MDon240
In the Brooder
- Jul 20, 2015
- 10
- 4
- 37
So I don't know if it's been mentioned, I've tried searching for it first before starting this thread:
I have found that putting bibb lettuce seeds, or any other sort of lettuce seeds in your brooder is a great idea to keep the fresh greens coming without having to chop human sized greens for your younglings.
Spread them around the area you put your waterer and heating lamp. A lot will get eaten up by them before they get buried but a whole pack from your garden store should be enough. The urea in their urine will help to chelate the seeds into sprouting, like a pH controller. Their feces will continue to convert nitrites to nitrates which plants use to grow. Keep adding your wood chip lining on top like you normally would do. The heating lamp will keep the soil warm simulating a green house. Also it will dry out the soil cycling between moist and dry which is ideal for sprouting lettuce seeds.
In a lil over a week you should have some lettuce sprouts coming up under their feet! They have all the nutrients to absorb from your duck excrement which helps a lil bit for sanitation until you schedule a full clean haul over. I like to throw everything under their feet into a compost bin.
I grow hydroponic plants and I guarantee you that the underlining removed from cleaning out brooders is the best thing your plants can get (better then some store bought brands even), so save your money and save on duckling treats.
Here is a link to another thread on these forums of "Ultimate Duck Treats"
https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/242460/the-ultimate-list-of-duck-treats-and-supplements
Adding lettuce seeds right into a newly clean brooder will guarantee sprouts to be plucked from the ground by your ducks.
Feel free to also add what type of duck goes crazy for what kind of treat.
My FF's (Feather Friends) love steak night. It's a "fattening feast" for us both. I will cut the trimmings off my steak before cooking mine portion and run their trimmings through the food processor with a small measured amount of Yakult yogurt drink, then add in polenta (which is VERY expensive I might add) but only the best for my birds. Sometimes I will add a vitamin booster but only at 1/2* dose. It's thinned out into a mash with warm water so it breaks apart with the oils and is easy for them to swallow. They are offered this to eat at their own leisure with an upside down hydroponic net pot cut away for them to stick their heads into (This is kept far away and separate from their grain staple to avoid wet contaminating dry food.
Here is a buffet list of lettuces from my favorite seed dispensary:
http://www.seedsavers.org/onlinestore/lettuce/
*I ALWAYS HALF DOSE on everything I feed them when it comes to that fortified stuff. Their main diet is all organic but when I am adding a nutrient or vitamin to address a symptom or just to boost them, I always do it in 1/2 dose because "you can always add but you can't take away" (I'm sure everyone is familiar with this saying).
I have found that putting bibb lettuce seeds, or any other sort of lettuce seeds in your brooder is a great idea to keep the fresh greens coming without having to chop human sized greens for your younglings.
Spread them around the area you put your waterer and heating lamp. A lot will get eaten up by them before they get buried but a whole pack from your garden store should be enough. The urea in their urine will help to chelate the seeds into sprouting, like a pH controller. Their feces will continue to convert nitrites to nitrates which plants use to grow. Keep adding your wood chip lining on top like you normally would do. The heating lamp will keep the soil warm simulating a green house. Also it will dry out the soil cycling between moist and dry which is ideal for sprouting lettuce seeds.
In a lil over a week you should have some lettuce sprouts coming up under their feet! They have all the nutrients to absorb from your duck excrement which helps a lil bit for sanitation until you schedule a full clean haul over. I like to throw everything under their feet into a compost bin.
I grow hydroponic plants and I guarantee you that the underlining removed from cleaning out brooders is the best thing your plants can get (better then some store bought brands even), so save your money and save on duckling treats.
Here is a link to another thread on these forums of "Ultimate Duck Treats"
https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/242460/the-ultimate-list-of-duck-treats-and-supplements
Adding lettuce seeds right into a newly clean brooder will guarantee sprouts to be plucked from the ground by your ducks.
Feel free to also add what type of duck goes crazy for what kind of treat.
My FF's (Feather Friends) love steak night. It's a "fattening feast" for us both. I will cut the trimmings off my steak before cooking mine portion and run their trimmings through the food processor with a small measured amount of Yakult yogurt drink, then add in polenta (which is VERY expensive I might add) but only the best for my birds. Sometimes I will add a vitamin booster but only at 1/2* dose. It's thinned out into a mash with warm water so it breaks apart with the oils and is easy for them to swallow. They are offered this to eat at their own leisure with an upside down hydroponic net pot cut away for them to stick their heads into (This is kept far away and separate from their grain staple to avoid wet contaminating dry food.
Here is a buffet list of lettuces from my favorite seed dispensary:
http://www.seedsavers.org/onlinestore/lettuce/
*I ALWAYS HALF DOSE on everything I feed them when it comes to that fortified stuff. Their main diet is all organic but when I am adding a nutrient or vitamin to address a symptom or just to boost them, I always do it in 1/2 dose because "you can always add but you can't take away" (I'm sure everyone is familiar with this saying).
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