The Duck Thread

[Ducks4us]

It is interesting, I did some reading on nutritional vs brewers' yeasts.  Brewers' yeast is actually naturally healthier since it feeds on grains which have lots of vitamins and minerals in them whereas nutritional yeast is grown on molasses which has none.  Both are then deactivated through heat and are dried out (why you don't want to use bread yeast - it is still active).  Nutritional yeast is often fortified though with additional vitamins after the fact (mostly B12).  For the ducks, niacin is the important nutrient, and it is inherent in the yeast, so it is probably the same either way.  I tried it both ways, and I prefer to add niacin (not time release or no flush) to their water with their probiotics and electrolytes and then feed them the crumble straight. You pretty much have to go to a health food store to get the niacin now since most of what is in the vitamin aisle of supermarkets / grocery stores is either time release or no-flush (make sure to get Nicotinic acid, the no-flush kind is also called Nicotinamide and does not provide the benefit to the ducks). To me the yeast is messier and they get it in their nares and that is just one extra thing to deal with.

Funny, i will do some more research but when i researched last spring with my ducklings everything pointed to nutritional yeast being better and having more niacin .
But i prefer the yeast over the niacin capsules.
I tried capsules last year and had a buff duckling develop leg problems. He was big.. bigger than the pekin. Anyway i switched to the nutritional yeast and a week or so later he was better.
I think they go thru wasting so much water on the ground it was harder for me to know how much they actually were getting.

 

[yoopergirl1211]

Only one duck left. I just don't know what else to do. Has anyone used heatpad brooder with ducks or just heat lamp?

 

[Tevyes Dad]

Funny, i will do some more research but when i researched last spring with my ducklings everything pointed to nutritional yeast being better and having more niacin .
But i prefer the yeast over the niacin capsules.
I tried capsules last year and had a buff duckling develop leg problems. He was big.. bigger than the pekin. Anyway i switched to the nutritional yeast and a week or so later he was better.
I think they go thru wasting so much water on the ground it was harder for me to know how much they actually were getting.

For me, most of the yeast stuck to their bills and ended up as sludge in their water.

I don't know how much ended up in the duck. None of mine ever had leg problems, but I dosed them pretty heavy... I had 500mg capsules and split them between 2 - 1 gallon pitchers. 1 bottle lasted through the entire brood so I didn't worry about waste and 100% of what ended up in the duck was fortified.

 

[MandyJ]

Only one duck left. I just don't know what else to do. Has anyone used heatpad brooder with ducks or just heat lamp?

I only used the lamp, but other people on here rave about the heatpad brooder.

I am so sorry! It's terrible that you have lost all of those birds! Hope Ideal replaces them, but it still hurts!

Hang in there!

M

 

[Tevyes Dad]

Only one duck left. I just don't know what else to do. Has anyone used heatpad brooder with ducks or just heat lamp?

This is horrible

any idea why they are failing to thrive?

 

[jenniferlamar70]

Only one duck left. I just don't know what else to do. Has anyone used heatpad brooder with ducks or just heat lamp?

Could it be cocci?

 

[MallardNight3]

Yes ducks need the xtra niacin. I use nutritional yeast- add 1 tablespoon per cup of feed.
It helps prevent leg troubles

Awesome thanks I'll try that

 

[MallardNight3]

here are pictures of my ducks for this year. I had two mallards last year and they were over eating and getting fat so that's why I figured it was that again. Thanks again everyone for the help on ducks.

 

[Julie Birb]

How many have died @yoopergirl1211
That is so very sad for you and for the babies.  How many do you have still okay? 

x2- I too am so sorry for this. So sad.

 

[Julie Birb]

Bills v Beaks:


Thank you, you know me too well. Loved the bitty burb.

I checked out your profile pic. She is very photogenic

I'm on mobile so the format's different. I also went to the Saxony link you put up. So is your pic Heidi or Gertrude? Saxonies are so cute. Very unique. Over the various threads I've only seen girls and I saw your boys. Beautiful!!