permaculture

[YankeePerm@aol.com]

In a message dated 10/20/97 6:04:59 PM, steved@ncatark.uark.edu wrote:

>Did ya'll see that cool page on duckweed at......


Hi again Steve:

Well it may be called duckweed but our chickens are absolutely crazy about
it.  I harvest it for them (gators would harvest any poultry that tried to
get their own) and they literally cram it into their mouths.  These are free
range with good varieties of grass, virtually unlimited supplies of palmetto
bugs, etc., to forage.  It is particularly useful, I think, to some white
leghorns that we picked up cheap when our egg producting was too low.  They
have a hard time eating grass because their beaks have been bred to be blunt
(!), presumably to limit canabalism in those awful cages most chickens have
to live in.  Most of the ones we got still have all the chicken instincts and
have learned from the roosters the rest, but eating grass is tough on them.
 However duckweed is easy as they can get a mouthful easier than about
anything else.  

I simply use a long-handled net of the kind used to clean swimming pools--the
mesh needs to be fairly small--and dump it into bucket.  Generally there are
all manner of invetebrates that come along too--little treats hidden in the
salad!

For Mother Earth, Dan Hemenway, Yankee Permaculture Publications (since
1982), Elfin Permaculture workshops, lectures, Permaculture Design Courses,
consulting and permaculture designs (since 1981), and now correspondence
courses via email.  Next starts in Oct. 1997. Internships available.
Copyright, 1997, Dan & Cynthia Hemenway, P.O. Box 52, Sparr FL 32192 USA
 YankeePerm@aol.com  

If its not in our food chain, we're not thinking.