The Natural Chicken Keeping thread - OTs welcome!

[Rainey]

I've been raising chicks this spring without using chick starter. They were 3 weeks old on Wednesday and went to the outside coop with a run (movable) and a compost pile. Today I was sitting by the pond and watching the minnows and wondered about catching some of them for feeding to our hens and chicks. Anyone here done that? Does it matter what kind of fish they are? Is there a problem with feeding them raw?

 

[lalaland]

I've been raising chicks this spring without using chick starter. They were 3 weeks old on Wednesday and went to the outside coop with a run (movable) and a compost pile. Today I was sitting by the pond and watching the minnows and wondered about catching some of them for feeding to our hens and chicks. Anyone here done that? Does it matter what kind of fish they are? Is there a problem with feeding them raw?

On the rare occasions that I get to a) fish, and b) have left over minnows, I give them to the chickens. I put them in a shallow pan or pie plate, and they love love love them. the live ones are the best, but I don't worry about the half dead or dead minnows either if they are still "fresh".

this is assuming that you have provided grit for the chicks/chickens. I don't think it would matter what kind of fish. FIsh guts are also very much appreciated by the chickens

 

[Lacy Blues]

I have started a pond (got it dug and lined) so I can raise mosquito fish. I was planning to get fathead minnows until I found out there was some sort of anti-nutrient with them. I don't remember exactly what it was so I kept searching til I found out about mosquito fish. They are minnow sized and produce like crazy so I can feed them out with decimating my populations.

I tried last summer to get my water to grow a bit of algae. It didn't. I found out though that it needs to be shaded. I thought full sun would grow algae the fastest but it didn't work at all.

I will try again this year. The mosquito fish will eat algae as well as mosquito larvae. I can also get them for free from my county vector control. Though I will try to overwinter them, they will be a source if I cannot manage it.

 

[Leahs Mom]

@Lacy Blues

Could you talk a bit about your pond...

-How deep/wide is it...did you have an excavator dig it?
-What is it lined with?
-What is your water supply?

 

[Lacy Blues]

ok, hmmm... let's see...


No excavator. Just me. It's a small pond. A very small pond. I dug it for the sole purpose of raising mosquito fish.

I dug it deep enough that a cinder block would be completely underground, so 8". It is 4 cinder blocks square so about 56" on each side on the outside.

First I dug the hole and removed the dirt. That was a back breaker! Then I covered the bottom of the hole with 1/2" hardware cloth. I didn't want some digging thing to come up underneath and chew a hole through my liner. After the hardware cloth, I put in the blocks. They were stacked two high so it's only about 16" deep. Then I got some old carpet from the local carpet store... otherwise known as dumpster diving. I covered the whole bottom and up the sides.

The cinder blocks were filled and packed with dirt from the excavation to hold them in place and no I didn't trust just that to hold them. Around the top, I put 2x10 lumber. I set it all on top and cut everything to fit. I used 2x2 lumber on the bottom sides up against the cinder blocks to add additional support to the dirt packed holes of the blocks.

For the liner I used one of those billboard tarps. I fit that into the hole over the carpet, up and over the 2x10s on the top. That was a job too! As I got the liner up over the 2x10s, I would remove one of the supporting 2x2s, wrap the tarp up against the cinder blocks and put the 2x2 back in its place. Then I cut the excess tarp off. I did this all the way around. The corners of the pond were the most difficult part (outside of excavating) as I had to fold/roll at very stiff tarp up the inside corners and even on the top, some of it had to remain folded. But each side was rolled over the top and secured underneath with the 2x2s.

For overwintering, I managed to locate a black camper shell on Craigslist for free. I wanted a black one so that it would absorb as much winter sun as possible so my fish wouldn't die over winter. It might even stay warm enough for them to keep breeding and raise tons of fry. It doesn't exactly fit the top of the pond. There are a couple of things I need to do to make that work.

I also have plans in my head for setting up a water circulation device that doesn't need electricity. We have enough wind here that I'm pretty sure it can be done. The device will need to be able to be taken apart only at the top so that when I have the camper shell on there, the wind can still circulate the water.

If this is as clear as mud to you, I can get some pictures or do some diagrams to help.

 

[Lacy Blues]

Oh, and the water supply is a garden hose run over to it for just that purpose. I need something more permanent though like raindrip hose... that stiff black stuff and some kind of float system on the pond to combat evaporation in the summer.

 

[Leahs Mom]

Thank you! And...yes! Photos

 

[Lacy Blues]

ok, be patient though. I've got some things I need to get done today (this morning) and then I will go check on it. I haven't looked at it in a couple of weeks. Need to likely sweep it out and get the hose run over there to fill it up again. While I'm doing all that, I'll get some pictures and try to get them loaded before dark. Ok?

 

[Leahs Mom]

Don't rush for me! Just whenever it works in your schedule

 

[Lacy Blues]

Ok, here it is.



I couldn't get the last of the dirt that had dried in the bottom so it's a little bit dirty. The soil here is quite alkaline and I'm guessing the water is too. It was dried in quite a crust and getting it loose from the bottom made quite a cloud around me and it didn't feel too great on my throat... so the last little bit can stay.

The dark spots on the white liner are dirt that got under a 2x6 that was laying across the top. It was there so that animals coming for a midnight swim could get back out of the water. Ewww!

Looking at it again... I remember what I really did on the outside. After getting the 2x10s cut to size and set where I wanted them, I cut the 2x2s to frame the bricks and attached them to the 2x10s to hold them in place. I did not remove them when I rolled the liner around the top. I put in a second layer of 2x2s and screwed those to the first round through the tarp, holding it in place.

So, I have it filling up. When it's done, I'll put something over the top to shade the water and hopefully grow some algae so I can get some fish!