Niacin for ducklings? Am I doing this right?

[firsthouse_mp]

I have two sweet Welsh Harlequins and one of them walks kinda funny. I figured I would try the Niacin in the water. She is 4 days old. The capsules I bought were hard pills--not soft--and so I am trying to chop up and dissolve a 150mg pill in a water bottle. I figured I would dilute the Niacin-water with more water in their water dish. Does this sound OK? She sometimes waddles and sometimes seems fine. Am I hallucinating about her funny walk? Do 4 day olds seem a bit unsteady anyways?

My first foray into ducks and I am in "uncharted waters"!

 

[DuckLover179]

Quote:
Baby ducklings (Especially when learning to be steady when walking!) are clumsy. Now Niacin won't hurt, and you can add extra water. The Niacin will prevent leg conditions. I bought Metzer farms "Poult Pak" and it has high levels of Niacin, so I added 1/4 of a tsp to their water. Mine are still clumsy. They will trip on their own feet, but it isn't something to worry about, unless it gets so bad they cannot walk, or they are in pain. Again, Niacin added will not harm them, and will give them an extra boost, so you should still add it to her water!

 

[T Hi]

Powdered Brewyer's yeast is also a great way to add niacin. It is also pretty cheap at a nutrition store. Enjoy your new baby quackers!!! They are so fun!!

 

[dumb_cluck]

Just buy a bag of game bird starter crumbles. It already has niacin in it. Chick starter does not.

 

[Amiga]

If they can get outdoors and eat bugs those have niacin, too, but you cannot exactly measure how much !

Also, I recall reading a long article about niacin and duck research and it seemed to me that nutritional needs vary from duck to duck. Giving a little niacin boost - not an overdose - seems fine to me. A balanced feed for ducklings is a good basis, with vitamins, probiotics and electrolytes offered from time to time to help things along. I gave my ducklings v/p/e about once a week the first three or four months. And in wintertime I got back to a once a week boost, too.