Quailaponics?

[SpringNAllChics]

What would you call a four season greenhouse where one can raise quail, fish, duckweed, a few smaller grains for the birds, and greens for the folks? How many purposes can one designated space provide space for and how to best integrate them? How about brooding meat chicks?

I dream of organic food every day now, sometimes that day was spent 'paying for' the non-organic lifestyle I'm trying to get away from, a little step further each day.

Today my focus is in getting the first two beds and walkway/aisle built, and thinking about how to provide space for enough quail to feed my family of six, four adult kids three working hard long shifts four days a week for now, but soon the Christmas season will gear up and there will be enough mandatory overtime for all. They will be hungry! I will want to feed them the best way possible.

I already have a few systems in place, I milk my Jersey cow and my oldest daughter milks our dairy goats, I have some red rangers, some layers, and ducks, geese, turkeys, and hope for other poultry to soon join in the cackle-cacophony! My son dreams of peacocks, but having experienced them once, not sure I can handle them again,...yet. I also have Berkshire hogs that I'm planning to house in a hoop structure this winter, but I wanted to quickly get my new member intro completed, and post my invitation for brainstorming my greenhouse. I'm going to begin by building raised beds to save my back over the long run, and covering each one with it's own hoop system. The second one is to house my quail, as I have 20 plus that need to move out of my brooding aquarium so I can get duckweed growing in there, and I need to find a new brooder set up idea so I can brood the coming hatchlings next week or so. I have 15 that should begin laying any day, and four hens that are laying ---got five eggs between yesterday and today. Not sure how many I need for this family size but figure they will be the easiest to get fully converted to organic raising principals even as I keep working toward more organic than certified organic on the rest of my ten acre homestead.

So anyone raise quail over fish tanks? I read or saw a chart somewhere showing chicks being brooded over tanks and their droppings and feed waste went into the fish tanks where it was pumped up to the hydroponic plants above. I had figured to have the fish in part of the aisle, and the quail maybe in the middle of a four foot wide raised bed. With plants on the outside foot to provide them with the hiding places they intrinsically desire. Somehow I need a way to push them down to the end where I can reach them on three sides, and somehow need a way to reach in to gather eggs so still brainstorming the setup. I want them to be as natural as possible and to plant their area with something for them to sorta 'free range' with and partially at least in the beginning then fully feed themselves. They all come running to my hand now, so can I expect them to remain this tame when they have more 'freedom'?

Off I go to hit the construction site, and do the homestead evening chores at dusk, but first here is a fun link I found, and intend to finish exploring: http://www.instructables.com/id/How-to-free-range-Organic-Baby-Quail-and-employ-th/

 

[Sill]

You might want to post in the aquaponics thread. I know there is someone there doing duck-ponics. It should work for quail. The hard part would be getting the ratios of critters and plants correct so it will take a lot of tweaking. I would be beneficial to pick the brains of people that have done similar set ups.