Coincidence right?

[BelovedBirds]

I don't know what's been up with my girlie, but Spright has seemed down. Her eyes lost their spark, she just seemed tired. She even wanted and sought attention which she doesn't do a lot these days. (You know how it is, busy birds, bugs to eat, mess to make, I try not to take it personal lol)

She was eating normal, laying normal, everything felt and looked normal, no respiratory issues, no poop issues. Feet all good.
She just seemed tired. Not so sprightly anymore.

So after a few days of this gradual decline, my gut instinct was to give her a niacin boost. So yesterday I supplemented her feed with a good amount of niacin.

This morning she's back to herself, light back in her eyes, excited to stomp and run and bug hunt.
It couldn't have worked that fast surely? Coincidence or was that all she needed?
I'll continue supplementing vitamins for a few days, just to give her a boost.

 

[SmiYa0126]

I don't know what's been up with my girlie, but Spright has seemed down. Her eyes lost their spark, she just seemed tired. She even wanted and sought attention which she doesn't do a lot these days. (You know how it is, busy birds, bugs to eat, mess to make, I try not to take it personal lol)

She was eating normal, laying normal, everything felt and looked normal, no respiratory issues, no poop issues. Feet all good.
She just seemed tired. Not so sprightly anymore.

So after a few days of this gradual decline, my gut instinct was to give her a niacin boost. So yesterday I supplemented her feed with a good amount of niacin.

This morning she's back to herself, light back in her eyes, excited to stomp and run and bug hunt.
It couldn't have worked that fast surely? Coincidence or was that all she needed?
I'll continue supplementing vitamins for a few days, just to give her a boost.

I was thinking calcium! But good call on upping the niacin

 

[Miss Lydia]

We have seen the liquid B complex work fast if caught quick. What niacin are you using. Sounds like her body really needed that boost.
I put Nutritional yeast over my flock feed daily.

 

[BelovedBirds]

We have seen the liquid B complex work fast if caught quick. What niacin are you using. Sounds like her body really needed that boost.
I put Nutritional yeast over my flock feed daily.

Just nutritional yeast-
their food seems to have enough niacin in it that they've never needed any treatments as adults. They've always been just fine. Occasionally I do add nutritional yeast, but not daily, they also get snacks that contain good amounts of niacin.

This was the first time that I noticed a drop in health, and so added a good amount of nutritional yeast for a little boost, and it seems it did the trick...

Dougie has always been fine, but way back when they were babies, Sprightly had a deficiency and couldn't walk-- so I'm thinking maybe she needs extra.
She is slightly larger than Dougie, a little heavier.

There's no chance of giving them too much, right? Dougie is doing great, but I'm thinking I should start adding 1tbsp of nutritional yeast to their feed daily to prevent this happening to Spright again.

 

[Miss Lydia]

Nutritional yeast is very safe to use for additional niacin, what their body doesn't use they just pee out.
Sounds like to me you found what she needs her body just needs more than Dougie. I don't know why this happens but it does even as adults.

 

[BelovedBirds]

Okay, I think she's been overcharged!!

She was doing mega zooms and wagging her tail like crazy at bedtime she fell in the water bucket in the excitement. I don't know how. She's fine. Just a little insane.

I think we definitely have the problem solved, now I just gotta figure out how I protect her from herself

 

[ruthhope]

Just nutritional yeast-
their food seems to have enough niacin in it that they've never needed any treatments as adults. They've always been just fine. Occasionally I do add nutritional yeast, but not daily, they also get snacks that contain good amounts of niacin.

This was the first time that I noticed a drop in health, and so added a good amount of nutritional yeast for a little boost, and it seems it did the trick...

Dougie has always been fine, but way back when they were babies, Sprightly had a deficiency and couldn't walk-- so I'm thinking maybe she needs extra.
She is slightly larger than Dougie, a little heavier.

There's no chance of giving them too much, right? Dougie is doing great, but I'm thinking I should start adding 1tbsp of nutritional yeast to their feed daily to prevent this happening to Spright again.

My son feeds his adult female pekins brewers yeast with all their feed -- he [or I] sprinkle 1 tablespoon brewers yeast for each cup of feed as a protective supplement. He did stop it once and one of his females got confused -- she recovered quickly when the brewers yeast was restarted.

You cannot over do the niacin as it is water soluble and ducks kidneys just jetisone what is not needed. My son's drake gets brewers yeast by default as he eats from the same bowl as the females. They like it by the way! So its like giving them a treat

Ducks differ in their niacin requirements on an individual basis. We know that Pekins need more than average but some other ducks too.
Recently there was a thread here about a muscovy female that needed more niacin than in her feed

 

[picklestheduck]

Wow that’s crazy cool that it worked that fast! I think I need to add some nutritional yeast to my ducks feed, but my only concern is they are in with all the chickens, would it bother the chickens to get extra niacin? There are 36 birds in there (only 12 are ducks), and about 4-5 food stations, how much yeast do I put in?

 

[ruthhope]

Wow that’s crazy cool that it worked that fast! I think I need to add some nutritional yeast to my ducks feed, but my only concern is they are in with all the chickens, would it bother the chickens to get extra niacin? There are 36 birds in there (only 12 are ducks), and about 4-5 food stations, how much yeast do I put in?

Niacin will not bother the chickens as their kidneys will flush any niacin they don't need

 

[Aunt Angus]

I have a couple of duckies who were "off" today. My Pekin seemed less energetic than usual, and my Hookbill was quiet (she's nearing 10 yo, so idk if she's just slowing down because she's very ng quite old). I'll add some B complex tomorrow. I normally mix in nutritional yeast, but I ran out. Maybe you're onto something!