Growing Duckweed

[Chicks Galore3]

I am going to start growing duckweed, and it seems pretty easy. I have just a couple questions, though, to make sure I'll be doing it right!

What should I use as a fertilizer? I will be growing it in a plastic kiddie pool that has about 15-20 feet of surface area.
I don't have any growers by me - I'll have to buy some online and get it shipped to me. Should I wait until spring to start?
Before I feed it to my chickens, do I have to dehydrate it at all or just skim it and give it?

 

[TrialandError]

Duckweed grows without help really. Just make sure it has light. I used to have a fishtank and got like 2 pieces of duckweed and it took over my tank. Stuff is evil unless it is wanted lol.

 

[donrae]

I don't know about fertilizer, mine has always grown wild in our ponds.

You might put a wanted ad on CL or similar, and see if anyone around you has some they'd be willing to sell or barter. Not a "grower" especially, just someone who has a pond that's been infected. I never bought any myself, the wild ducks or something just brought it in. We didn't have any for years, then it just showed up and, as noted above, it pretty much took over.

I don't dry it, just use a net and pull some off. Dump the net in the coop or run and let the birds have at it.

 

[yyz0yyz0]

Duckweed grows without help really. Just make sure it has light. I used to have a fishtank and got like 2 pieces of duckweed and it took over my tank. Stuff is evil unless it is wanted lol.

LOL, I had a similar experience. Except in my case I purposefully added duckweed to my fish tank and regretted it for months after. As mentioned above it took over the tank and anytime any maintenance was performed on the tank, anything that was placed into the water came out covered in duckweed.

Personally I would not buy it, I would just wait till spring then find a clean pond to scoop some up. I'd probably start it in a small container so I could change the water several times to try and flush any pollutants out before I put it into my grow pool.

If it doesn't grow wild around you, you could probably just contact anther forum member somewhere it does grow and get some sent to you for postage. If you can't find it come spring, PM me and I'll send you some.