Determining How To Supplement Your Duck’s Diet With Niacin

There are four easy ways to supplement your bird or flock’s diet with niacin (vitamin B3) if you feel it is necessary: VitaMetz Waterfowl Boost, tablets, liquid, or Brewer’s Dried Yeast. We will explain how to supplement with each of these.

We are going to assume:

1) Your current feed has no niacin and therefore we we have supply 100% of their niacin needs. This is not accurate as all poultry feeds have some niacin but this way you know the maximum you should supply and we found no research that indicates a double or triple dose of niacin will harm your birds.

2) Your bird is eating about .35 pound of feed a day. This is typical of a Pekin at about three weeks of age when niacin deficiencies normally appear. Other breeds are probably eating .2-.3 pounds per day at the same age and an adult laying Pekin is eating about .45 pounds per day.

VitaMetz Waterfowl Boost

One of the easiest ways to supplement niacin for ducklings and goslings is with our VitaMetz Waterfowl Boost. Formulated specifically for waterfowl, it contains niacin along with electrolytes, vitamins, trace minerals, and probiotics to support healthy growth, digestion, hydration, and strong leg development.

Each package contains 50,000 mg of niacin per pound, helping provide the additional nutritional support that growing ducks and geese require. Because waterfowl have higher niacin requirements than chicks, many owners choose to supplement niacin during the first few weeks of life to support proper growth and leg development.

VitaMetz is added directly to drinking water at a rate of 1 teaspoon per gallon, making it an easy all-in-one supplement for both ducklings and goslings.

VitaMetz can be especially beneficial:

-During the first few days after hatch
-After shipping or travel-related stress
-During periods of extreme heat or stress
-After antibiotic use
-Anytime young waterfowl may need additional nutritional support

Each resealable 4 oz package includes a measuring scoop and treats approximately 25 gallons of water.

ORDER HERE: VitaMetz Waterfowl Boost

Tablet

If your duck is eating .35 pounds of feed per day and they need about 55 parts per million (ppm) of niacin in their feed, this means they need about 9 mg of niacin a day (.35 x 55 / 1,000,000 x 454 x 1000). If your duck or goose is eating more or less than .35 pounds of feed per day, just remove the .35 from this formula and replace with how much your duck or goose is eating a day in pounds.

Most tablets contain 500 mg of niacin. So if you divide 500 by 9 you get 55. This means that one tablet can supply enough niacin for 55 doses. Those 55 does can be used for 55 ducks in one day or 55 days for one duck. Or you can simply mix it into feed. If one dose is for .35 pounds of feed, then one tablet is for 19 pounds of feed (.35 x 55). Just make sure you grind the tablet well and ensure it is mixed thoroughly in the feed.



Liquid

In one liquid supplement product we found, there were 12 mg of niacin in 10 drops of liquid. This means that each drop has 1.2 mg of niacin (12 / 10). Therefore, the daily dosage is about 8 drops (9 / 1.2). The problem with adding niacin to the water is that ducks typically don’t drink all the water they use. How much do your ducks splash and waste? Of course if you use nipple waterers waste is minimal and you can assume they drink all the water they use. Then you can add liquid niacin to their water. As they drink about .17 gallons per day at this age, then you need to add 47 drops per gallon of drinking water (1 / .17 x 8). Of course you can always add eight drops to each duck’s feed each day. But don’t mix more than one day at a time as the increased moisture might lead to mold which is not good for waterfowl.



Brewers Dried Yeast

There are two types of Brewers Dried Yeast – human grade and livestock grade. Human grade has 5 mg of niacin per 15 grams of yeast (one tablespoon). Livestock grade has 1.5 mg per 15 grams of yeast. So if your duck needs 9 mg per day, they need slightly less than two tablespoons of human grade (9 / 5) or 6 tablespoons of livestock grade yeast (9 / 1.5) per day. If you want to mix the yeast in 50 pounds of feed, you would need to add 285 tablespoons of human grade yeast (50 / .35 x 2) or 855 tablespoons (50 / .35 x 6) of livestock grade yeast. As there are 64 tablespoons in a quart, this amounts to 4.5 quarts of human grade or 13 quarts of livestock grade yeast added to each 50 pounds of feed. As this is a significant amount of feed you have added to a balanced ration, you have now thrown off the balance of all other nutrient levels. Hence it is probably best to add additional niacin with tablets, vitamin packets or liquid niacin.

As stated earlier, these formulations are for a bird that is not getting any niacin in its feed. This is not realistic so if you are wanting to merely supplement in case your feed is short in niacin, then you may want to add half the recommended amounts of supplemental niacin. In addition, niacin deficiency problems normally only occur when your birds are growing at their most rapids rates - from two to seven weeks of age. Therefore, supplementation is rarely needed past ten weeks of age.