I need help!

Hi all. So we have had chickens for several years now and we just got ducklings. We have 5, six week old ducks. They are kept separate from the chickens. They have a generous size run and are out almost the entire day in the yard with our supervision. Yesterday all day they were fine. At 8pm as I was walking them up to their run I noticed Ollie, our blue Swedish, lagging behind 2-3 feet which is so unlike her. I didn’t think too much of it and put them away. Today she is still moving very slow from the pack. I did not see her eat however she is drinking. (They have constant access to drinking water as well as a small pond). I offered her some mini peas which is a favorite for all of them. The others gobbled them from my hands but she turned her head. I want to mention they are on Nature’s Best Organic Duck feed which I was told by the company has the proper niacin for them. The 1 acre they have access to is meticulous and other than grass and landscaping there is nothing she could have gotten into. Just a bit ago I gave her and the others a gallon of water with probiotics/electrolytes. Looking at her there aren’t any physical issues, no weird neck or head movements, no limping etc. Any input would be much appreciated.

The feed your ducks are on only has 25mg. of niacin per pound and the recommended amount per pound is 55mg. Also with swedish being a larger breed they often need more niacin than many other breeds. I would start with getting Durvet's B complex at your local farm store and giving 1ml daily orally (do not dilute in water).

A couple of thoughts: Could be an infection of some kind or maybe she ate something bad. Have you seen any other symptoms, like shivering or shaking?

Another thought is to check her feet for injuries or bumble foot. She's pretty young, but if she cut her foot on something or got a splinter even a young duck could get a little bumble. I'd keep an eye on how much she's eating (maybe set up a camera). I wouldn't want her to go too many days without eating.

HollowOfWisps said:

The feed your ducks are on only has 25mg. of niacin per pound and the recommended amount per pound is 55mg. Also with swedish being a larger breed they often need more niacin than many other breeds. I would start with getting Durvet's B complex at your local farm store and giving 1ml daily orally (do not dilute in water).

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Omgosh wow this is really shocking that a feed company would tell me the wrong information. I was told by them that their feed provides all of the niacin needed for ducklings and ducks. Thank you so much for your advice. Do you think this would be ok to wait to get in the morning as the feed store is nowhere near me. (I noticed her acting differently yesterday evening). Also going forward should I be sprinkling brewer’s yeast on their feed?

Galaxyfalcon said:

A couple of thoughts: Could be an infection of some kind or maybe she ate something bad. Have you seen any other symptoms, like shivering or shaking?

Another thought is to check her feet for injuries or bumble foot. She's pretty young, but if she cut her foot on something or got a splinter even a young duck could get a little bumble. I'd keep an eye on how much she's eating (maybe set up a camera). I wouldn't want her to go too many days without eating.

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Thanks for your reply! There is no shivering or shaking. I don’t think she ate anything, unless she got into a flower that could be bad for ducks. I guess I would describe her as being lethargic. I checked her feet they are fine. Thanks again!

Get the liquid B complex and until she gets her appetite back give it orally it will say injectable on the bottle but we use it orally. Once she starts eating you can put it over something she really loves just enough treat so she gets the whole dose.
you might want to get someone to hold the duck so you have both hands free to administer the dose. A 1ml syringe works great.

Clairemarie1982 said:

Omgosh wow this is really shocking that a feed company would tell me the wrong information. I was told by them that their feed provides all of the niacin needed for ducklings and ducks. Thank you so much for your advice. Do you think this would be ok to wait to get in the morning as the feed store is nowhere near me. (I noticed her acting differently yesterday evening). Also going forward should I be sprinkling brewer’s yeast on their feed?

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Please use Durvet high level Vitamin B complex as per advice already given.

I have drakes and they stopped receiving extra niacin above the duck pellets when they were about 16 weeks old. My son has females and he also stopped extra niacin but had to restart it as one of his females gets "confused" without extra niacin. Another of his females is a prolific egg layer -- daily now for 11 months -- and so she needs extra niacin, and other vitamins in her water. So my son's flock -- including the drake -- all get extra B vitamins on their food, and other vitamins in their water.

What sort of yeast to add to your duck food? Please read the labels before purchasing. Most, but not all, preparations labeled nutritional yeast contain higher levels of niacin than brewer's yeast. However, nutritional yeast is food grade, prepared for humans, and expensive. We use brewer's yeast that is not human food grade for my son's ducks as it can be purchased in bulk and is much much cheaper. It's prepared for pets by Josh's Frogs. We use 1 tablespoon of brewer's yeast sprinkled ontop of each cupful of duck pellets in the communal feeding bowl. His ducks love it.

If the cost of nutritional yeast is not a problem, it does contain more niacin .

https://www.joshsfrogs.com/instantsearchplus/result/?q=brewers yeast
If you have Amazon Prime, it cheapest to purchase through Amazon. If you don't have Prime, or if the larger size is out of stock at Amazon, its cheaper to buy directly from Josh's frogs and pay the mailing charges.

I can’t thank you all enough for your replies. I will be heading to Tractor Supply this morning to get the Vitamin B. Going forward can y’all recommend what I could do to rectify this problem. Can I ask what specific feeds you all are using/ brewers yeast or nutritional yeast. I just want the best for these little ones, they are my children’s pets and mean so much to us. Thanks again.

HollowOfWisps said:

The feed your ducks are on only has 25mg. of niacin per pound and the recommended amount per pound is 55mg. Also with swedish being a larger breed they often need more niacin than many other breeds. I would start with getting Durvet's B complex at your local farm store and giving 1ml daily orally (do not dilute in water).

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Thank you for your helpful reply. Would you mind telling me if the rest of the feed’s nutritional values look ok? And this way I just supplement for the missing niacin? Or would you suggest I switch to a totally different feed? Thanks again.