Opinions?

[Sammster]

I don't know about if the commercial feed as far as chickens go needs more B etc, but regular chick feed and layer feed do not have all the niacin ducks need. Many duck owners have had ducklings get weak legs that have recovered after adding nutritional yeast (many more owners add it to prevent health issues in ducklings).

I see. The original poster did say "especially waterfowl".

 

[Sammster]

In the wild, chicken eat a lot of bugs. I don't see anything wrong with continuing with the BSFL.

At least you'll know where they are coming from, if you are growing them at home. If you are buying dead BSFL then read the package carefully.

OK. Im not growing them, so will give sparingly. They're on good food.

 

[Debbie292d]

I raise/breed silkies who are prone to vitamin deficiencies, so I have always supplemented their feed with rooster booster granules, but not even 1/4 of the dose. I just wanted the basic panel of vitamins/minerals raised slightly for them. That's year-round. They rarely get mealworms, sometimes some scrambled eggs, and their every-other-day scratch is a layer feed (Henhouse Reserve).

After nearly a decade of doing this and having little to no issues, I'm choosing to slack off to do every other 50# bag of feed or to 1/8 of the dose. The more I learn about which vitamins/minerals aren't naturally excreted if too much and sit in their kidneys or liver, the more leery I get of giving them anything extra consistently. Vit A is one example.