Niacin deficiency despite feeding Mazuri starter?

[prestoconfuoco]

Hey all,

I have five ducklings of various ages -- they're separated into two groups, one group of 3 (7weeks/7weeks/4weeks) that get along well and the two youngest (both about 2weeks) in their own group. All five have been on Mazuri waterfowl starter the entire time I've had them, and all five have seemed completely fine thus far.

Just today I noticed that one of the two youngest (a welsh harlequin) seems to be having trouble walking -- she was sort of hobbling, choosing to lay down, etc. She CAN stand up fully, but she doesn't seem to want to, and I haven't seen her walking around standing up.

I know the most common cause of this is niacin deficiency. I do have some brewer's yeast, so I'll add a tablespoon to a cup of their feed today and see if that helps her. Has anyone had experience with this? I was concerned because I have been feeding them duckling starter, and none of the other birds have had trouble walking. Nothing visually appears to be wrong with her legs.

Could this be anything else, or am I pretty safe to treat for niacin deficiency here? I read the stickied posts and I see that overdosing is possible but does require a lot. Unfortunately I only have brewer's yeast not nutritional yeast, but it'll have to do for now.

 

[Magnolia Ducks]

I use Mazuri and have never had an issue including Perkins, that said treating with brewers yeast will definitely not hurt the duckling. So its a good first try.

 

[prestoconfuoco]

I use Mazuri and have never had an issue including Perkins, that said treating with brewers yeast will definitely not hurt the duckling. So its a good first try.

Yeah, I was looking at Mazuri says the starter has 162 ppm of niacin in the feed, which should be plenty more than enough...I'm not sure what else the problem could be. I will keep researching I guess.