Does anyone have a good chicken feed spreadsheet they will please share?

[U_Stormcrow]

I tried it in a still tank outside. Barely any growth all summer. Put it in my aquaponics tanks, but I think the fish stocking density wasn't enough to support any of the plants. I have four linked IBC totes and maybe a dozen small fish for the whole thing. I saw babies, but I think the adults were eating them. Now that it's too cold for some of the fish, the duckweed is growing very slowly. Lack of nutrients, temperature, being eaten...

Not to thread hijack, but I'd appreciate seeing your set up. Aquaponics is our next F around and find out...

 

[TooCheep]

Not to thread hijack, but I'd appreciate seeing your set up. Aquaponics is our next F around and find out...

If you are getting into aquaponics, then "Rob Bob" has years of excellent content on YT.

 

[LaurenRitz]

Not to thread hijack, but I'd appreciate seeing your set up. Aquaponics is our next F around and find out...

I'll IM you.

 

[U_Stormcrow]

I'll IM you.

Thank you!

 

[Chickeeaholic]

Thanks again everyone for suggestions and advice. I’ve been reading up on duckweed. Could be very promising at replacing peas from what I’ve read, keeping it at 5%. Some studies suggest not getting above that.

It’s been great to find out it’s a complete protein and could be beneficial to humans too, I never knew.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9817926/

This page has some information and nutrients tables concerning broiler hens.

 

[LaurenRitz]

Could be very promising at replacing peas from what I’ve read, keeping it at 5%. Some studies suggest not getting above that.

Why do they say to keep it below 5%? Even at 40% protein, that's not going to make much of a difference in your protein levels.

 

[saysfaa]

In my experience duckweed dries very well. I used it as part of a grain-based feed at my old house but I haven been able to get a starter here.

Take into account that my environment was very dry. The chickens ate it dry mixed in with the feed but wouldn't touch it wet....

For anyone who has tried harvesting it:
How did you get it out of the water?
Did you drain it before spreading it out to dry? If so, how?
Did you have other things (such as algae) in the water? If so, did the duckweed need to be separated?
How much did you spread it out?
How fluffy is it in the windrows?
Did you need to turn it?
Did you dry it in sun or shade?

Even though my climate is probably not as dry, it would help to hear how it goes for other people.

 

[TooCheep]

For anyone who has tried harvesting it:
How did you get it out of the water?
Did you drain it before spreading it out to dry? If so, how?
Did you have other things (such as algae) in the water? If so, did the duckweed need to be separated?
How much did you spread it out?
How fluffy is it in the windrows?
Did you need to turn it?
Did you dry it in sun or shade?

Even though my climate is probably not as dry, it would help to hear how it goes for other people.

I have a very small version of duckweed (~2mm), so I used a fish net to scoop it out of the tank. I drained it as best I could while in the net and then spread it out on a tray to simply air dry.

There are several types of duckweed and larger ones would be easier to grab by hand or you could still use an appropriate sized net.

Algae can be a problem, but wasn't in my case. Do the best you can to clean it out as the nutrition/safety of the algae is unknown. Even algae eating fish will only eat certain varieties.

My small duckweed is very light and fluffy when dry.

 

[U_Stormcrow]

Research gate has this study finding its nutrition to be highly variable

This study (for pigs) looked at the amino acid profiles of various varieties of duckweed.

Be careful when you see words like "complete Protein" thrown about, its often by people who don't know what they are talking about, or worse, who do, and are trying to create a false impression with a (partial) truth. If A protein conntains all the essential/critical AAs, it is said to be "complete". What we need in a final chicken diet is a protein which is both "complete' AND BALANCED. or at least meeting certain dietary minimums.

Your final feed (assuming you are making a standard 100g ration feed) should be at least 0.3% Methionine and 0.65 or 0.7% Lysine. That means, functionally, the ratio of Met to Lys should be roughly 3:7 (approx 1/2 for those who haven't had coffee yet). This is "ideal protein" theory - it has some caveats, some big assumptions, but a basic understanding is useful at a high level. In duckweed, the ratio is roughly 1:5. Meaning you get a LOT of Lysine for every bit of Methionine - wasted Lysine (and by extension, wasted crude protein), unless something else in the diet is a huge Met source.

Now, that said, as a pea substitute, it has similar ratio (about 1:6 actually) and some similar concerns, particularly with the tannins. Your various cowpeas are closer to 1:5 also have tannin concerns, and others.

No perfect solutions, merely tradeoffs.

 

[U_Stormcrow]

S Polyrhiza, btw is the "large" or "giant" duckweed in many aquarioms. The tiny duckweed is usually Lemina minor. FYI.