Please Help!!!

[TipsyDucklings]

She's about three weeks old. No, I often work during the day so it's hard to monitor how much she is eating. I see her eating in the evening though. She is just so small....and her feathers feel unhealthy. How often should I feed her by hand?

 

[Miss Lydia]

Just offer her food as often as you can if you don't think she is eating enough other wise .
Don't try and force her to eat though unless you are doing tube feeding.
Be sure she always has fresh water available too.

 

[Amiga]

@casportpony has good information about feeding for special needs,

 

[TipsyDucklings]

They might have it over in the pet section in pills if they don't have it in pharmacy. You could smash the pills and add to their feed. 150mgs per cup of feed .Check on label niacin dose. B3

Okay so I have 500mg niacin capsules. Should I just open the capsule up and eyeball what 150mg would look like? And is it fine that the other duck would be eating the niacin feed as well?

Today she seemed to be at her weakest point. That may be because we moved her outside for a bit though...

 

[TipsyDucklings]

Poor girl

 

[Tlmcq]

All ducks need extra niacin if on chick starter..Make sure you are not using flush free niacin as it is time released and be expelled from body before it can be absorbed. Drugstore niacin can be overdosed too btw...If it's 500 mg it would be a quarter of that. They need between 100-150 mg. I prefer to use nutritional yeast or Brewer's yeast as it is easier to administer and no risk of overdose. It's 1Tbsp per cup of feed.
You can find it at some grocery stores and any health food store or Amazon. I buy it at Kroger's...Looks like this

 

[Tlmcq]

Tastes similar to cheese...My ducks love it and will eat it straight from my hand

 

[Miss Lydia]

Bless her heart. I am thinking and I am going to be honest unless you intervene soon your going to lose her.

 

[Amiga]

Okay so I have 500mg niacin capsules. Should I just open the capsule up and eyeball what 150mg would look like? And is it fine that the other duck would be eating the niacin feed as well?

Today she seemed to be at her weakest point. That may be because we moved her outside for a bit though...

With 500 mg, I would put that into a cup of warm water to dissolve it, then pour a quarter cup of that into a gallon of water. That will give you 125 mg in just over a gallon of water, within the recommended levels. The other 3/4 cup can be stored in the frij and used the same way.

If she is getting overtired, I would keep her where the temperature is optimal, not too warm or chilly, give her an unbreakable mirror for company, at least.

 

[TipsyDucklings]

I could not find nutricial yeast or brewers yeast at my store and since I'm leaving for Nicaragua tomorrow I'm going to have to just set her up with the Niacin. I can't say that I didn't try.