The Duck-ponics Experiment - Raising minnows

[Miss Lydia]

Well I must be doing something wrong, I only have 33 chickens and 3 goats. I must be losing my touch...batting the eyelashes and the hairflip not working anymore???!!!??? bummer.

Where's the ducks and geese? come on you can do it.

and I said Dreaming, dh has put his foot down to any more houses.

 

[pysankigirl]

actually , I have 4 duckings and 2 goslings on order for spring...hence the interest in the duckaponics thread

 

[Miss Lydia]

actually , I have 4 duckings and 2 goslings on order for spring...hence the interest in the duckaponics thread

Cool, look forward to seeing them, what breeds. and your avatar eggs are beautiful

 

[jtcitrus]

Any updates on this quackuaponics project?

 

[Cassia311]

We live in Colorado and the local pond has mallards that live it up year round there. I wouldn't expect them to be sensitive because they walk on the ice through the winter. It gets down in the negatives for several days out of the year as well. Perhaps these ones are just resilient?

 

[tdd2]

Subscribed

 

[sheila8]

To Cassia and others,
I am trying something similar on a larger scale. We still have not worked out all the bugs and have large open ponds for part of the year. Your comfort duck-as we call the ones we cuddle,
looks like a Cayuga - the black domestic ones- we raise cayuga and Cayuga crosses outside here in Montana- we have optional small barn shelters- we can close them in- and did during the three worst storms last year , and "open shelter" where so far they have bedded all this winter. They are VERY winter tolerant as the wind chill has been below -20. Wind blocks and the best food you can afford is the trick. Pond heaters and chopping ice when the sump pump freezes are useful investments.
Sheila ( queen of the iceawl-LOL)

 

[Bryanshantel]

Ohhh...good idea to use existing water pressure.

I would love to be off electric, but until I work out my system, I don't want an extra variable.

I am now thinking how to set up the people food containers. If I don't cover it somehow, I will have algae issues. Plus how do I keep the seedlings in place and keep them from drowning?

Here is what I have come up with so far...
Get a sheet of styrofoam.
Get some cheap strainers from the dollar store.
Cut holes in the styrofoam sheet so the strainers fit in the opening.
Fill the strainers with perlite and soil moist crystals.
Plant seedlings in the perlite mix.
Float the styrofoam on top of the water in the container.

Water will be fed in to the bottom of the container and bubble up until it hits the overflow opening. The styrofoam will have some give so it can adjust to changing water levels and still keep the strainer bottoms in contact with the water.

I do aquaponics and that theory is great for lettuce, but for other veggies you need a grow media like pea gravel clay balls and a bell siphon just look up aquaponic system set up on you tube you'll find more than enough information

 

[Maxx57]

I'm a big fan of quaquaponics systems! It seems that the main problem is the filter getting clogged. May I suggest you a theorical solution?
I think duck produce too much poo for crops to assimilate it (or you need a very large aquaponic system). Liquid part and solid part should be separated. The liquid part is useful for the aquaponic system and the solid part is used for the compost. So, a pond with a slope could be a solution but the filter can still get clogged... My idea is to prevent any sedimentation around the filter by quite large amout of 'clean water' coming out of the crops areas. But the water flow of the pump is too weak to do it. So I suggest also to use this thing: shishi odoshi

Here is a sketch

 

[melonball6]

It looks like this thread has been going for six years. Amazing. I read it "cover-to-cover" since last night and I do not have any ducks or ponds. Wifezilla is such a talented writer she kept me interested the whole time.