Mama Heating Pad in the Brooder (Picture Heavy) - UPDATE

[bruceha2000]

Got an Easter Egger egg rolling around in the incubator, so when he gets added to the mix they are all going outside!! Brother!!

You HOPE!

 

[duluthralphie]

Love seeing the little duckings under MHP! So cute!

I went out and snagged the two little Bantams out of their pen to put in with the new Naked Neck that hatched last night. He was so doggone noisy being by himself that I thought some company would help, plus they could show him how to eat and drink, and where to warm up. They did. He's learning. I figured their smaller size would be less intimidating. It is. I thought they'd be quieter. THEY'RE NOT! Now I remember why I brood chicks outdoors!!! Good grief!! The Bantams are NOT happy being inside.

Got an Easter Egger egg rolling around in the incubator, so when he gets added to the mix they are all going outside!! Brother!!

No wonder you did not come in first in "the contest".... You think ducks are cute...




Not that I would ever allow my prejudice against webbed feet creatures show...

 

[perchie.girl]

Quote: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tilapia

I am afraid they are warm water fish..... dont do well below 75 degrees.... You can raise em though in a water tote 250 gallons or so and they will get large enough to harvest for dinner. They are also vegetarians pretty much and you can raise them with fresh water shrimp. Cray fish too but Cray fish are pretty aggressive and need to get out of the water occasionally.

The nice part about Tilapia is they are mouth brooders. Female lays her eggs on a rock or strata Male firtilizes them then the female scoops em up to protect them till they hatch. Then they continue to provide a safe home for them till they dont fit any more....

I have a 110 gallon tank to raise up the breeders, It should hold four to six of them. They will stay in the house and hatch out the fry. That I can keep temperature controlled with an aquarium water heater. All that tank needs is a room where the temperature doesnt fluctuate. You can remove the fry when they are ready with either a Fry Trap or a fine net. You feed Daphnia or fine fish food till they get bigger. Daphnia are live food very very small crustaceans..... They will come in on the duck weed Win Win Win.

Two or three of those totes and I should have enough fish for the year. They grow to harvest size under ideal conditions in about 240 days or around eight months, for a one pound fish. the extras can be sold as fingerilings.... or fed to the chickens. or processed into dog food.

There will be no waste.

deb

 

[lazy gardener]

Ok I want Muscovy and Runners.... Muscovy for eggs and meat.... Runners because they are so dang cute...... Beaker 1, Beaker 2, Beaker 3... they are also good egg layers.

Each require minimal water.... face wash place and a bit for cooling off in the summer. and I can grow duck weed for em in with the Tilapia.

Housing will work in my new layout too.

deb

And I want Muscovy for meat, and Khaki Campbell for eggs. And I want a tilapia tank in my green house. Get all that going, along with my garden, chickens, orchard. Perhaps add a goat or two, and I can tell Uncle Sam to take a flying hike.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tilapia

I am afraid they are warm water fish..... dont do well below 75 degrees.... You can raise em though in a water tote 250 gallons or so and they will get large enough to harvest for dinner. They are also vegetarians pretty much and you can raise them with fresh water shrimp. Cray fish too but Cray fish are pretty aggressive and need to get out of the water occasionally.

The nice part about Tilapia is they are mouth brooders. Female lays her eggs on a rock or strata Male firtilizes them then the female scoops em up to protect them till they hatch. Then they continue to provide a safe home for them till they dont fit any more....

I have a 110 gallon tank to raise up the breeders, It should hold four to six of them. They will stay in the house and hatch out the fry. That I can keep temperature controlled with an aquarium water heater. All that tank needs is a room where the temperature doesnt fluctuate. You can remove the fry when they are ready with either a Fry Trap or a fine net. You feed Daphnia or fine fish food till they get bigger. Daphnia are live food very very small crustaceans..... They will come in on the duck weed Win Win Win.

Two or three of those totes and I should have enough fish for the year. They grow to harvest size under ideal conditions in about 240 days or around eight months, for a one pound fish. the extras can be sold as fingerilings.... or fed to the chickens. or processed into dog food.

There will be no waste.

deb

Given my northern climate, Perch or trout might be a better option. But I like that tilapia are tolerant of low O2. Bet it wouldn't take much of a heater to keep the stock tanks warm enough in the green house. That would keep the plants warm and provide good fertilizer for the plants as well. WIN, WIN, WIN. Fried fish and baby greens salad for supper.

 

[lazy gardener]

Babies went out in the coop this afternoon. After the panic wore off, they settled down pretty well. I gave them a nice chunk of sod (about 12 x 12) and they discovered WORMS!!!!! Quite the scrimmage going on over those! Total panic regarding settling into the MHP. Same pad... but different location. Oh the terror of it all!!! One of the regular hen escapees had to come in through the lower level of the CP hoop coop, up the ramp, leaning over just as far as she could to peek in the window to inspect the babies! I wonder if the sound of little peeps might induce one of the biddies to broodiness???

 

[Blooie]

Babies went out in the coop this afternoon. After the panic wore off, they settled down pretty well. I gave them a nice chunk of sod (about 12 x 12) and they discovered WORMS!!!!! Quite the scrimmage going on over those! Total panic regarding settling into the MHP. Same pad... but different location. Oh the terror of it all!!! One of the regular hen escapees had to come in through the lower level of the CP hoop coop, up the ramp, leaning over just as far as she could to peek in the window to inspect the babies! I wonder if the sound of little peeps might induce one of the biddies to broodiness???

Hasn't in my case, LG. <sigh>

 

[perchie.girl]

Quote:
could be doable.... The warm temps are really for spawning.... low O2 goes hand in hand with warm water too. if your temps are constant and dont fluctuate you can keep the water warm with a large watt aquarium heater and an insulation blanket... or a wall of dirt built up around the tank. In my case the ambient temperatures get too hot for the cold water fish. in Summer here I suspect the water will be a constant 75 degrees so I still will have to add heat. Aquarium heaters are inexpensive to run. Then again I could also rig the return water to run through black pvc to heat it up....

I have had Aquariums for 40 years my first was the old style metal frame with Tar sealant. Rule of thumb the larger the tank the easier it is to maintain.... an inch of fish per gallon was the other rule of thumb. Just like square footage for coop vs run.... Rules of thumb. a starting point. With fish you can increase the density with aeration and good filtration. removing 25 percent of the water every month and replacing it with fresh is also an excellent move. What that does is remove the hormonal secretions that help keep the fish sized to their environment. Ever wonder why a gold fish kept in a tank will top out at about four inches.... yet when released into a pond they will grow to a couple of feet.

The other deal is feed. The fish flake package says twice a day every day. I fed my fish about three times a week. Keeps waste down their health was so good that I had Angel Fish spawn in my tank.... Dang plecosotomous ate the eggs.... But the key is dont feed too much. I also supplemented with fresh veggies Spinach was a hit along with Zuchinni. and for the meat eaters little bits of fresh raw fish from the freezer.

So running the tank water through a hydroponic system gives you many of the things you need for the fish. Ammonia and CO2 removal liquid waste removal all accomplished by the plants you are growing.... Aereation can be accomplished by a simple water pump operated by an air stone. the bubbles rise pumping the water up the tube and the water spills into the tank.

I keep telling people I could design a filter for a duck pond but no one believes me......

In theory I can.... but havent been able to proove it because Ihavent done it YET>

deb

 

[perchie.girl]

sorry for the ot @Blooie

deb

 

[ShrekDawg]

Ok I want Muscovy and Runners.... Muscovy for eggs and meat.... Runners because they are so dang cute...... Beaker 1, Beaker 2, Beaker 3... they are also good egg layers. Each require minimal water.... face wash place and a bit for cooling off in the summer. and I can grow duck weed for em in with the Tilapia. Housing will work in my new layout too. deb

I hate to break the news but the only thing that changes as the get older is the SIZE of the poop! Perhaps "Poop de Grass" would be a better screen name Too dang cute!!! And proof that it works for ducklings as well as it does for chicks. Um who gave you that BA egg? Someone doing weird BA/NN crosses or something? Echo had WAY more neck feathers on her AFTER the fox almost took her. Tilapia? We had that for dinner last night! I want Tilapia!!!! Of course DD1 wouldn't abide us eating them either, not if we raised them here. Same as any other creature.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tilapia I am afraid they are warm water fish..... dont do well below 75 degrees.... You can raise em though in a water tote 250 gallons or so and they will get large enough to harvest for dinner. They are also vegetarians pretty much and you can raise them with fresh water shrimp. Cray fish too but Cray fish are pretty aggressive and need to get out of the water occasionally. The nice part about Tilapia is they are mouth brooders. Female lays her eggs on a rock or strata Male firtilizes them then the female scoops em up to protect them till they hatch. Then they continue to provide a safe home for them till they dont fit any more.... I have a 110 gallon tank to raise up the breeders, It should hold four to six of them. They will stay in the house and hatch out the fry. That I can keep temperature controlled with an aquarium water heater. All that tank needs is a room where the temperature doesnt fluctuate. You can remove the fry when they are ready with either a Fry Trap or a fine net. You feed Daphnia or fine fish food till they get bigger. Daphnia are live food very very small crustaceans..... They will come in on the duck weed Win Win Win. Two or three of those totes and I should have enough fish for the year. They grow to harvest size under ideal conditions in about 240 days or around eight months, for a one pound fish. the extras can be sold as fingerilings.... or fed to the chickens. or processed into dog food. There will be no waste. deb

And I want Muscovy for meat, and Khaki Campbell for eggs. And I want a tilapia tank in my green house. Get all that going, along with my garden, chickens, orchard. Perhaps add a goat or two, and I can tell Uncle Sam to take a flying hike. Given my northern climate, Perch or trout might be a better option. But I like that tilapia are tolerant of low O2. Bet it wouldn't take much of a heater to keep the stock tanks warm enough in the green house. That would keep the plants warm and provide good fertilizer for the plants as well. WIN, WIN, WIN. Fried fish and baby greens salad for supper.

This Tilapia thing sure sounds interesting. I never even thought about raising fish before. Of course, but probably requires a lot of money and work, but still. I never really eat fish much and kinda hate it (but I think I just haven't had it cooked right, found some new recipes), so for me it probably makes more sense to just go buy fish occasionally but eventually I want to move somewhere and have a little farm or something so if and when I do that I can probably do this. I probably could now too given it really doesn't take up any room or look bad but like I said, not really a need right now. We live in Massachusetts and near the ocean and beach too as opposed to more inland so lots of good seafood. Not sure there's much freshwater fish but lots of striper (striped bass), bluefish, tuna, cod, etc etc. And salmon but assuming that doesn't come from here. I used to LOVE fish but now not so much. Have always hated other seafood. Clams, oysters, quahog, shrimp, lobster, sushi, etc. Etc. Which is a shame because like I said, we live right on the coast and New England seafood is like almost famous I feel lol kinda funny i live here and hate seafood but ah well. Anyhow, eventually it'd be cool to try growing fish. Those tanks seem expensive though? All I could find when I Googled was the white water takes with the cage? Unless you meant stock tanks? Everything I was finding was like $250 for one 275 one. Of course, that's new. There were a few used ones for pretty cheap. I'm trying to eat healthier so need to eat more fish and this year we're trying vegetables. Kinda went overboard buying seeds though lol do you have to do water tests or changes or are they pretty tolerant? Cause I remember I had a Betta and I hated doing water tests and changes but I also put the tank in a bad spot.

 

[ShrekDawg]

could be doable....  The warm temps are really for spawning....  low O2 goes hand in hand with warm water too.   if your temps are constant and dont fluctuate you can keep the water warm with a large watt aquarium heater and an insulation blanket...  or a wall  of dirt built up around the tank.   In my case the ambient temperatures get too hot for the cold water fish.  in Summer here I suspect the water will be a constant 75 degrees so I still will have to add heat.   Aquarium heaters are inexpensive to run.  Then again I could also rig the return water to run through black pvc to heat it up.... 

I have had Aquariums for 40 years my first was the old style metal frame with Tar sealant.   Rule of thumb the larger the tank the easier it is to maintain....  an inch of fish per gallon was the other rule of thumb.   Just like square footage for coop vs run....  Rules of thumb.  a starting point.   With fish you can increase the density with aeration and good filtration.   removing 25 percent of the water every month and replacing it with fresh is also an excellent move.   What that does is remove the hormonal secretions that help keep the fish sized  to their environment.  Ever wonder why a gold fish kept in a tank will top out at about four inches....  yet when released into a pond they will grow to a couple of feet.  

The other deal is feed.  The fish flake package says twice a day every day.   I fed my fish about three times a week.   Keeps waste down their health was so good that I had Angel Fish spawn in my tank....  Dang plecosotomous ate the eggs....   But the key is dont feed too much.   I also supplemented with fresh veggies  Spinach was a hit along with Zuchinni.  and for the meat eaters little bits of fresh raw fish from the freezer.

So running the tank water through a hydroponic system gives you many of the things you need for the fish.   Ammonia and CO2 removal liquid waste removal all accomplished by the plants you are growing....  Aereation can be accomplished by a simple water pump operated by an air stone.  the bubbles rise pumping the water up the tube and the water spills into the tank.

I keep telling people I could design a filter for a duck pond but no one believes me...... In theory I can.... but havent been able to proove it because Ihavent done it YET>

deb

Just saw this one