The Duck-ponics Experiment - Raising minnows

[rlhbond]

As far as fish...last year I put feeder goldfish in our duck pond and they would be eaten within an hour. A week ago I put "crappie minows" in the pond and I can't tell if any of them have been eaten. They are apparently fast enough to escape the ducks. I bought them from a local bait & tackle store.

 

[johnnymax]

Maybe you should call it "Duck-Poo-Ponics" LOL

Hey I have acces to scoop up bags of duckweed free.
Do you think it would be a good filler food for my chickens? I could just throw it on the ground and let then beck at if.
If it is high in protein and it is frree.....

 

[Wifezilla]

I read a few experiments where they fed it to ducks. When it is the only feed, they die. When you replace 40-50% of their feed with duckweed, they do fine.

I see no problem when using it as a supplemental green as long as they still have free access to their regular food.

It will be interesting to see how much they eat and how they like it. Please report your findings

 

[Anny]

Quote:
You could even fill a bowl or bucket with a little water and let the duck weed float on it, the chicken will have a blast eating it off the water.

 

[johnnymax]

i hate to post about chickens in duck forum. but... I went and scooped up about 2 gallons of duckweed. (A 6 gallon bucket 1/3 full with no water)
I put about 1/3 of that in the chicken pen. It was a LOT of duckweed. They just looked at it. I came back 10 minutes later and it was all gone. NOT A TRACE!

I stopped by a big drainage ditch on the way home and scooped it up in about 3 minutes with a dip net. I may do this once a week to supplement the feed. Why not if it is free. I guess theyliked it!

 

[Wifezilla]

 

[mamanaturale]

wifezilla,
did you add anything to the skippy to help the bacteria grow?

 

[OhTisLove]

Wifezilla, hopefully you can help me out with some questions I have about your system....sorry if they might be dumb!!

So, just to make sure I'm not making any mistakes: You have the pump sitting in the bottom of the pond, in a cage. The outflow of the pump goes through a hose to the bottom of the flower pot. And then, what? Just the pressure from the pump will push the water through the filter, up to the overflow hole?

Now that the system has been running a few months, is your water staying clear? How many ducks are using your pond? How often do you have to dredge all that sediment out of the bottom?

Thanks for letting me pick your brain!

 

[Wifezilla]

Just the pressure from the pump will push the water through the filter, up to the overflow hole?

Yup

Now that the system has been running a few months, is your water staying clear?

Not crystal clear, but clear at the surface. It does get really cloudy after it has been swam in.

How many ducks are using your pond?

Up to six, but it is usually the 3 older ducks that use the pond. The babies still like to swim in their water dish even though they are way too big for it

How often do you have to dredge all that sediment out of the bottom?

Every 3 weeks or so.

I haven't added duckweed back in to the system. I need to figure out how to get a good culture going in an aquarium, and then I can take the surplus out to the pond. Work has been very busy and my son is home from AIT, so I haven't had time to tinker

 

[JoJo 95]

awesome post