Tag: Vitamins

Should You Be Giving Your Ducks Vitamins?

Should I be giving my ducks a vitamin?

One of the most frequent deficiencies in the nutrition of ducks is a niacin deficiency. Mainly seen in young ducks and ducklings fed incorrect feed meant for the older chickens in the group.

Niacin is also known as vitamin b3. This vitamin is essential for the health of developing waterfowl. They also need more than your chickens do. Some chicken feeds do have enough niacin in them, but the best would be a waterfowl feed already formulated for their dietary needs.

Niacin deficiency is ugly and it’s important for the duck owner to supplement the best they can. Allowing them to free range can help as well as niacin is in bugs, fish, worms and other things they can root through and find. With symptoms including low weight, trouble walking, leg development issues, and other irreversible damages, niacin is a big deal. Crack out the peas!

With that knowledge, the biggest question is… “can I give my duck a human vitamin.” Well, yes and no.

Because of how often I see and hear this question, first off, niacin is niacin. It’s niacin if it’s in peas, salmon, sardines, brewers yeast, liver, or a supplement.

The problem with it not being waterfowl specific (human vitamins) is how hard it is to give the correct amount evenly to each bird and what binders and fillers are used in the human vitamin supplement. How much niacin do the birds need? Are they getting it from natural sources, and their feed?

Personally, I think making sure that your birds have a varied diet with natural food sources of niacin along with a your niacin added waterfowl feed is a fantastic way to make sure they get their optimal niacin and nutrition in general.

So our consensus is…. to skip the human vitamins and make sure they have a varied diet, the correct feed and if a supplement is needed, it should be waterfowl specific.