Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Abstaining from alcohol is important while pregnant, but beer helps with lactation. I am not saying to knock back a 40, but a few sips of beer certainly gets the milk flowing. Just do yourself a favor and get a beer you enjoy.

Back onto cheater feeders. With all the experience you have with 'tubes 'n pumps' I would have thought that part would be a piece of cake!! I'm surprised it doesn't have a TC twist,like a solar powered tower umbrella!!

Hi TC, if you need help and the cook is there then that is great. But if it's unnecessary then you might want to let him sleep so that you can sleep/nap in the day time while he takes care of the JellyBean. I got very good advice from a dad of twins before our twins were born - if you both get up in the night then you have two grumpy people in the house during the day instead of just one.

Just for the the record my comment was supposed to read "i wouldn't expect everyone to to do the same" lol

Wonderful news TC, we are so happy for you, the cook and Bubs.

Mom breast fed both myself and my younger brother. However my younger brother basically weened himself early, very painful for mom.
My younger brother has an incredibly high IQ, but he isn't really a functional adult, he never had to work hard for grades or test scores. He never learned how to cope with having to work hard for anything and that has given him trouble since college.
I had to work hard for grades and test scores, not sure what my actual IQ is, I did well though school but having to work for it is actually a blessing.

I'm thinking of doing something similar with 1-5/8 HT-40 fence pipe and fittings like those found here: http://www.ysbw.com/Canopy-Fittings-1-5-8-Inch-s/12.htm The plan is to make two 4 foot wide x 48 foot long raised DWC beds fed with a 12' diameter by 3' deep fish tank (about 1/6th the size of the UVI system). We just sold our house and are presently looking for one with some acreage, so with any luck this will happen sometime this summer . . .

Obviously lined ground level troughs made with concrete block would be the cheapest way to go, but I don't want to be breaking my back planting and harvesting. Cost wise I don't think the pipe frames would be all that much more expensive than making raised beds out of wood, plus as stated before the pipe frames don't suffer from termite problems.

Seems like a simple indexing valve would take care of the feeding issues... Obviously, if nothing else, I can always serve as a bad example...

And TX and FL are both termite territory.
Watch for sales on the bunk feeders though. They are easy to set up.

You could also use Timbor to treat the wood prior to painting. It works extremely well as a preservative and termite prevention. Not sure about any wood in direct contact with ground though...that's usually a no-no for termites. But should work well on any GB's or DWC beds that are raised and sitting on block, metal stands.

Well shucks. I knew as soon as I clicked on TC's thread and saw 8 pages worth of stuff to catch up on... that the baby had joined us. Sorry I was late!

Congrats TC, Cook, and Kid.

Sorry I'm late but Congratulations to both you and the cook.

Things are getting a little better.
Re-gained birth weight by 3 weeks. Pediatrician said he doesn't really worry unless ya get to 4 weeks and still haven't regained birth weight.

Hopefully we can phase out the supplementing before we make it to 6 weeks. My evening supply doesn't seem quite up to the task yet though so still working on improving that while we slowly reduce the supplement.

Have you bought a milking machine?

My wife used one to stimulate flow/production after there was too little to inspire any effort from our babies.

Also if you have can have a supply in the fridge or freezer it helps give you a little independence.

Yep, have a pump and have used it to help increase production. However, I don't know if I'm ever going to be effective enough at pump or hand expressing milk to actually be able to stock up enough to really get much time off. Tovi is far more effective at getting milk out of me than the pump or hand expression.

His digestion also seems to be advanced beyond his weeks as he is already not pooping all that often and the pediatrician didn't seem to think that was anything to worry about with a mostly breast fed baby (and supplementing with the particular formula that they gave us) seems he is already on the six week old poo schedule of only every 3-5 days instead of 3-5 per day as I guess is more common for newborns (he only did that for about a week.)

Hard to get a whole lot done during the day yet. Feeding almost hourly in the mornings and evenings and about every 1.5-2 hours in the afternoon and only getting a somewhat longer break at night means projects have to be able to break down into very short quick operations. Will really need to get better at feeding in the carriers if I'm going to manage to harvest anything in the mornings this season.