinkle some on instead of measuring.
I feed purina flock raiser. Technically, it has enough niacin for ducklings, but just to be sure, I added a little more to their water.
I will tag a few people who know a little more than I do.
@CayugaJana, @chickens really, @Miss Lydia
Also, post pics. We love ducklings and I am partial to muscovies since I have 4 almost 7 week olds!

 

[Soon2BChixMom]

Oh

 

[Kaybear1950]

No niacin in the feed but it has lyasine? I can pick up the yeast tomorrow. I washed him off a bit cause he had some egg goo stuck to him. He also has some black stuff stuck right at the base of his tale, could it be pasty but? I soaked his but in water and tried to tug it a little and he freaked out

 

[Soon2BChixMom]

Awe. I don't think they are the same. Make sure you get brewers yeast.
I know nothing about hatching ducklings. So hopefully others that I tagged will chime in soon.

 

[CayugaJana]

Welcome to BYC!!!

Good evening @Kaybear1950! Mine sat around and were wobbly for a couple hours. I actually put mine in a home made duck baby sling the first couple days of life because I wanted to condition them to being near me. They didn’t mind sitting for a day or two but they wanted to play after that. I don’t hatch chickens but have heard it takes them longer to hatch as well as recover from all that hard work. So as long as they don’t have their neck scrunched in and eyes closed tomorrow morning I would say it’s fine. Did you dip it’s beak in water so it knows where to eat and drink?

Also, I’ve got this exact feed before. They went Gaga for it. However it has 30% protein which is more geared towards quail, pheasants, and turkeys. It is only designed for those birds for the first 8 weeks. After that, the protein is too high even for them. The high protein will eventually cause kidney damage to all of your flock and can cause your ducklings to grow at an unhealthy rate. You want somewhere near 20%. What kind of feed choices do you have in your area? Do you have an all flock feed? If you will give us some options, we can help you pick the right one.

I know Miss Lydia and Soon2BChixMom both add brewers yeast or nutritional yeast to their feed to give them extra niacin for their legs and nervous system. I’m thinking chickens really does also but can’t remember. I know she makes her own special blend of feed for hers. It’s better to do preventative maintenance where niacin is concerned then to wait until you have issues as some ducks don’t absorb as much as others. And some are large and need extra just based on size.

I’ll be hoping to see some cute pictures in the morning!!

 

[Kaybear1950]

This feed only has 20% protein. I have the conditioner not the starter. There are all flock feeds, we have three feed stores that I can visit and post what feeds are there. We had the ducks on our chicken layer feed we switched to this feed and their faces are more vibrant red and they look way better. Does Wal-Mart have that specific yeast? It' one of those things I can get tomorrow or will be amazon priming our pasty butt has been treated!

 

[Kaybear1950]

We are dried up and fluffy again. He/she is very upset. He tried to bite me after I checked on him one more time to make sure I cleared all the pasty out.

 

[CayugaJana]

This feed only has 20% protein. I have the conditioner not the starter. There are all flock feeds, we have three feed stores that I can visit and post what feeds are there. We had the ducks on our chicken layer feed we switched to this feed and their faces are more vibrant red and they look way better. Does Wal-Mart have that specific yeast? It' one of those things I can get tomorrow or will be amazon priming our pasty butt has been treated!

Yuck pasty butt doesn’t seem fun. But that little duckling looks so adorable.

That feed could be just fine, do you still have a bag where you can rip off the tag and post a picture of the ingredients?

My Walmart has brewers yeast. I think these are tablets and not capsules. If they are tablets, I would put them all in my nutri bullet and grind them all up at once. @Miss Lydia or @onaharley how much do you give? This bottle looks like it has very little niacin per tablet.

 

[chickens really]

Possibly what your seeing is his umbilical so don't tug on that..Generally Ducklings don't get pasty butt.
Cute little duckling..
You can wet his feed to a soupy mix. It's easier for them to eat and they get hydrated and nourishment..