Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

In a commercial broiler shed, they'd be ready to process in about a fortnight (35 - 36 days)......at about 1.4kg to 1.6kg dressed weight. The commercial growers can access "special" rations that are formulated just for the large chicken corporations.

Years ago, when we ran a small restaurant supply business, we would begin processing meat chickens at three weeks of age. They are referred to as Poussin.......a single serve with a dressed weight of about 500g.

We've just switched ours from a broiler starter to a broiler finisher ration. In a week or two, we'll put them on a mix of pig pellets and cracked corn......and some greenfeed. The cracked corn imparts a yellowish tinge to the skin and gives them a distinctive taste.

The end result is table bird that tastes great and carries less body fat than the commercial chickens. We'll process them at the rate of about 6 a week. By the time we do the last ones, they're at the door kicking stage.

You're right Stu.......the older they get the less cute they are.....but the better they begin to taste. (we don't have to share that bit with your daughter).

Hi,

It's been a while.

So, how's it going?

Anyone up for a debate.......on anything?

Gary

ROFL

Gary - you are welcome to post regarding your system developments here. I am not sure what you are trying to achieve with that post. If there is something in particular that you think is worth discussing the merits of - then feel free to post. The members here are full of ideas and are bound to have some comments/ideas.

Is that guy a pecker or what?
This is a system thread, not for banter!
Debate? I am sure you could get your friends together
and have a mass debate! all 2 of you!

Mods I tried to edit but my fingers wouldn't do it!

Hi VB,

I guess I'm a little tentative given some of the anxiety that we've experienced of late.

Anyway, I'm happy to be bound by the same rules that apply to others.

For those who are interested, my latest system.......

Gary

Edited to remove typo.

Gary, can you explain why one of the grow beds is empty? Is it just that you haven't added the gravel yet?

What sort of fish are you keeping and what do you plan to grow Gary?

Hi Jaymie,

Are you referring to the one on the right in the first photo?

That's actually a duckweed pond......it's connected to the fish tank.

It ebbs and flows with the fish tank......like a tidal estuary.


Gary

Wow Gary, quite a step up from the other system....

a couple of questions....

Are you still going to incorporate a bio-filter and/or a UV filter into the new system?

Did you find any marked benefits in running the UV canister style filter?

Are you going to incorporate your satellite pots into this system or continue to run them standalone as before?

How did the cocopeat you were trialling go in the pots and beds?

So did the other system cark it?
and this is the new prototype!
Looks all perdy and cute...
Have you rated the pressure required to knock it over!
Those bessa blocks hold it up Ok?

Hi Gary, nice to hear from you.

New system looks clean, neat and tidy....just how mine start out

I get the idea you are trying to keep it very close together...this is good up to a point, my preferences are to be able to plant/harvest from either side of a GB and believe that although putting the GBs close together saves space, in the long run it is much better to spread them and have about a 500mm pathway.

Like the idea of the "trailer canopy"....would it be able to be raised higher, thinking of plants like sweet corn, tomatoes, climbing beans/peas having a bit more head room

Interested to see how it fairs during the summer months

Have you done any further work on the BSF harvesting

Gary on those satellite pots you said with cocopete a little water often how would one of those small dosing pumps go

Hi Rupert,



It's a bit different to the other one but it does the same thing......grows fish and plants.



Don't need a separate bio-filter in this system......it has two 585 litre gravel beds which serve as the bio-filters.



They're not as good (for nitrification purposes) as a conventional trickling bio-filter (or a gravel grow bed) but they are brilliant for getting rid of dirty water......whether caused by algae or overfeeding.



How did the cocopeat you were trialling go in the pots and beds?

Coco peat responds best to frequent tiny waterings......of the sort provided by seconds timer. All of the seconds timers that I encountered cost a mint so I was doing the watering by hand. We got tomatoes off the plants in the pots and we had just begun to pick them when we had several days of sub-zero mornings (unusual in SE Queensland) and that put paid to them.

We've since hooked the pots into the new system......filled them with the gravel/expanded clay out of our old square metre grow bed.....and hooked them up to our new system. They're working fine.....so far.

Hi C1



No, we dismantled the old system when my baby Jades started to suffer from the cold. We put them back into the fingerling tank that you see in the first photo.

I'm no engineer so I wouldn't be able to precisely answer the question on the pressure......I'm guided by the fact that cement blocks seem to bear a lot weight in normal use.

Gary

Now there's a man after my own heart...

No offense meant, always wondered if they'd be better running the way you have them know.....

I've got some just like them... and now I know just how to hook them up... thanks