Ducks And Niacin – What The Quack Is This All About!? And When Things Are Going Wrong How To Fix It.

UGH – Where to start! So I got ducks, Jumbo Pekin Ducks to be precise. We can start there. (wink) We waited over a month for the ducks to arrive and in that time I did tons of research. Our family was so excited to receive our three little cuties in the mail. I ordered them from Metzer Farms. I figured three female Pekin ducks would be the perfect addition. And when they showed up they were the hit of our little homestead. That is until things started to go wrong. I ended up having ducks with a niacin deficiency and I scrambled to learn all I could so I could help them. And so this would never happen again.

How it started…

Daisy, Pickles, and Professor Snuggles (all girls because as my daughter said – Women can be professors too) arrived at our home on August 3rd, 2023, and were 2 days old. They were energetic little things running all over the place; they were full of energy, super curious, and kept us on our toes from the beginning. They took off quickly and were growing super fast. The first week all was well. It was at the beginning of week 2 that I started to notice issues. After much research, I found that ducks with a Niacin Deficiency are mostly seen in ducks between 2-7 weeks of age. This is when they are growing the fastest. The niacin helps with development. It helps their bones form properly. Without it, they become weak and can become deformed. Having weak legs keeps them from eating and drinking due to the lack of movement and can lead to death.

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I kept them in a brooder made out of a large tote. Each day I would take them out and play with them in the yard. I had such fun watching them run around. At the beginning of week 2 though things started to change. It was like the wind had been taken away from them. I began to notice they were sitting more instead of running around.

Pay close attention to your babies…

Now mind you we were in the middle of the horrible summer that was amplified by a heat dome lingering over Texas. Our temperatures were in the upper 90s and lower 100s with heat indexes ranging from 106 to 123 depending on the humidity. So there was nothing alarming about the animals sitting around more than usual and not being super energetic. But this was different.

They would walk for a small bit, sit, get up, and walk only to sit again very quickly. Then I noticed Pickles stood up to walk and it seemed her legs were more to the sides of her and not right under her. It was not drastic, but it was definitely noticeable to me. Now after having chickens for 3 1/2 years, I have learned so much about birds and issues they can have. I have attended seminars to learn to care for them because having a veterinarian near you who takes your birds is not always available. I had previously researched vitamin deficiencies with chickens causing splayed legs and knew what I was seeing with the ducks had to be related to a vitamin issue.

My hunt for answers

I came inside and began my hunt for answers. From what I remembered, ducks needed a lot of Niacin. When I purchased their food I specifically bought feed specifically made for ducks and had Niacin in it with high protein to start them off right. It said on the back of the feed bag that supplementing was not needed and that it had everything needed for young ducks. But my ducks are Pekin ducks. They eat a lot more and I started to wonder if the Nutritional Values on the bag were correct or enough. After much research, I realized the splayed legs and issues I was seeing are very common in ducks with a niacin deficiency. I am not the only one who has learned this the hard way. And sadly this is not always just a Pekin Duck issue. Some ducks just need more. Even in a group of ducks, all can be doing good and one duck can struggle.

Most feed has niacin in it. But making sure they get enough is what you need to be on the lookout for. As I stated above – sitting, splayed legs, and exhaustion can be signs of a niacin deficiency.

Signs and Symptoms of ducks with a niacin deficiency

• The top of the legs (hips) bulge out on the sides
• Toes turning inwards
• Waddle more than normal
• Legs bowing
• Joints becoming enlarged/swollen – especially the hock joint
• Doesn’t move around a lot
• Prefers to sit – even when eating
• Loss of balance

So here is the skinny on preventing and helping ducks with a niacin deficiency

Ducks need 55 parts per million (ppm) of niacin in their feed. All poultry feed comes with niacin. But we are going to do math as if there is no niacin. You can not overfeed your duck niacin. Unlike humans who can be harmed by too much niacin, ducks will use what they need and poop out the rest.

In order to know how much niacin is needed, you need to get an idea of how much food they eat per day. A Pekin duck will eat .07 pounds of food daily in its first week while a Mallard only .04 pounds. Here is a chart to look at to see where your ducklings might be at.

To figure out the niacin needed to feed your duckling simply take the amount they eat and stick it into this equation with F representing the amount of daily food needed from the chart above.

F x 55 / 1,000,000 x 454 x 1000

So how this would look is if you have a duckling that is 7 weeks old and is a Pekin you would know it is eating roughly .55 pounds of food a week. This means that when you replace the F in the equation with the number .55 you’d find that a 7-week-old duckling needs 14mg of niacin a day in its food.

You can figure out the need as if they have no niacin in their food and add it to their daily food intake OR you can do the math figuring out what you need by looking at your feed bag and doing your own math. For me, I followed the bag and thought I was good but ended up with ducks hurting. Therefore I prefer to treat them as if they are getting none and supplement 100%.

Now to talk supplements. There are 4 basic ways to add Niacin; Brewer’s yeast, Liquid Niacin, Niacin Tablets, and a Poultry Vitamin Pack. Read through the differences below and of course my opinions and make a choice on what is best for you and your flock.

Supplement with Brewer’s Yeast

I know a lot of people’s go-to is Brewer’s Yeast for ducks with a niacin deficiency. This is a decent method but it comes with issues. One is you have to make sure to buy the right kind. There are two types, human grade, and animal. Most of us would reach for the brewer’s yeast made for animals but it is not as strong and from everything I have read you will have to feed them 3 times the amount to receive the same benefits. That can get pricey. Typically you will have 5 mg per tablespoon in the human grade and about 1.5 mg per tablespoon of animal grade.

Another issue is waste. When you mix it with the food a lot of the supplement will fall through the food and cake to the bottom of the bowl/tray. So it is hard to be sure they are eating enough. One way around this is to wet their food so the brewer’s yeast sticks. Just be sure to change their food out daily because wet food can mold and that would not be good for your new little ducklings.

The bigger issue I have with Brewers Yeast is, from what I see, a lot of the nutritional information on the product doesn’t show how much niacin is in it. I have looked at quite a few trying to see how much you would need and the amounts of niacin are not listed.

With that said if you choose to use brewer’s yeast the math is the same. If you can find the milligrams on the package use the calculations above and sprinkle it over their food.

Supplement with Liquid Niacin

Liquid Niacin can be added to your duck’s water easily. In order to be sure they are getting enough though, you will need to ensure that all the water is being drank and none is getting wasted by them swimming in it. Because we all know they can’t resist wetting those feathers!

So the math basically is the same. You follow the chart, find out how much food your duck needs, and enter it into the equation. So for me, I had 3 ducks. Using the same math from above the ducks would need 14 mg of niacin a day. The niacin I had purchased had .80 mg per dropper. (80/14=5.71) So I get a little over 5 doses from my dropper. So adding 3/5 of the dropper into their water for the day would meet their needs.

To ensure they drank it all I would give them a smaller amount of water with the niacin and then once finished come back around and give them clean water for the rest of the day. When my chicks were 2-day old chicks they would drink almost one full water bottle. I used the typical waterers you buy from Tractor Supply, fill it up halfway, add the niacin, and then go from there.

Supplement with Niacin Tablets

Niacin Tablets can go in your duck’s water just like the liquid. You will need to crush the pill and then let it dissolve in the water.

For a large flock, you can buy a Niacin with 500 mg tablets. And for a smaller flock, you can buy the 100 mg tablets. The math is again the same. You use the equation above to figure out the needs. So for me, I would use the smaller tablet because I have such a small flock. By 7 weeks ducklings are drinking about 1/2 gallon a day. When calculating for my small flock of three I would use one 100 mg tablet per gallon. (100 mg tablet / 14 = 7.14) Now being that I can’t overdo the niacin I can put one tablet in a gallon and in the morning I would give them 1/2 of the gallon. They would each get their dosing and new water would be added once they finished the 1/2 gallon.

To me out of all the above seems the simplest way to go. You make the gallon or gallons and then dose daily as needed.

NOTE:

So you don’t have to google it. (wink) During the first week, a duckling will drink half a gallon per week. Which is a little over 9 ounces a day. They slowly increase and by 7 weeks they drink a half gallon daily. The easiest way to keep up with this is to know how much niacin is in each ounce. (100 mg / 128 ounces = .78 mg per ounce)

Using the equation above, if a 1-week-old duckling only needs 2.5 mg of niacin a day you can give them 3.5 ounces of the niacin and water solution and let them drink it until gone and then give them water for the rest of the day. If you have multiple ducks, simply multiply the 3.5 by the amount of ducks, and for me with three ducks, that would be 7.5 ounces a day during the first week.

Using a powdered supplement in their drinks

Finally, you can always use a vitamin pack from a duck dealer that has all the niacin the ducks will need plus other goodies. So I know I talked about my first flock of three. But since then I have bought 5 more. And with them, I purchased the VitaMetz Waterfowl Boost from Metzer Farms. I am starting them off with this. It is enough to make 20 gallons of water. There is 50,000 mg of niacin in this package! Now with this – I do not partner with Metzer. I have just had really good results with my babies and threw their products on here because I believe in them.

They do recommend at least starting them on this vitamin and then giving it to them for 3-4 days each month if needed. My plan is to use this all the way through until I run out and then move to the tablets.

Adult Ducks and Niacin

Although we are focusing on baby ducks with a niacin deficiency I wanted to add that adult ducks need niacin too. They are not in the growing stage anymore. So bone development and such will not be affected. They can still get a deficiency. Having a high quality feed will make all the difference in your duck’s life. And most feeds that I have seen with niacin work great for adults. Although supplementing it won’t hurt. Especially if given through their treats. They will love you! Here is the average feed adult ducks eat.

Thank you for taking the time to read this long-winded post about ducks with niacin deficiency and how to prevent/fix it. I hope it helped answer some Questions. If you have any questions ask below. And Good luck with those babies!