Nutrena NatureWise All Flock / Chick Starter

[Salixx]

My new ducklings will be hatching/shipping August 30th so I am trying to finalize prepping for their arrival.

When I first got my late ducklings a young woman at tractor supply recommended Nutrena NatureWise Chick Starter as feed because it has the highest niacin content at 125ppm. I’ve seen that same amount echoed for their All Flock on this forum. Although my ducklings didn’t make it past four weeks (respiratory infection took them), until they got sick they were vibrant, healthy and showed no signs of niacin deficiency.

My question is a little two fold.

First, at these levels, do I need to supplement extra niacin?

Second, I’ve been seeing that lower protein is beneficial to growing ducklings. The chick starter, ironically, is lower protein (18%) than the All Flock (20%). I’ve had all my chickens on the NatireWise chick starter but my older birds are aging out of it so I bought a bag of All Flock for them. I still have some younger chicks to finish off the chick crumble but now I am wondering if I should get another bag of the chick starter for my ducklings since it’s lower protein. The all flock is also pellets, so I would have to make a mash out of it until the ducklings got a bit bigger.

What are your folks thoughts?

 

[Crazy Maizie]

I used the purina flock raiser, nutrena all flock, and kalmbach flock raiser and continue to use them with a mixed flock with no issues with chickens or ducks - and I've raised two sets of ducklings so far.
I would supplement with niacin for the first few months while they are speedily growing. I used nutritional yeast because it was easy enough to sprinkle on.
As far as the pellets, you can just add water to make a mash for the 1st few weeks. But, the ducklings aren't chicks, so pellets would be fine even at the start. When you go from mash to dry, just have a little of each available until you totally switch over. The only problem with a mash is that you have to switch it out often if they don't eat it all. I only fed ducklings a mash for the 1st week and then switched over.

 

[sowNreap]

I don't know about the Nutrena NatureWise Chick Starter but I've read conflicting info about niacin level in the Nutrena Naturewise All Flock which makes me skeptical about niacin claims in Chick Starter.

There's 2 posts on this forum where if I recall correctly, both said it was info they received directly from contacting Nutrena, one says it contains 125ppm but another says 125mg/lb . I don't know how to convert ppm into mg/lb but pretty sure those numbers wouldn't be the same.

A couple different Nutrena reps answering questions on Tractor Supply page for the All Flock stated "The NatureWise All Flock contains 54.0 mg/lb of niacin" another said it's not guaranteed & a 3rd said not guaranteed & it's not listed on the bag because it would make the tag too long to list everything & did not provide the niacin amount.

It would be nice to know exactly how much niacin it does have. I can't believe it would have twice as much niacin as Purina Duck feed which has 65ppm (27.24 MG/lb) but I guess it's possible.

In case anyone is interested here's the notes I made the other day when trying to decide on what to feed my ducks. Some niacin content comes from reading the question/answer section on the product page at Tractor Supply

Purina Duck Feed Pellets - 40lbs /$18.49 ..NIACIN = 65ppm (via another customer) - 27.24 MG/lb via Customer Experience Rep .. Protein 19%
DuMOR 17% All Flock Pellet - 50lbs /$18.99 .. NIACIN = 60ppm ... Protein 17%
Purina Flock Raiser -50lbs /$20.99 ..NIACIN = 55ppm ...... Protein 20%
Nutrena Naturewise All Flock- 40lbs /$18.49 ..NIACIN = 125ppm ??... Protein 18% ...... NIACIN = 125ppm or 125 MG/KG per forum/email but per TS Nutrena reps answering question says 54mg/lb or not guaranteed


Sorry, I know this doesn't answer your questions it's just more of a heads up about claimed niacin levels.

 

[Salixx]

I don't know about the Nutrena NatureWise Chick Starter but I've read conflicting info about niacin level in the Nutrena Naturewise All Flock which makes me skeptical about niacin claims in Chick Starter.

There's 2 posts on this forum where if I recall correctly, both said it was info they received directly from contacting Nutrena, one says it contains 125ppm but another says 125mg/lb . I don't know how to convert ppm into mg/lb but pretty sure those numbers wouldn't be the same.

A couple different Nutrena reps answering questions on Tractor Supply page for the All Flock stated "The NatureWise All Flock contains 54.0 mg/lb of niacin" another said it's not guaranteed & a 3rd said not guaranteed & it's not listed on the bag because it would make the tag too long to list everything & did not provide the niacin amount.

It would be nice to know exactly how much niacin it does have. I can't believe it would have twice as much niacin as Purina Duck feed which has 65ppm (27.24 MG/lb) but I guess it's possible.

In case anyone is interested here's the notes I made the other day when trying to decide on what to feed my ducks. Some niacin content comes from reading the question/answer section on the product page at Tractor Supply

Purina Duck Feed Pellets - 40lbs /$18.49 ..NIACIN = 65ppm (via another customer) - 27.24 MG/lb via Customer Experience Rep .. Protein 19%
DuMOR 17% All Flock Pellet - 50lbs /$18.99 .. NIACIN = 60ppm ... Protein 17%
Purina Flock Raiser -50lbs /$20.99 ..NIACIN = 55ppm ...... Protein 20%
Nutrena Naturewise All Flock- 40lbs /$18.49 ..NIACIN = 125ppm ??... Protein 18% ...... NIACIN = 125ppm or 125 MG/KG per forum/email but per TS Nutrena reps answering question says 54mg/lb or not guaranteed


Sorry, I know this doesn't answer your questions it's just more of a heads up about claimed niacin levels.

It answers it enough that I’ll get some nutritional yeast and add it. Better safe than sorry!

As for the mg/lb - if I had to guess, the poster meant mg/kg which is the same as ppm. As a general rule metric and imperial are not mixed. It’s possible but if manufacturers are using thise measurements together it will drive me mad and would seem underhanded.

For reference, 1 kg ~ 2.2lb, so 125ppm would be roughly twice the concentration of 125mg/lb.

 

[sowNreap]

For reference, 1 kg ~ 2.2lb, so 125ppm would be roughly twice the concentration of 125mg/lb.

Thanks for that helpful info. You're probably right & poster thought is was mg/lb instead of mg/kg.

Still doesn't explain why the Nutrena Rep answering questions on Tractor Supply product page for the All Flock said 54mg/lb. How would 54mg/lb equate to PPM? But even so that's twice as much niacin as in Purina Duck Feed. I was going to try it but it was out of stock so went with DuMOR All Flock. I returned the Purina Duck Feed because it was so "dusty" almost all the way thought the bag & had to get something. I scooped some info 5 gal bucket & every scoop was full of "dust". It's highly unusual to get "bad" product at TS but that bag sure was. I bet there was 10 lbs of "dust". Someone must have used it as punching bag or something. lol

 

[Salixx]

Thanks for that helpful info. You're probably right & poster thought is was mg/lb instead of mg/kg.

Still doesn't explain why the Nutrena Rep answering questions on Tractor Supply product page for the All Flock said 54mg/lb. How would 54mg/lb equate to PPM? But even so that's twice as much niacin as in Purina Duck Feed. I was going to try it but it was out of stock so went with DuMOR All Flock. I returned the Purina Duck Feed because it was so "dusty" almost all the way thought the bag & had to get something. I scooped some info 5 gal bucket & every scoop was full of "dust". It's highly unusual to get "bad" product at TS but that bag sure was. I bet there was 10 lbs of "dust". Someone must have used it as punching bag or something. lol

I’m not sure what the rep was thinking. Perhaps another instance of pounds when kilograms were meant?

54mg/lb would be about 25.5ppm. I think I’m going to email the company to get a better answer. That would be very low, IMO.

 

[Salixx]

Thanks for that helpful info. You're probably right & poster thought is was mg/lb instead of mg/kg.

Still doesn't explain why the Nutrena Rep answering questions on Tractor Supply product page for the All Flock said 54mg/lb. How would 54mg/lb equate to PPM? But even so that's twice as much niacin as in Purina Duck Feed. I was going to try it but it was out of stock so went with DuMOR All Flock. I returned the Purina Duck Feed because it was so "dusty" almost all the way thought the bag & had to get something. I scooped some info 5 gal bucket & every scoop was full of "dust". It's highly unusual to get "bad" product at TS but that bag sure was. I bet there was 10 lbs of "dust". Someone must have used it as punching bag or something. lol

I’m not sure what the rep was thinking. Perhaps another instance of pounds when kilograms were meant?

54mg/lb would be about 25.5ppm. I think I’m going to email the company to get a better answer. That would be very low, IMO.

 

[sowNreap]

54mg/lb would be about 25.5ppm. I think I’m going to email the company to get a better answer. That would be very low, IMO

Purina Duck Feed is 27.24mg/LB (as per Customer Experience rep on Tractor Supply product page, not sure if that's TS rep or Nutrena rep) so it's not that much lower than duck food made just for ducks. Is that amount of niacin correct for adult ducks but not ducklings? I'm thinking I read adult duck need more like 40-60ppm with larger breeds needing upper end or even more or maybe that was amount for ducklings. I may not be recalling that correctly, I've read so much about niacin & ducks my memory is full & some stuff is getting purged. lol

It seems calling or emailing Nutrena again might be useful. Let's see what they say now.

 

[Crazy Maizie]

Purina Duck Feed is 27.24mg/LB (as per Customer Experience rep on Tractor Supply product page, not sure if that's TS rep or Nutrena rep) so it's not that much lower than duck food made just for ducks. Is that amount of niacin correct for adult ducks but not ducklings? I'm thinking I read adult duck need more like 40-60ppm with larger breeds needing upper end or even more or maybe that was amount for ducklings. I may not be recalling that correctly, I've read so much about niacin & ducks my memory is full & some stuff is getting purged. lol

It seems calling or emailing Nutrena again might be useful. Let's see what they say now.

I emailed purina in 2018 regarding the niacin content in Flock Raiser. This is the answer I got:

"Purina Flock Raiser has 55 ppm niacin. You will not need to supplement additional niacin, the product is formulated to meet the needs of ducklings."

I'm never quite sure the reps who answer those tsc questions answer correctly.

 

[Crazy Maizie]

This is from a purina pdf