Niacin Deficiency in Waterfowl

[Isaac 0]

A 4 week old muscovy of mine ends up having Niacin deficiency. It doesn't want to eat and drink. It can stand and walk but it prefers to sleep. due to lockdown I can by poultry supplies. I use Polyvisol to give it source of niacin and vitamins. I see improvements but it is still weak. It currently have wet feathers. So I am planning to give it bath once it can walk and eat again.

I responded to your thread in case you didn't see.

 

[Abriana]

I recently got two ducklings (Cressida and Octavia) and it seems they are always lying down or have a tendency to lie down much more than I feel is normal. They stand for a few seconds and immediately plop down. They went about a day and a half without niacin and now are getting it daily. The recommended dosage on the package says 1/2 teaspoon/cup of feed, I probably do a bit more then that. They are about a week and a half old. Should I be doing more? These are my first two ducklings, and while I did a ton of reading on them when I got interested two years ago, I am not 100% sure on this.

 

[Isaac 0]

I recently got two ducklings (Cressida and Octavia) and it seems they are always lying down or have a tendency to lie down much more than I feel is normal. They stand for a few seconds and immediately plop down. They went about a day and a half without niacin and now are getting it daily. The recommended dosage on the package says 1/2 teaspoon/cup of feed, I probably do a bit more then that. They are about a week and a half old. Should I be doing more? These are my first two ducklings, and while I did a ton of reading on them when I got interested two years ago, I am not 100% sure on this.

Going off from your avatar, these are Buff Ducklings correct?

What kind of niacin supplement are you using, and what are they being fed?

Do you have a picture of what their being kept in?

 

[Abriana]

Going off from your avatar, these are Buff Ducklings correct?

What kind of niacin supplement are you using, and what are they being fed?

Do you have a picture of what their being kept in?

Yes they are buff ducklings.

Food (they were on chick crumbles for the first two or three days, just switched to this, and my chicks are also eating it):

Niacin:

Housing (they get to swim about once a day, warm water, very supervised and max 10 minutes of swimming. They will be moving to a run within the next week or so, within my electric fence. They have a heat lamp on all night and when I check during the day I turn it on/off accordingly. It was so hot today they were all panting so it has been off.):

 

[Abriana]

Shavings have been cleared in that area because I thats where I put the heat lamp over and I’m trying to minimize fire hazards, if you are wondering. And the water is dark because of the nutridrench. I have a smaller sleepy chick, but she is doing well.

 

[Isaac 0]

I'm not sure why, but Lisa Steele's BY brand contains very little niacin. Your feed should have an adequate amount of niacin for your Buff's, but if you want, you could add Nutritional Yeast to their feed instead, which contains more niacin, and has a less bitter taste.

As for the constant sitting down, that may just be due to fast growth. Waterfowl grow so fast they need to give there little legs breaks often.

 

[Abriana]

I'm not sure why, but Lisa Steele's BY brand contains very little niacin. Your feed should have an adequate amount of niacin for your Buff's, but if you want, you could add Nutritional Yeast to their feed instead, which contains more niacin, and has a less bitter taste.

As for the constant sitting down, that may just be due to fast growth. Waterfowl grow so fast they need to give there little legs breaks often.

Okay, I will order some! And can I feed the duck food to both chicks and ducks with no deficiencies in the chicks? If so I’ll keep buying the duck feed since they seem to be more delicate in terms of nutrition. Do you have a particular brand of niacin that you use/recommend?

That makes sense. I have noticed that they are growing super fast. I have been taking pictures and videos everyday of them. When they are a year old I’m going to put them all together and make a little “first 365 days” video so I can see how fast they grew up.

 

[Isaac 0]

I'm not sure, but you could get Purina Flock Raiser, which is formulated for ducks and chicks, and can be fed from hatch to death.

https://www.purinamills.com/chicken-feed/products/detail/purina-flock-raiser-crumbles

Make sure to post that here, I'd love to see how it turns out!

 

[Abriana]

I'm not sure, but you could get Purina Flock Raiser, which is formulated for ducks and chicks, and can be fed from hatch to death.

Make sure to post that here, I'd love to see how it turns out!

I will look into that!

I certainly will! Just keep an eye out in the duck forum

 

[cleo72]

should i be giving my 1-2 month old ducks niacin supplement to prevention of any disorders down the road? I'm currently giving them duckling starter crumble with chick grit.