Growing ducks need a lot of niacin to mature and develop. Not only does it help ducks convert food into energy, but it also supports healthy skin, bones, muscles, and organs. Unfortunately, it is a pretty common problem for young ducks to have niacin deficiency.
Duck owners should understand what niacin is, its signs, how to diagnose it, and how to prevent and treat niacin deficiency in ducks.
If you’re a duck owner concerned about your duck’s niacin intake or if you’ve noticed potential signs of deficiency in your ducks, you’ll want to continue reading to learn more.
What is Niacin?
Niacin, or B3, is a vitamin that the body uses to convert food into energy. It supports healthy nervous and digestive systems as well as healthy skin and muscles.
As one of the eight vitamins occurring naturally in many foods, you can find it in yeast, grains, vegetables, and meats.
Niacin comes in two chemical varieties: nicotinic acid and niacinamide or nicotinamide. The body does not store it because it is a water-soluble vitamin. Any excess will therefore be excreted from a duck’s body.
A duck’s body absorbs B3 in the gut, intestines, and stomach. The body’s tissues convert niacin into the following coenzymes: nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (NAD) and nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide phosphate (NADP). Both are required to change food into energy.
Most niacin in a duck’s diet comes from nicotinamide, but some duck foods contain NAD and NADP.
What are the Signs of Niacin Deficiency in Ducks?
Firstly, a lack of B3 typically occurs in ducks when they are two to seven weeks old because this is when ducks are experiencing their most rapid growth. Ducks generally do not experience niacin deficit past ten weeks of age.
The typical signs of niacin deficiency are as follows:
- Bowed legs
- Swollen hock joints
- Low weight gain
- Weakness
- Frequent sitting
- Inability to walk
- Pigeon toes
- Failure to thrive
Keep a watch out for any of these signs in your young duck. If you notice them, ensure to check for niacin deficiency as soon as possible.
When left untreated, it can lead to deformities of the legs and other body parts and a lifelong inability to walk, seizures, and even death. For these reasons, it is vital to prevent and treat niacin deficits in ducks quickly.
Causes of Niacin Deficiency
Simply put, it occurs when there is not enough niacin in a duck’s diet. This can result from using the wrong feed.
An example includes free-ranging versus farmed ducks. Free-ranging ducks experience niacin deficiency far less frequently than farmed ducks because they can eat various sources. On the other hand, farmed ducks often eat chicken feed, which contains far less niacin than ducks need.
Since ducks require about twice as much B3 as chickens, farmed ducks are likely to develop a lack of B3. All due to having the wrong feed.
Diagnosing Niacin Deficiency
While collecting and testing urine can give you a definitive diagnosis of niacin deficiency, this is a somewhat tricky process, and most opt not to do it. Instead, most people diagnose it simply by noticing signs and responding.
You’ll know if niacin deficit is the culprit in your duckling’s failure to thrive if they respond to B3 supplementation in their diets. This response will include weight gain, increased strength, straightening of the legs, and increased walking and swimming. If you are unsure, seek veterinary care for a proper diagnosis.
Preventing Niacin Deficiency
The best way to prevent niacin deficits is to ensure your duck has a diet high in niacin. Ducklings need approximately 10 mg of niacin each day. Adult ducks need even more at about 12.5 mg each day. This is twice as much niacin as chickens require and about eighty-three percent of the amount of niacin needed by humans. Humans need approximately 14-16 mg of niacin each day, only 1.5-3.5 mg more than what is required by ducks.
There are several ways to prevent a lack of niacin in ducks.
Using a Feed Formulated for Ducks
It is common among those who keep ducks to offer chicken feed as the primary source of nutrition. However, because ducks require much more B3 than chickens, offering only chicken feed can lead to insufficient niacin consumption.
Several commercial duck feeds are available to help you prevent niacin insufficiencies in your ducks. These include the following:
Purina Duck Feed Pellets
This duck food aims at meeting all of your duck’s dietary needs. It features five-pound packages of pellets that ducks can use as their sole source of nutrition for their entire life span.
Purina’s Duck feed has 65 ppm of B3 as well as high amounts of prebiotics and probiotics. Altogether, it is 19% protein.
Mazuri Waterfowl Maintenance Duck & Geese Food
This duck feed is designed for non-breeding, fully matured ducks. One benefit of Mazuri’s meal is that it floats on water for ducks to consume naturally, although you can certainly offer this feed to your ducks in its dry form.
If it floats, you won’t have to worry about uneaten food (which is familiar with ducks) accumulating in your feeding area and contaminating the water. Mazuri’s Waterfowl Maintenance Food is made from sustainably sourced fishmeal and contains no artificial flavors or colors.
The Niacin-contributing ingredients in Mazuri’s duck and geese food include fish meal, dried brewers yeast, and nicotinic acid.
Sugar Feather Farm Duck and Geese Grower Feed
Animal nutritionists specifically design this non-GMO duck feed to meet all of the dietary needs of your growing ducklings. The feed contains 18 mg of B3 per pound to ensure your ducks are getting enough niacin as they grow and develop.
Sugar Feather Farm’s feed also contains a mix of vitamins, minerals, probiotics, and digestive enzymes to meet all of your duck’s nutritional needs. Because it is an all-inclusive feed, you can feed Sugar Feather Farm’s Duck Feed as the sole dietary source for your growing ducks.
Offering your Duck Foods Rich in Niacin
In addition to offering feed designed explicitly for ducks and waterfowl, try offering your duck whole foods that are rich in niacin. These include:
- Peas
- Potatoes (with skin)
- Wheat
- Rice
- Insects
- Worms
- Snails
- Slugs
- Small fish
- Brewer’s Yeast
A note on brewer’s yeast: It is preferable to feed ducks human-grade brewer’s yeast. This is because human-grade brewer’s yeast is higher in niacin than livestock grade. Human-grade brewer’s yeast contains approximately 5mg of niacin for every one tablespoon compared to the 1.5 mg of niacin per tablespoon typically found in livestock-grade brewer’s yeast.
Allowing your Ducks to Free-Range
Another way to prevent niacin deficits in ducks is to allow them to free-range. It occurs far less frequently in free-range ducks because they naturally feed on good sources of niacin, like flies, snails, and other insects.
Ducks are natural hunters and will seek out the food they need that is high in niacin. When ducks free-range, you’ll also have less feed to buy as your ducks will be consuming grass, bugs, and larvae in the environment. Generally, the definition of free-range is a natural environment that affords each duck about 20 square feet of space.
Keep in mind, if you free range your ducks, that you’ll still want to take measures to protect them from predators. This can include fencing off the area where your ducks are free-range to keep predators out and/or coop your ducks at night.
Unlike chickens, ducks don’t naturally coop themselves at night. However, once you start the routine of herding your ducks into the coop each night, you may find they get used to this practice and start moving to the coop on their own when nighttime falls.
Treating Niacin Deficiency
Ducklings hatch with a 2-3 day reserve supply of niacin from their mothers. After this period, you can notice niacin deficiencies if ducklings are not getting enough niacin from their diets. As soon as you see this, you’ll want to start treating it immediately.
You can begin treating by offering foods high in niacin to supplement your duck’s diet.
If supplemental feeding is insufficient or undesirable for treating, you can offer natural niacin supplements to your ducks. These include niacin tablets and liquid niacin.
If using niacin tablets, you want to grind the pills up and add them to your duck’s feed. Generally, you want to add 1000 mg of niacin for every one cup of duck feed. This should get you to the proper dose of niacin for young ducks. While it is possible to overdose a duck on niacin, this is very rare and unlikely for your ducks experiencing niacin deficiency.
Niacin tablets can be found easily on the web. Consider offering these niacin supplement tablets to your ducks:
Nutricost 500mg Niacin Capsules
These non-GMO, gluten-free capsules can be used to meet the niacin needs of your ducklings. Because this niacin comes in capsule form, you don’t need to worry about grinding up the niacin and adding it to your duck’s feed. Instead, you can simply open the capsules and mix the powdered niacin in with whatever meal you’re offering to your ducks. Because they come in a 500mg dose, you’ll want to add two capsules to every one cup of duck feed.
Kal 50mg Niacin Tablets
Kal tablets are vegetarian and are quickly absorbed within your duck’s gut, with absorption taking approximately 30 minutes. The purity and potency of these tablets are lab-verified, so you can be sure you’re giving your ducks the dose of niacin you intend. At 50 mg per tablet, you’ll need to grind up 20 tablets per one cup of duck feed. At 200 tablets per bottle, you’ll get ten doses of niacin supplementation from the Kal tablets.
GNC Niacin 500 mg tablets
A proven leader in nutritional supplements, GNC offers a higher-dose niacin tablet when compared with Kal. At 500 mg of niacin per tablet, you’ll only need to grind up two tablets for every one cup of feed you offer your ducks.
A note about niacin tablets: It is common to find niacin tablets in slow or extended-release varieties. Some niacin tablets are manufactured for human consumption because they prevent niacin flush, a common condition in people taking high doses of niacin.
Because you are grinding the tablets to add to your duck’s feed, you will negate any slow-release properties they hold. Furthermore, slow-release tablets contain additives that allow them to be absorbed more slowly by the human body. You’ll want to avoid feeding these additives to your ducks, so opt for a standard niacin tablet rather than the slow-release variety.
Liquid niacin is an alternative to niacin tablets. Liquid niacin can be added to the water you give your ducks. Consider offering these liquid niacin supplements to your ducks:
Herb Science Niacin Dietary Supplement
This simple niacin supplement formula is made with pure niacin, vegetable glycerin, and water. One dropper full contains 80 mg of niacin. In addition, this supplement is cold-pressed and alcohol-free, making it safe to feed to your ducks.
Honey Combs Niacin Drops
These non-GMO drops are pure, containing no fillers, preservatives, or colors. They are safe to feed to your ducks. One dropper of Honey Combs Niacin Drops includes 80mg of niacin (in the form of niacinamide). Honey Combs offers a money-back guarantee within 30 days of purchase if you are not satisfied with these niacin drops.
T.J. Clark Vitamin B3 Liquid Formula
This liquid version of niacin is derived from prehistoric plant deposits and is free of corn, gluten, sugar, and dairy. At 50mg of niacin per teaspoon, you’ll get 188-235 daily doses of niacin from the T.J. Clark formula.
Wrap-up
While niacin deficiency is relatively common in ducks, you can easily spot, prevent, and treat it.
Understanding the signs of niacin deficiency and being familiar with your supplementation options will help you prevent and treat niacin deficiency in your ducks. This will ensure you raise the healthiest, happiest ducks you can for years to come.