I raise all of mine on nutrena naturewise meat bird crumbles and don't add anything for extra niacin. It's actually a little higher in protein than the all flock.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?
It is said to go with the lower protein because some sources suggest that high protein diets cause angel wing.
I've seen no evidence of that here.