Niacin toxic?

[Ratchnick]

I am looking into mixing my own feed and was reading the understanding feeds section of dave holderreads book "stories guide to raising ducks." On page 252 right at the top it says "excessively high levels of niacin can be toxic, so don't be tempted to put in extra for good measure. "


Thoughts or sources to the contrary?

 

[WannaBeHillBilly]

In extreme amounts everything is toxic, just try to drink three gallons of water one after the other or eat a 10lbs bag of sugar…
Niacin is as toxic as ascorbic acid (vitamin C), which means you would need to eat a lot to overwhelm your (or your ducks) kidneys, very likely in the double digit grams per kilogram of body weight. I accidentally fed about 3 grams of niacin to my drake Limpy one evening (he gulped down the niacin drenched mealworms all alone, that were meant for five ducks) and other than him glowing in the dark (just kidding, try 200mg of niacin yourself and you'll understand) nothing bad happened. He just peed out the excess.
All fatty vitamins (A,D,E and K) are much more likely to be overdosed, especially vitamin E.
Don't worry, just add the niacin to your feed mix.

 

[Kessel23]

Well excessively high levels of anything in a feed can be very harmful or toxic to your birds so I'm sure it is true to some level to bad it does not say how much is to much lol.

 

[Miss Lydia]

I like Nutritional yeast best of all. 1 tablespoon per 1 cup of feed. Use this unless their is one who comes up with an issue then go to the liquid b complex.

 

[Isaac 0]

I've always just put a few drops of poultry vitamins in their water until they are able to switch to formulated duck feed. I also think in conjunction with proving niacin, letting them outside and find bugs/grass/roots that they might find in the wild is a more natural approach too.

Everything in moderation.