Do you think Daisy may have had a niacin deficiency? I understand it causes leg problems. I don't know if ducks can get Marek's disease but that often starts with paralysis of a leg(in chickens) and get worse from there.
Show off your house ducks!
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acriswell4
Chirping
- Jul 24, 2016
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Does anyone have only one duck and a job? What do you do with your duck when your away from the house?
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SQUEE! Can't wait to get mine from her plus another, I won it a while ago! My roo is wearing one I made but he's not as comfy in it as Daisy was...Olive got her watermelon diaper from SewSammi! She gets lots of compliments on it when we are out walking playing Pokemon Go.
My girl lived in her house in the dogs' room. There was much entertainment for her in there while I was at work with them & I leave their TV on all day with their doggy DVD, plus she had her toys & food. She was happy.
AmandaVirginia
Songster
My girl lived in her house in the dogs' room. There was much entertainment for her in there while I was at work with them & I leave their TV on all day with their doggy DVD, plus she had her toys & food. She was happy.
x2. After I hatched Cal, he and Winter went outside together. But for the first 13 months of her life, when it was just Winter, she lived happily inside with my three Yorkies. While I was away at school, I put her in her pen with her food and water (in my room with my three Yorkies). The television is always left on. She was always very content and more than happy
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Those are all good ideas. I keep thinking that Mavis needs a new house but to be completely honest her current living quarters are working really well for both of us. She's still in her brooder. I'm kinda embarrassed to admit that but she's really happy there. I'll post a pic. It's a long glass tank and she can fly out whenever she wants. Which she doesn't do often so I know she's content. She's right in the middle of the living room under a window she looks out and it's super easy to clean. She knows it's her home. Maybe I'll just keep her in there until it's not working for one of us. Plus she spends most of the day "free ranging" around the house and playing with the endless toys that are always all over the place. And she gets outside time everyday. The duck in the pic is her stuffed animal she sleeps with. Lol.
I will definitely take some new pics of her in her diaper today. That thing is a lifesaver! She wears it every single day. She's still a brat about putting it on but it works great! This is the only one I have now.
NO. CANNOT DO THIS. MAVIS ON THE HARDWOOD FLOOR WITH HER WEBS. CUTENESS. HELP PLEASE...Those are all good ideas. I keep thinking that Mavis needs a new house but to be completely honest her current living quarters are working really well for both of us. She's still in her brooder. I'm kinda embarrassed to admit that but she's really happy there. I'll post a pic. It's a long glass tank and she can fly out whenever she wants. Which she doesn't do often so I know she's content. She's right in the middle of the living room under a window she looks out and it's super easy to clean. She knows it's her home. Maybe I'll just keep her in there until it's not working for one of us. Plus she spends most of the day "free ranging" around the house and playing with the endless toys that are always all over the place. And she gets outside time everyday. The duck in the pic is her stuffed animal she sleeps with. Lol.
I will definitely take some new pics of her in her diaper today. That thing is a lifesaver! She wears it every single day. She's still a brat about putting it on but it works great! This is the only one I have now.
Lol!! Mavis is in BIG trouble!! And I guess this is a good place to vent about it. Her favorite thing in the world is going on the slip and slide with the kids. So today we setup the slip and slide and she was having a blast with my 3 kids. I went inside to change and when I came back out I did not see her. I didn't think much of it until I looked in all her regular spots and could not find her. I went all over the property calling her for 30 minutes! My middle son was crying his eyes out because she was not in the yard. Well our neighbors were having a small BBQ and she was there hanging out with them!! They gave her water and grapes and she looked at me like "what's the big deal, I can have my own life too". I was so mad at her!! Only because she had started to really scare me. Now I know she's found out that she's got other human friends in the neighborhood, I gotta keep an even closer eye on her!
Hannah Weston
In the Brooder
I did look into that and I purchased some supplements for her. She did not improve so I believe that she might have had some deformity in her spine as she could not extend her neck and she would always fall over.
http://metzerfarms.blogspot.com/2011/03/are-my-ducklings-leg-problems-due-to.html
Sunday, March 13, 2011
Are My Ducklings' Leg Problems Due to a Niacin Deficiency?
Originally posted by John Metzer on Wed, Dec 29, 2010 @ 03:22 PM
Niacin is a critical vitamin required for the correct development of ducklings and goslings. In fact, waterfowl have a higher requirement for niacin (also called nicotinic acid) than chickens. Niacin is formed from the amino acid tryptophan and waterfowl do not synthesize niacin well from tryptophan.
What do the birds look like if there is a niacin deficiency? If there is a lack of niacin in their feed, initially some birds are reluctant to move about. Eventually their hocks swell and their legs develop a bowed shape. It becomes very difficult for them to move about and they do not gain weight or thrive. In young birds you will see problems within several days if they do not have adequate niacin. If they remain on a low niacin diet, death may occur within two to three weeks as it is just too painful for the birds to move to eat and drink.
A series of pictures from the book, Nutrition and Management of Ducks, with permission of the authors, showing a normal duckling (A) and ducklings (B,C,D) that were fed Niacin deficient diets.
How can this happen? If you are not using a balanced chick starter designed for broiler chicks or game birds, you may have problems. If you are using a chick starter developed exclusively for laying chickens, it probably does not have enough niacin. Do not make their diet exclusively whole grains, like Chicken Scratch. On very rare occasions, the lack of niacin could be from a mistake at the feed mill.
So how much niacin do waterfowl require? It should be at least 55 parts per million (ppm). This is the same as 55mg per kilogram of feed or 55mg per 2.2 pounds of feed. Oftentimes this is not on the label but if you contact the manufacturer of the feed, they should tell you the minimum guaranteed level in the feed. You can go to our website for a complete list of waterfowl nutrientrequirements.
A bottle of Niacin tablets, 500 mgs per tablet.
How can I supplement niacin? Niacin can be easily purchased at a nutrition or drug store. Typically the pills contain 500 mgs of niacin per tablet. Assuming a duck is eating about .35 lbs per day (this is how much a Pekin is eating at about 3 -4 weeks of age) , they need 10 milligrams (mgs) of niacin a day. So, theoretically, one pill has enough niacin for 50 ducks. But if you are grinding up a pill and spreading it over pelleted feed, much of it will sift to the bottom and not be consumed. Add a little water to the feed and it will “stick” to the pellets.
An alternative is to add it to their drinking water (assuming they have no swimming water). If they drink 100% of the water you give them, you only need to add one 500 mg tablet to every 8 gallons of water. But we both know that does not happen. If you think they are wasting half their water, then add one 500 mg tablet to only four gallons of water. For your own calculations, go to the table on our website on daily feed and water consumption of ducklings.
Are there alternatives to pure Niacin? If you are concerned with the possibility that other vitamins may be missing, too, you can purchase Vitamin B liquid supplements. The GNC product I found had 20 mg of niacin per dropper full. This is enough for two ducks that are 3-4 weeks old. This might be the best way to administer niacin if your birds are exhibiting leg problems. By administering the niacin to each bird, you will know they are getting the required niacin.
A feed ingredient that is rich in niacin is dried brewers yeast. There is about 5mg niacin per 15 grams (one tablespoon) of human grade brewers yeast. Livestock grade brewers yeast is not as concentrated. There is only about 1.5 grams niacin for each tablespoon of livestock grade brewers yeast.
If you are not sure if your problem is due to inadequate niacin, give them some sort of additional niacin as soon as possible. You will not harm them if you give them too much niacin. And if they quickly recover, you know you found the problem.
What if only a few of my birds have leg problems? Variability within a flock is normal. Each bird varies on how well it forms niacin from tryptophan, either due to genetics or the different microflora in their gut. It would not be unusual to have a single flock of birds, with some exhibiting a niacin deficiency and others walking perfectly normally - but all eating the same feed.
Glory, a duck that was rescued by Majestic Waterfowl Sanctuary, arrived with leg problems due to a niacin deficient diet.
How long does it take for recovery? Except for the extreme cases such as the picture above, improvement is normally seen within several days and there can be complete recovery. But this requires adequate niacin within 24 hours of the first sign of a problem.
Sunday, March 13, 2011
Are My Ducklings' Leg Problems Due to a Niacin Deficiency?
Originally posted by John Metzer on Wed, Dec 29, 2010 @ 03:22 PM
Niacin is a critical vitamin required for the correct development of ducklings and goslings. In fact, waterfowl have a higher requirement for niacin (also called nicotinic acid) than chickens. Niacin is formed from the amino acid tryptophan and waterfowl do not synthesize niacin well from tryptophan.
What do the birds look like if there is a niacin deficiency? If there is a lack of niacin in their feed, initially some birds are reluctant to move about. Eventually their hocks swell and their legs develop a bowed shape. It becomes very difficult for them to move about and they do not gain weight or thrive. In young birds you will see problems within several days if they do not have adequate niacin. If they remain on a low niacin diet, death may occur within two to three weeks as it is just too painful for the birds to move to eat and drink.
A series of pictures from the book, Nutrition and Management of Ducks, with permission of the authors, showing a normal duckling (A) and ducklings (B,C,D) that were fed Niacin deficient diets.
How can this happen? If you are not using a balanced chick starter designed for broiler chicks or game birds, you may have problems. If you are using a chick starter developed exclusively for laying chickens, it probably does not have enough niacin. Do not make their diet exclusively whole grains, like Chicken Scratch. On very rare occasions, the lack of niacin could be from a mistake at the feed mill.
So how much niacin do waterfowl require? It should be at least 55 parts per million (ppm). This is the same as 55mg per kilogram of feed or 55mg per 2.2 pounds of feed. Oftentimes this is not on the label but if you contact the manufacturer of the feed, they should tell you the minimum guaranteed level in the feed. You can go to our website for a complete list of waterfowl nutrientrequirements.
A bottle of Niacin tablets, 500 mgs per tablet.
How can I supplement niacin? Niacin can be easily purchased at a nutrition or drug store. Typically the pills contain 500 mgs of niacin per tablet. Assuming a duck is eating about .35 lbs per day (this is how much a Pekin is eating at about 3 -4 weeks of age) , they need 10 milligrams (mgs) of niacin a day. So, theoretically, one pill has enough niacin for 50 ducks. But if you are grinding up a pill and spreading it over pelleted feed, much of it will sift to the bottom and not be consumed. Add a little water to the feed and it will “stick” to the pellets.
An alternative is to add it to their drinking water (assuming they have no swimming water). If they drink 100% of the water you give them, you only need to add one 500 mg tablet to every 8 gallons of water. But we both know that does not happen. If you think they are wasting half their water, then add one 500 mg tablet to only four gallons of water. For your own calculations, go to the table on our website on daily feed and water consumption of ducklings.
Two broiler chicks, the one on the left was fed a niacin deficient diet.
Photo courtesy of DSM Nutritional Products.
Photo courtesy of DSM Nutritional Products.
Are there alternatives to pure Niacin? If you are concerned with the possibility that other vitamins may be missing, too, you can purchase Vitamin B liquid supplements. The GNC product I found had 20 mg of niacin per dropper full. This is enough for two ducks that are 3-4 weeks old. This might be the best way to administer niacin if your birds are exhibiting leg problems. By administering the niacin to each bird, you will know they are getting the required niacin.
A feed ingredient that is rich in niacin is dried brewers yeast. There is about 5mg niacin per 15 grams (one tablespoon) of human grade brewers yeast. Livestock grade brewers yeast is not as concentrated. There is only about 1.5 grams niacin for each tablespoon of livestock grade brewers yeast.
If you are not sure if your problem is due to inadequate niacin, give them some sort of additional niacin as soon as possible. You will not harm them if you give them too much niacin. And if they quickly recover, you know you found the problem.
What if only a few of my birds have leg problems? Variability within a flock is normal. Each bird varies on how well it forms niacin from tryptophan, either due to genetics or the different microflora in their gut. It would not be unusual to have a single flock of birds, with some exhibiting a niacin deficiency and others walking perfectly normally - but all eating the same feed.
Glory, a duck that was rescued by Majestic Waterfowl Sanctuary, arrived with leg problems due to a niacin deficient diet.
How long does it take for recovery? Except for the extreme cases such as the picture above, improvement is normally seen within several days and there can be complete recovery. But this requires adequate niacin within 24 hours of the first sign of a problem.
How did that cute little thing get over there to the neighbors'? She sure knows how to work people. Grapes and water. Did the little Mavis fly over or waddle/walk over? I cannot believe she just went over there without our permission. But on the more serious side. I'd have been scared to death!! And you poor son. Hysterical over her. I would be too. My friend's duck "went missing" once and his son scoured the yard looking and calling for her. He came into the house in hysterics. Later they found her under a tree sitting on her eggs just oblivious to it all.Lol!! Mavis is in BIG trouble!! And I guess this is a good place to vent about it. Her favorite thing in the world is going on the slip and slide with the kids. So today we setup the slip and slide and she was having a blast with my 3 kids. I went inside to change and when I came back out I did not see her. I didn't think much of it until I looked in all her regular spots and could not find her. I went all over the property calling her for 30 minutes! My middle son was crying his eyes out because she was not in the yard. Well our neighbors were having a small BBQ and she was there hanging out with them!! They gave her water and grapes and she looked at me like "what's the big deal, I can have my own life too". I was so mad at her!! Only because she had started to really scare me. Now I know she's found out that she's got other human friends in the neighborhood, I gotta keep an even closer eye on her!
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