Duck/Goose ponics up and running

[CibolaChooks]

So every other week my garden was getting trashed by the goats and chickens. Not only that but my bedding was always getting wet around my coup from the rain. Wet equals smelly. So we decided to build a green house around the two add a duck/goose pond between the two. Here are some pics of it up and running with their new perches and the green house around the two. My Ebb and Flow hydro bed is barely up and going. I cut tomato clones and just stuck them in and they seem to be staying alive. I also took a eaten lettuce out of the ground and its growing new leaves already. I also planted some tomato seeds and squash seeds which are the baby plants that are started in these pics.

If you like fish you can do the same thing Eat the Tilapia you Fill it with and put your chicken perches over the water for more nutrient.

Edit is a p.s. I am not done with it all. i have allot of finishing touches such as trim and what not to hide the ugly parts/nails and such. As well as allot of painting. The plastic is also temporary as all this can be expensive. I hope to have the clear panels up by next spring.

 

[ashandvine]

Steen this is great! come build it for me too! I notice you have tufted geese. Are they pure? They look a bit young or crossed to me. PM me the details!!

Where do you recommend I get Tilapia? I think I want to start a local fish here. I might have to get some special certs for it. thoughts?

 

[CibolaChooks]

Steen this is great! come build it for me too! I notice you have tufted geese. Are they pure? They look a bit young or crossed to me. PM me the details!!

Where do you recommend I get Tilapia? I think I want to start a local fish here. I might have to get some special certs for it. thoughts?

ok will do later today. gotta run to mountains to finish coup, to get guineas out of here. they are driving me crazy.

 

[CibolaChooks]

they should be pure and they are still young. none of them are laying yet. and the one's crest is admittedly to flat. That's one of the things to watch for and not breed back into the genes.

 

[ashandvine]

Please post more DIY instructions with pictures of your ponics. I think this is great and would love to try to replicate here.

 

[CibolaChooks]

Please post more DIY instructions with pictures of your ponics. I think this is great and would love to try to replicate her

Lets see. the green house is about 20 feet long by 15 feet. Only because i wanted it to encase my chicken coup and bedding. as well as one of my raised bed gardens. I have about a 10 by 15 area for my grow beds. The path between the two maid for a perfect location for the pond. It is 22 inches deep after i added about 3 inches of sand in the bottom of the hole to protect the pond liner from punctures due to any rocks below or future maintenance if i have to walk in it. The pond is 28 inches wide and 8 ft 4 inches on the inside long. this makes it 266 gallons which is a Lil bit over 1000 liter tank. This guy

uses the same size system. He is in Australia and its very arid but he grows lettuce in 24 days and cabbage in 30 something. Lots of fresh veggies for you and the flock.

He also uses fish to eat as his nutrient load. but perches over the pond would work just as well if not better with a little bit of kelp fertilizer(its also organic) if your not a fish eater. The pond liner for strength i maid out of 2x12 frames that were stacked Two high. this with a little bit longer corner post gave me about 3 to 4 inches above the soil line. I then raped the wood in black 6 mil plastic to protect if from bugs or ground moisture and sunk it in the hole. This is where i added the sand. Then i put the pond liner in. I carried my pond liner up high so all the splashing of overly excited ducks and geese don't get my bedding wet just right next to it. I left the other side open to the raised garden bed.

I got my pump at home depot. http://www.homedepot.com/h_d1/N-25e...=submersable+pumps&storeId=10051#.UEoOzt1lRcA With this pump and the strength of it , it worked out just perfect for me. I used a 1inch hose from the pump to leave the water and it immediately connects to a 1inch PVC pipe. the rubber hose allows the pump(hung by a rope in the lower half of the water column) to be knocked around by submariner ducks without having allot of stress on your pipe and joints. The one inch pipe has a tee with a valve off it right after the hose . this Tee feeds water back into the bottom of the pond immediately before it goes to the grow bed. it creates a current for me at the bottom of the pond that keeps debris circulating, allowing my pump to pick it all up. it also releases extra water pressure i don't want going to my grow beds. the 1 inch pipe then goes to my grow bed which also has a 1 inch valve. Its also prior to the grow bed to control how much water is being dumped into my bed.

With this system only having one grow bed right now i have the valve feeding and circulating my pond fully open. the valve feeding my grow bed is only about 1/3 open. This gives me my 5 min ebb and flow with out a timer. I also need just precisely this much water being dumped in my grow bed, It is the only way i can get my bell siphon to work properly and then shut off when the water level is all the way down in my grow bed. with to much water flowing in your bed you will never EBB and the bell siphon will just always flow constantly.

so this has worked out soooo perfect for me right now. I'm waiting on my cycle timer. i found one really cheep and its on its way right now in the mail. But with this system set the way i have it my grow bed ebb's and flow's about every 5 Min's. This is OK for new baby plant roots. Once the plants get bigger and i get my timer i will have the pump turn on about every 8 Min's and maybe stay on for about 4 Min's maybe 6 what ever it takes to get the siphon to engage.

For this winter i will be heating it with a rocket mass heater.

or you can simply just heat the water with solar power or with tank heaters. the water will heat the green house.

 

[ashandvine]

I am glad you could address the question of winter. Living in a very different climate than you or AU I went to bed pondering how to keep such a set up from freezing. I imagined that it being in the green house would help, with warm chicken bodies to help create ambient heat. How many birds do you have in there?

 

[CibolaChooks]

I am glad you could address the question of winter. Living in a very different climate than you or AU I went to bed pondering how to keep such a set up from freezing. I imagined that it being in the green house would help, with warm chicken bodies to help create ambient heat. How many birds do you have in there?

i have 68 chickens.

only 16 roost in there now. but only about 8-12 will be staying at this location. As you can see in that video it was 70 degrees inside his greenhouse with snow covering everything outside. I think he said he was in Illinois or something like that. I also watched other videos of a guy in Montana in the middle of winter. they heated the fish tank reservoir water with solar power and the warm water alone heated the whole green house. I'm either going to build a rocket mass heater or just sink some horse tank heaters in the pond.

.If you have allot of birds and a deep litter bed that is actively composting you wont have any heat issues. which also reminds me of another persons green house which was big enough that they had a compost pile inside it. and yet another person who had huge mounds of compost piled up outside right against the walls of the green house. i think it was just a plastic wall or the clear panels. either way there are tons of ways to heat cheep and easy.

If someone wants one put under there perches to keep coup clean with the heated water heating the coup. it would create condensation which is killer for frostbite. ventilation is very important for anyone thinking of it for there coup. And i just read that a heated coup is very bad for frostbite and winter acclimation. So i guess these are really amazing ways to heat for green houses but with a coup inside other things become a issue.

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[ScarletMeadows]

So every other week my garden was getting trashed by the goats and chickens. Not only that but my bedding was always getting wet around my coup from the rain. Wet equals smelly. So we decided to build a green house around the two add a duck/goose pond between the two. Here are some pics of it up and running with their new perches and the green house around the two. My Ebb and Flow hydro bed is barely up and going. I cut tomato clones and just stuck them in and they seem to be staying alive. I also took a eaten lettuce out of the ground and its growing new leaves already. I also planted some tomato seeds and squash seeds which are the baby plants that are started in these pics.

If you like fish you can do the same thing Eat the Tilapia you Fill it with and put your chicken perches over the water for more nutrient.

Edit is a p.s. I am not done with it all. i have allot of finishing touches such as trim and what not to hide the ugly parts/nails and such. As well as allot of painting. The plastic is also temporary as all this can be expensive. I hope to have the clear panels up by next spring.

Do y

So every other week my garden was getting trashed by the goats and chickens. Not only that but my bedding was always getting wet around my coup from the rain. Wet equals smelly. So we decided to build a green house around the two add a duck/goose pond between the two. Here are some pics of it up and running with their new perches and the green house around the two. My Ebb and Flow hydro bed is barely up and going. I cut tomato clones and just stuck them in and they seem to be staying alive. I also took a eaten lettuce out of the ground and its growing new leaves already. I also planted some tomato seeds and squash seeds which are the baby plants that are started in these pics.

If you like fish you can do the same thing Eat the Tilapia you Fill it with and put your chicken perches over the water for more nutrient.

Edit is a p.s. I am not done with it all. i have allot of finishing touches such as trim and what not to hide the ugly parts/nails and such. As well as allot of painting. The plastic is also temporary as all this can be expensive. I hope to have the clear panels up by next spring.

Can you please give a update? How is it working?