San Diego Chicken meetup and Chat thread

[perchie.girl]

I plan on getting some duckies in the near future, but I haven't yet started on building my little mini pond for them. Once I get that done I'm down!

The reason I want muscovies is while they like water its not completely necessary... They are also good fliers so if you have to keep em in they either have to have a netted yard or have thier wings clipped periodically.

deb

 

[jennifleur]

A stock tank works well for muscovies. They are nice because most have a drain near the bottom you can hook up to a hose. I run the hose to my flower beds and drain the water that way. There is always some water left at the bottom, but the poly stock tanks are sturdy enough to tip over on their sides to dump it out. Kiddie pools tend to break when you tip them. I would love a pond or aquaponics set up. I hear the filter is problem with ducks. That duck poop, feathers and things the ducks drag in, overload it and clog it constantly. My brother is up in Oregon on 60 acres with a stream and big pond that is fed by three springs. That would be my dream set up! Southern Ca is so dry, I wonder what the water situation will be like in ten years or so.
I clip wings also. It would be nice if I didn't have too. I always feel bad for the ducklets that wake up one day and can suddenly fly! This is so much fun, how amazing! Only to be grounded the next by me. Bummer.

 

[perchie.girl]

A stock tank works well for muscovies. They are nice because most have a drain near the bottom you can hook up to a hose. I run the hose to my flower beds and drain the water that way. There is always some water left at the bottom, but the poly stock tanks are sturdy enough to tip over on their sides to dump it out. Kiddie pools tend to break when you tip them. I would love a pond or aquaponics set up. I hear the filter is problem with ducks. That duck poop, feathers and things the ducks drag in, overload it and clog it constantly. My brother is up in Oregon on 60 acres with a stream and big pond that is fed by three springs. That would be my dream set up! Southern Ca is so dry, I wonder what the water situation will be like in ten years or so.
I clip wings also. It would be nice if I didn't have too. I always feel bad for the ducklets that wake up one day and can suddenly fly! This is so much fun, how amazing! Only to be grounded the next by me. Bummer.

you can use a prefilter to divert the chunky stuff. A simple affair of some loose mesh either Swamp cooler filter pad or even screen... like a pond skimmer. Just pull it out periodically and flick it clean in the trash then put it back in.

I used to be an aquarium enthusiast. and kept Turtles... Turtle tanks get nasty I used a tank with no gravel on the bottom I did all fitration outside of the tank. Big pump pumps the water from below pumps the water out and it goes a multiple stage filter. Which eventually ends in a biologic filter. You can take a lot out of a system just with that.

But What I want to do is on a very large scale where I filter grey water from the wash and the shower... Thats where the prefiltered duck water would be added into the system. Along the line would be added Cattails and Water hyacinth Then tested...Once that is done then It goes to the hydroponics and the Aquaponic water would be added in at that point.

some where in the dirty water processing I can also add in a biologic filter if needed. Using a Diatom filter. the particles in Diatomaceous earth can take orgaincs out of the water down to 1 micron This is PROVEN in Aquarium systems.

But sand filters work very well to take quite a bit out of the water. So theoretically I could use Grey water and duck water to feed in to the Aquaponics tanks.

I need to read up more on the testing of the water for Chemicals and bilologics and what is acceptable as in (ppm)

Part of why I am doing this is water conservation. My well is a very low producer and with the water table dropped by a hundred feet It empties out pretty quickly.

deb

 

[perchie.girl]

For what its worht Water hyacinth is prolific and has been used in water purification for a good long time.

It also has many uses"

make paper
fuel for fire place
bedding
Methane generation


I also want to raise in my aquaponics system with clean water Edibles like

Cattail
water cress
water chestnuts
Northern rice
wasabi

http://natures-water.com/education_information/edible_plants/

and Duck weed not only is it nutritious for the chickens and ducks Humans can eat it too.

All would share the same water as the fish and regular hydroponics plants... Providing my climate is good for them.

deb

 

[jennifleur]

Wow, you know your stuff! It sounds awesome. Please post pictures, not just the finished project, but seeing you go through the steps to set something like that would be amazing. I read someplace awhile ago, that water cress was the most nutritiously dense food there is. They say duck weed can take over, but if you use it for duck or animal fodder, that sounds win win to me. I'm excited, get started already!

 

[SmokingPistol]

Hello! Looking for Seabrights, preferably golden. I'm a 4-H leader and one of my primary members has fallen in love with the breed and desperately wants one to show for fair this year. If anyone has one or knows of a local breeder please contact me! Thanks so much!!

 

[TJChickens]

Hello! Looking for Seabrights, preferably golden. I'm a 4-H leader and one of my primary members has fallen in love with the breed and desperately wants one to show for fair this year. If anyone has one or knows of a local breeder please contact me! Thanks so much!! :cd :cd

We have them pm me of you want...

 

[pamperedamber]

Hello all.
I am fairly new to the chicken owning business. We started out with 5 at Christmas. Sadly we are down to 3. After better securing our chicken run so they can no longer escape we are looking to add a few more chicken in the flock. I am looking forward to getting to know all of you. I live in Riverside and my mom (also a chicken owner) lives in Poway. we are there about twice a month as that is home for me. I have half an acre agriculture property and cant wait to expand in to the animal world. Our dream is to have a nice little flock and a couple of horses.

 

[perchie.girl]

Hello all.
I am fairly new to the chicken owning business. We started out with 5 at Christmas. Sadly we are down to 3. After better securing our chicken run so they can no longer escape we are looking to add a few more chicken in the flock. I am looking forward to getting to know all of you. I live in Riverside and my mom (also a chicken owner) lives in Poway. we are there about twice a month as that is home for me. I have half an acre agriculture property and cant wait to expand in to the animal world. Our dream is to have a nice little flock and a couple of horses.

Welcome to the group...

 

[ChickaLong]

Hello all.
I am fairly new to the chicken owning business. We started out with 5 at Christmas. Sadly we are down to 3. After better securing our chicken run so they can no longer escape we are looking to add a few more chicken in the flock. I am looking forward to getting to know all of you. I live in Riverside and my mom (also a chicken owner) lives in Poway. we are there about twice a month as that is home for me. I have half an acre agriculture property and cant wait to expand in to the animal world. Our dream is to have a nice little flock and a couple of horses.