Home Feeding Ideas and Solutions Discussion Thread

[Lacy Blues]

I am definitely in the wrong business. I would have shipped you some duckweed (Lemna spp.) just for the cost of postage.

Can I interest you in some string alga?

Would you ship some to me? I have to get a pool/pond but if I had some duckweed coming, it might be enough motivation to actually get the pool/pond.

 

[amenfarm]

Grab a baggie full! Grab one for me too!

I'd rinse it really well because you'll need a couple of fish in your duckweed container to provide fertilizer for the duckweed and I'd try to reduce the chance that some parasite from the pond will affect the fish. I purchased a couple of cheap cold water fish (i.e. goldfish) so I wouldn't have to heat the aquarium.

Get your container set up before collecting your duckweed as you'll want to allow the chlorine to dissipate if your water is chlorinated and allow the temperature of the water to stabilize.

After your container has been set up for a day or two add your fish. I like gold fish because they'll eat the duckweed. I figure add an insect here & there and hopefully the need for supplemental food for the fish will be minimal.

I waited another day before adding my duckweed. There still isn't a lot of nourishment in my water for the duckweed yet so it's multiplying slowly. I'll likely add another goldfish or two to try to dirty up my tank.

Also it will take time for the bacteria to get established to convert the raw fish waste into a usable form for the duckweed. Or you can buy a starter culture to jump start the process.

I think bacteria to convert the ammonia into nitrates to feed the duckweed is what you want. It's said that goldfish produce 3 times the ammonia as other tropical fish of the same size. So they're a good source of raw material for feeding your duckweed. And the fish will eat some duckweed so a good circle of life.

Good luck!

As a fish keeper for many years your close but:
You need to get the ammonia to nitrates cycle going before you add any fish, plants are fine. Most products claim to jump start the process but if they have not been kept at the correct temperature during shipping and storage they will not work, and some never work at all, and your subjecting the fish to terrible stress--allot of fish deaths occur at this point. The simple way is to throw in a few shelled shrimp, raw or cooked, 2 per 20 gallons and let them get the water started for you. They will look really awful-- but about the time they disappear entirely-3-to 6 weeks, use a ammonia and pH test strip and the water should be perfect for your fish, if you start this way you can skip the decloratore unless you have chloramines , yes some clorine removers will detox for nitrates but it's not the same as starting the ammonia cycle . Some fish stores will test cheap or free. Remember to add feed sparingly-you want them to eat bug larva and some of the plants, but they will need feeding--most goldfish are little piggies, the stomach of a fish is about the size of their eye, and always add a de-clorine remover ( I use prime) to the water, and try to use the same temperature water on refills, give them 1 day a week to fast, get a aquarium vacuum and remove solid waste monthly. Look at the size the fish you get will top out at, comets get larger than most people are prepared for, don't mix doule and single finned--or the doulbled finned will never eat enough, and No they will not stay the size of the container they are in. Gold fish are cold water fish not tropical, require far less care and are very hardy. In the winter time they will hibernate so you won't be feeding them after the temperate goes down to 40 or below, and ice bottles to keep the temp. under 105* or add deep shade to part of the pond, the pond should have at least some point at 2 feet deep to survive freezing weather--the PH should be between 6.0-8.0. I hope this helps.

 

[Lacy Blues]

Just found this site on homegrown grains for small farmers etc. Good info. There's a link at the bottom of the page for "How to"...

http://www.islandgrains.com/grains-wheat-rye-spelt-101/

 

[Lacy Blues]

Kassaundra,

I've read several times where you raise the dubia roaches for your chickens.

I want you to sell me on the idea... pros... cons... nutrient value... reproductive rate... optimal living conditions... space and time required... in short, everything I need to know.

I just get creepy all over when I look at your pictures but if they are a viable alternative to going commercial-feed-free some day, I might just suck it up (not the bugs, rather the creepies I experience).

 

[Lacy Blues]

As a fish keeper for many years your close but:
You need to get the ammonia to nitrates cycle going before you add any fish, plants are fine. Most products claim to jump start the process but if they have not been kept at the correct temperature during shipping and storage they will not work, and some never work at all, and your subjecting the fish to terrible stress--allot of fish deaths occur at this point. The simple way is to throw in a few shelled shrimp, raw or cooked, 2 per 20 gallons and let them get the water started for you. They will look really awful-- but about the time they disappear entirely-3-to 6 weeks, use a ammonia and pH test strip and the water should be perfect for your fish, if you start this way you can skip the decloratore unless you have chloramines , yes some clorine removers will detox for nitrates but it's not the same as starting the ammonia cycle . Some fish stores will test cheap or free. Remember to add feed sparingly-you want them to eat bug larva and some of the plants, but they will need feeding--most goldfish are little piggies, the stomach of a fish is about the size of their eye, and always add a de-clorine remover ( I use prime) to the water, and try to use the same temperature water on refills, give them 1 day a week to fast, get a aquarium vacuum and remove solid waste monthly. Look at the size the fish you get will top out at, comets get larger than most people are prepared for, don't mix doule and single finned--or the doulbled finned will never eat enough, and No they will not stay the size of the container they are in. Gold fish are cold water fish not tropical, require far less care and are very hardy. In the winter time they will hibernate so you won't be feeding them after the temperate goes down to 40 or below, and ice bottles to keep the temp. under 105* or add deep shade to part of the pond, the pond should have at least some point at 2 feet deep to survive freezing weather--the PH should be between 6.0-8.0. I hope this helps.

At what point in this process is it safe to add the goldfish?

 

[galanie]

If you get the "feeder" goldfish you can probably just drop them in there. They are raised to be hardy and in horrid conditions. I plan to do that soon. I tried minnows but as I have dragonfly larvae in there, they got eaten. Need bigger fish in there.

 

[Lacy Blues]

If you get the "feeder" goldfish you can probably just drop them in there. They are raised to be hardy and in horrid conditions. I plan to do that soon. I tried minnows but as I have dragonfly larvae in there, they got eaten. Need bigger fish in there.

You would think the minnows would have eaten the dragon fly larvae before they got big enough to turn the tables on them!

 

[what did I do]

I thought I'd add what we feed to this. We grind and mix our own grains. We don't measure how much of each, we just put buckets of this or that in the grinder (I call it a grinder but it crimps the oats and makes more of cracked wheat and peas). We think chickens need little chunks not a fine powder for food - the gizzard needs something to do. We have also feed whole grains but there is more waist with whole grains.

Our mix that they are eating today: yellow field peas, wheat, oats. Other mixes had corn, barley,and lintels added to it.

We figure they might get more of one thing on one day and.more of another on another day.

My chickens free range, get all the kitchen scraps, cleanup after the cows. We feed a little oyster shells, cow mineral, and layer pellets.

We started 200 chicks on 4 bags of store bought feed then switched to our mix. We have had no problems at all.

One day I was going through the freezers and found some old meat, I just tossed the frozen meat to the chickens. The chickens went wild for the meat.

I think if you look around you can find something cheep to feed your chickens.

 

[Lacy Blues]

Got yellow jackets and wasps?

Perhaps you've heard of cutting the side out of a milk jug, hanging a piece of liver or whatever on a wire suspended from the milk jug's opening at the top. Put water and dish soap in the bottom. This is very effective. The bees eat so much they can't fly and then fall into the soapy death below.

Well, you can feed these nasties to your chickens IF you use olive oil (or any other acceptable food grade oil) to the water instead of the soap. It coats the insect once they fall in and they don't get out.

Scoop the dead bees out and add them to your daily feed. Yummy!

(NOT)

 

[Lacy Blues]

Can you tell I have a lot of time on my hands lately? It's too hot outside to do anything else but think and plan and think some more.

I have an idea and wanted to run it by you guys to see if you have any thoughts on the matter.

Instead of a little kiddie pool that is about 12" deep, I was thinking about doing an in-ground pool but I can't afford one so here's where my imagination kicks in...

Dig a hole that has a fairly pleasant shape and is about 2 feet deep, or a little more at least in part of it. Lay some old carpeting in the bottom for padding and then get some really heavy duty vinyl to put on top of that. I would use rocks and whatnot to secure the outside edge so it wouldn't get below the water level.

I think I have a little submersible water pump left over from when I had an aquarium that I could use to make a sort of fountain so the water is oxygenated... add feeder goldfish and some duckweed and presto... I have a feed supply in a month or so?

Any ideas or feedback... please let me know.


edited to add:

I definitely want dragon flies to do their thing so is there anything that they need in order to be successful? (other than just water)? We have lots of mosquitoes here and I want the dragon flies to flourish.