If is safe to give ( PISTIA STRATIOTES L. ) water lettuce, to my chickens as a veggie treat?

[judyki2004]

I have a small pond w goldfish and some aquatic plants, among them water lettuce, I been composting the excess, but i always wonder if i can give them to my hens as a treat... My chickens are in a tiny coop w a run, and I feed them 30% & layers food plus all the veggies & fruit scrap available.

 

[celticgarden]

I don't know about water lettuce, but azolla is recommended as a high protein feed supplement. Maybe you could grow azolla instead.

 

[judyki2004]

Thank You! I found out that yes it could be given to chickens : http://www.fao.org/wairdocs/ilri/x5490e/x5490e10.htm#abstract

 

[FlockVillemaire]

Tried to look up that old FAO study and it was no longer available. Searched "Pistia stratioites" & "chickens" with a 1987 broiler chick study comparing different diet percentages of Pistia and growth rates. Their results for about 2# broiler chicks:

"The best performance in terms of feed efficiency (2.74) was obtained with birds fed, the ration containing 10% water lettuce. The average daily weight gain was 44.56 g/day and cost per kg live weight gain was 284 CFA (US$ = 295 CFA in 1987)."

So, apparently safe AND beneficial! But they did not test layer chickens.

I then looked up more studies on google and saw recommendations to ferment or cook it, to process it for better nutritional absorption.