Straight niacin or brewers yeast

[Y-Knot]

Hello everyone. I'm sure a lot you know the answer to this but I am fairly new to ducks and want to make sure they get the best care possible.
If it best to use pure niacin or brewers yeast? Also, how much should I give the ducks?
Thanks for the help.

 

[buff goose guy]

@Amiga should be able to help i think she knows about niacin

 

[tdd2]

Brewers yeast is best - niacin cannot be overdosed using brewers yeast, but you CAN overdose the ducklings on B vitamins using a concentrated source, such as a vitamin capsule.

Typically, a teaspoon full sprinkled on their feed each day is sufficient.

Hope that helps!

Dan

 

[Amiga]

Here are my thoughts on niacin - Storey's Guide recommends 100 to 150 mg niacin per gallon of drinking water to address niacin deficiency in ducklings.

Holderread also mentions brewer's yeast.

Brewer's yeast has more than niacin in it - and while I have not seen studies about this, so I am guessing, seems to me that brewer's yeast may provide better all-around nutritional boost since it has more types of nutrients in it.

At the same time, we are making some estimates when it comes to dosage for brewer's yeast.

I did some calculations based on labels on brewer's yeast, and came up with this:

Okay, two tablespoons of brewer's yeast contains 10 mg of niacin, based on this page http://nutritiondata.self.com/facts/custom/1323569/2

The guesswork is in how much water a duckling actually ingests in a day. If a duckling actually drinks a half a cup of water a day, it would be getting (16 cups in a gallon, 32 half cups in a gallon . . . . 150 divided by 30, more or less) 5 mg of niacin from water with 150 mg niacin per gallon. Which would be about a tablespoon of brewer's yeast.

For me, I would not want to wait till there are signs of deficiency (lameness, seizures) if all I can feed is chick crumbles, so I would add brewer's yeast to the crumble from the git go. Because B3, niacin, is key in nervous system development.

 

[Y-Knot]

I thank you so much for you information. Six more little duckies will be arriving on the 4th of March and I want to make sure and do the best I can for them. I read several books that kept mentioning Niacin but I kept reading about Brewers Yeast on duck websites. I will purchase some Brewers Yeast right away. I never like waiting until it's too late for anything.

It seems to me that when you purchase an animal that needs your care, you should do the best for them you can.

Now I'm trying to find a feed that will take care of my ducks, drakes and the young ones once they are fairly developed. It is rather difficult to feed more than one feed to critters who are in the same area. I've been researching the matter. Perhaps mixing whole grains with layer feed...

Thanks again for your time and information.

 

[Amiga]

Many people use a flock feed and set free choice oyster shell out for laying ducks. I need to boost calcium for several of mine - it is a constant project.

I agree - it is good for our flocks to thrive, not just survive. The learning curve is steep, and you have duck people here on the forum who love to learn and share.

 

[Y-Knot]

Thanks Amiga. I really enjoy learning new things. My friend probably thinks I'm nuts. I have read several books about ducks and their care. He was going to the feed store for duck feed for our new ducklings. Here I am telling him to get me two bags of feed. It must be this for ducklings, don't get medicated. Also get this for my adult flock. He was quite good about what he bought.
Crazy woman anyway ...

Me, not you!

 

[Amiga]

I tell people I lost my mind the day the ducklings arrived.

 

[CyndiD]

Here are my thoughts on niacin - Storey's Guide recommends 100 to 150 mg niacin per gallon of drinking water to address niacin deficiency in ducklings.

Holderread also mentions brewer's yeast.

Brewer's yeast has more than niacin in it - and while I have not seen studies about this, so I am guessing, seems to me that brewer's yeast may provide better all-around nutritional boost since it has more types of nutrients in it.

At the same time, we are making some estimates when it comes to dosage for brewer's yeast.

I did some calculations based on labels on brewer's yeast, and came up with this:

[COLOR=262626]Okay, two tablespoons of brewer's yeast contains 10 mg of niacin, based on this page [/COLOR][COLOR=0047A4]http://nutritiondata.self.com/facts/custom/1323569/2[/COLOR]

[COLOR=262626]The guesswork is in how much water a duckling actually ingests in a day.  If a duckling actually drinks a half a cup of water a day, it would be getting (16 cups in a gallon, 32 half cups in a gallon  . . . . 150 divided by 30, more or less) 5 mg of niacin from water with 150 mg niacin per gallon.  Which would be about a tablespoon of brewer's yeast.[/COLOR]

For me, I would not want to wait till there are signs of deficiency (lameness, seizures) if all I can feed is chick crumbles, so I would add brewer's yeast to the crumble from the git go.  Because B3, niacin, is key in nervous system development.

If we calculated this right, this would be about 2 cups of BY per gal of water!?! We bought a 1 (one) pound container of BY & it cost $16.00 WOW! This would be one container per gal of water. I have 10 ducklings at this time & 2 more coming in a couple of days. Im a caculating this right? If so, I think i may lower the BY in their water (& I put some in their wet crumble) & give them more greens & other foods w/niacin. Any suggestions?
Thanks @amiga for all your help & research & for caring. Sincerely

 

[Kaessa]

If we calculated this right, this would be about 2 cups of BY per gal of water!?! We bought a 1 (one) pound container of BY & it cost $16.00 WOW! This would be one container per gal of water. I have 10 ducklings at this time & 2 more coming in a couple of days. Im a caculating this right? If so, I think i may lower the BY in their water (& I put some in their wet crumble) & give them more greens & other foods w/niacin. Any suggestions?
Thanks @amiga for all your help & research & for caring. Sincerely

I don't think those calculations can be right. I use 1 TABLESPOON per cup of food, plus greens and stuff. One container per gallon of water wouldn't work at all.