Niacin Deficiency in Waterfowl

[Isaac 0]

I'd be glad to take a look at a few of your birds, swollen hocks, bowed legs, and or pigeon-toed feet are all give-it away signs of a niacin deficiency.

 

[Patto]

Niacin Deficiency in Waterfowl


The earliest signs of a B3 Deficiency may include laying down frequently, reluctance to walk and do normal activities, weakness of the legs, retarded growth, slight bowedness of the legs, swollen hocks, you often will see pigeon-toed feet where one or both of the bird's feet will point inwards, which makes it very hard to walk as it will trip over each foot each time it steps.

If left a few weeks untreated, symptoms will worsen, the bird may not be able to walk on its feet, and may use its wings or hocks/knees instead to get around properly, the Bowedness/Pigeon-Toed of the legs may become so bad the bird will sit by the feed/water most of the day due to the extreme pain, hocks may become more swollen, and eventually, symptoms may become irreversible and the bird may slowly waste away and die. If your bird is showing any of these symptoms it would be highly advised that you start treatment immediately before there is permanent damage to your bird.

While treating a generally healthy bird with vitamin B complex would do no damage if given the right way and the proper dose. I would first consider other problems that may look like a niacin deficiency before treating the bird, as giving a duck that is infected with bumblefoot would do little to no good, or a duckling with splayed legs caused by a slippery bedding material. Do the bird's legs feel hot, is there any sign of bumblefoot underneath the feet, what kind of bedding are they being housed on, what are they being fed, did this happen overnight, does the bird limp, has the bird had any problems in the past, all questions I would ask myself before treating. The pictures below demonstrate the pigeon-toed like feet and bowedness of the legs common with B3 deficient birds.

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Treatment would include giving the bird a form of niacin, the supplement that we have found to work the best is "Durvet High-Level Vitamin B
Complex" Available online, or at most feed stores like Tractor Supply, the price ranges from ten to sixteen dollars for a 250ml bottle.

The dosage will vary accordingly to age, currently, we go, 1/4ml for ducklings that are between one to seven days old, 1/2ml for ducklings that are one week to two weeks, anything above that will be 1ml, this is once a day, although if you have a hard time getting the complex into the duckling you can split the dosage in half and give some in the morning and evening. The effects of giving too much vitamin B are somewhat limited, it does seem, however, that you would need to give a large amount to the duck for it to have a damaging effect.

This is a quote from John Metzer

"We have been asked if it is possible to overdose on niacin. Because of how small the amount is, it is easy to think you can give your birds too much. The answer is that you would need a lot to overdose. We don't have an exact amount to point towards, but humans can overdose on niacin and that can cause bowel problems. If your birds start having digestive issues, then it's a possibility, but is unlikely."


We recommend for novice duck keepers to give them the complex over treats, to reduce the risk of aspiration if given orally with a syringe. Duck seems to enjoy mealworms, peas, lettuce, tomatoes the most, it can also be mixed into a wet soupy feed. The reason we recommend not giving it in water is most of the time ducks spill around half of the water, so it makes it hard to calculate the dosage, and birds that are in poor condition may not be able to get around to drink often. If your bird is not able to get around or is so debilitated, you may need to administer orally with a syringe/eyedropper, the easiest and safest way I have found is to drop the B complex onto the side of their bill, the sensation of the water droplets often will make them drink the liquid, another technique is to dip their bill for a short second in some of the liquid. If this doesn't work you may need to stick the syringe in their mouth, I will provide an article on the bottom on how to do that correctly.

I can not stress enough how important it is to be very careful when giving birds fluids orally, they can easily die of aspiration, especially ducklings that are on the younger side. Always be gentle with the bird, and give them plenty of short breaks during the administration so they can get everything down.

Recovery time will vary with each individual, generally the younger the bird is the quicker the recovery time. With young ducklings, complete recovery can be seen within hours or days, with older birds a few weeks is common. It is important during treatment birds to have soft clean bedding, offered food/water often.

Pain and discomfort in the legs of niacin deficient birds is quite common so letting them relive the weight off their legs may help significantly during treatment, also birds that tend sit around most of the day aren't able to able to practice hygiene and are going to be more likely to end up with other problems like wet feather, bumblefoot, sticky eye, or external parasites, letting them in the water may help to prevent most of these problems for occurring.

When doing water therapy, given that the duck's leg is most likely weak, they should be watched the whole time they are in the water to ensure they don't drown.

Treatment should still proceed daily for a few weeks even after the birds aren't showing symptoms anymore, it would, however, be wise to keep them on Nutritional Yeast or Brewers yeast until they are of ten weeks of age or older, simply sprinkle one to two tablespoons over one cup of their feed. Brewers yeast and nutritional yeast can be obtained from most grocery stores and online. When buying any niacin supplement it is important none of them are labeled as Flush Free, No Flush, Time released or extended-release, all would not benefit your duckling in any way.

The reason these problems most often occur is due to most owners mistakenly feeding them chicken feed which does not have enough niacin in it for ducks, we have even seen people feed chicken feed with an added niacin supplement, and still have problems occur, this is very common with heavyweight breeds like Pekins, they grow fast and put a lot of weight on those legs, so It's best the birds be fed a feed formulated for All poultry like All Flock/Purina Rasier feed or a feed formulated for waterfowl specifically like Mazuri. In addition to feeding that adding a niacin supplement to their feed like brewers yeast, nutritional yeast, a poultry vitamin or B complex would not be a bad idea, and If you have a heavyweight breed it may just be a good idea to have the Complex on hand in case problems do start to occur.

Links,

Administering Oral Fluids

Metzer Farms Niacin Deficiency

Safe Treats for Waterfowl







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This exact product.

 

[Isaac 0]

This exact product.

Preferably, yes, or get Aspen B Complex.

 

[Galaxyfalcon]

Can the vitamin b complex be added to the duck's water even if it says it's for injecting? I've got a sweet pekin who just isn't getting enough vitamin b and his legs are a little wobbly/pointing in.

 

[Isaac 0]

Can the vitamin b complex be added to the duck's water even if it says it's for injecting? I've got a sweet pekin who just isn't getting enough vitamin b and his legs are a little wobbly/pointing in.

Hi, if you read the post of its entirety, I have in there that we administer it either orally or over treats, ducks waste too much water.

 

[Galaxyfalcon]

We've had some good success giving medicine with treats before so I think we'll give that a try. I just picked up some of the B complex recommended here a bit earlier today so we'll see if we can get the little guy some help. He's about 5 weeks old so he's getting big and we just started noticing the difference a week or so ago in his walking/legs.

 

[Tmarshall7]

We have 3 ducks, almost 4 weeks old. Two of them are doing great. One is showing signs of what we assume to be niacin deficiency. About a week ago she started to be hesitant to move around like the other two. As if it hurts to walk. We feed Purina Premium Poultry Feed Flock Raiser Crumbles since 3 days old. We've been giving Niacin supplement for a week. She is eating and drinking well and growing on pace with the other two. No visible signs of injury. She swims well and darts around in a pool but doesn't show any signs of improvement. It seems very hard for her to raise up to walk (almost staggers), once walking she can move around but it seems painful. The other two will step over a board or into the pool approximately 3" lip. This one won't try, she goes to the edge and seems like it hurts too much to try.

I'm not sure the niacin is helping. Any suggestions?

 

[Miss Lydia]

Best info we have and have to rec the Durvet liquid B Complex https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/niacin-deficiency-in-waterfowl.1367557/

 

[Isaac 0]

We have 3 ducks, almost 4 weeks old. Two of them are doing great. One is showing signs of what we assume to be niacin deficiency. About a week ago she started to be hesitant to move around like the other two. As if it hurts to walk. We feed Purina Premium Poultry Feed Flock Raiser Crumbles since 3 days old. We've been giving Niacin supplement for a week. She is eating and drinking well and growing on pace with the other two. No visible signs of injury. She swims well and darts around in a pool but doesn't show any signs of improvement. It seems very hard for her to raise up to walk (almost staggers), once walking she can move around but it seems painful. The other two will step over a board or into the pool approximately 3" lip. This one won't try, she goes to the edge and seems like it hurts too much to try.

I'm not sure the niacin is helping. Any suggestions?

How long have you been giving them niacin, what brand, at what dose, and how are you administering it?

 

[Tmarshall7]

500 mg, Nutricost Niacin

I've been sprinkling several capsules over food and in water daily. Today is the 8th day.