Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

GB #1 is cycling away. I have not done any readings yet, perhaps today. I want to get a set of readings before I add the filter and some water from the reef tank. The wife is having a big yard sale today trying to unload a lot of the inventory from the failed party store we opened a few years ago, so I may not actually get to it. I picked up 4 California rabbits yesterday. The kids are busy chasing them around the house. The kids love them, the puppy Schnauzers not so much. The names are Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner and Snack...JK. Once we figure out which ones are females, we will isolate them and then I want to get a New Zealand to bread with them. The guy I got them from also raises quail, I had been interested in maybe raising those also - right up until I smelled them. Stinky little birds...much more so then chickens. As far as self sustaining, this guy is the bomb! They had a huge garden, chickens, sheep, quail, and some other meat birds I could not name. He may have had other larger animals, but I did not see the back of his property. He had a lumber mill, and drying room. Home made everything! The bowles and woodworking he had done was amazing! Wish I had taken some picture. Anyway - will get some photos of the bunnies up soon.

DV, what do you think of the Quails. ? Do they really stink? I was thinking of getting some but if they are that rotten maybe not. Suburbia not happy with stink, Blah!

I have never raised quail, and had done quite a bit of reading and even had a place in the yard pciked out for a quail house. After getting the bunnies, I told him I was also interested in maybe getting some quail. He said - oh come look the quail house. He took me back behind the bunny house and had hundreds of them. I could hardly breath it smelled so bad, but he did confess he had been out of town for two weeks and had not cleaned things up since he only got back at 4am. The more we tallked - well the more we talked and walked! I spent about an hour out there getting a tour of his house and barnyard and got quite a bit of life history of things he done in the past. He took me up to the house where his wife also confessed she did not mind taking care of the animals while he was gone, but she did not like the quail...she liked to eat them, but did not care for keeping them. So of course I asked him if he had ever heard of aquaponics, and that spured a long discussion of what I was setting up. The poor guy was probably up all night reading about it...he seemed very excited about the idea.

Anyway - I resurected the Quail thread, so maybe some other keepers will chime in.

Quails are sure fidley things to eat . And eggs are quite delicious even though small. But compared to keeping chooks , probably a better deal in suburbia

I may give it a whirl...the big advantage is that they are pretty quiet! I'm kind of thinking a quail house on wheels so that I can move it about the yard and into the garage if need be. Lots of info on the net about them and you are right - I love quail eggs and quail meat is very tasty too. You can get 100 eggs or so for 25 bucks or so. Seems that people average between 50% and 85% hatch rate. So even at the low end, that only works out to be 50 cents each. Plus feed, you probably still come in under a dollar each once grown out to eating size. So far rabbits seem to be the best bang for the buck though. We picked up these californias for 15 dollars each which we should be able to start producing litters with them toward the end of the year. They appear to be easy to breed....like the breeder said, you stick two in a cage and you end up with 6 to 10 rabbits. And they have the advantage of being fun to play with for the little ones. And they can hav multiple litters a year. So if self sustaining in suburbia is your game, then also look at the bunnies! The disadvantage to the bunnies is that they ar just so darn CUTE! Stupid Cute as my wife says.

hmmm - just noticed water is starting to go green. Need to get some shade up, a lid and find something to wrap these IBCs in.

Just did some readings...now that I know how to use the kit properly I see a lot more happening...

Ammonia 4-8 - very green!!
Rites 1-2 - very purple!!
Rates might have a trace between yellow and orange - maybe tomorrow it will be more clear.

It does appear I can stop drinking beer and adding ammonia...

It also appears I have a lot of crap in the tank fallen from the trees above. Lots of plant matter on the bottom and suspended in water. Should I try to filter/strain it out or perhaps just add worms asap. I assume this plant matter will start to decompose, what should I expect from that?

Thanks
Mark

DV, you could syphon the crap off the bottom of the tank with a garden hose.

or a pool net, yea you dont that stuff, i know for pools, its baaaad. but nice with the rabbits. i was thinking about them, but like you said to cute. i dont think i would beable to kill one... but fish are different, they dont have feelings...

I'd try and get it out if at all possible. Thats the problem with trees near your tanks, sometimes you just don't know if the tree litter will be toxic to your fish or plants..

I seem to have some Nitrates registering. So I added some plants. A friend had pulled out a bunch of yellow squash that he over planted, so I put half in the GB and half in the garden. Also added basil seeds he gave me to both. Then I thinned out my radishes in the garden and added those to the GB also. The squash do not look to happy in either place, they had been sitting out in his garden for a few hours before he thought to give them to me. We will see how the other stuff goes. Turns out bees like to come visit the GB to get a little drink. I have some flower seeds, I think I'll put some of those in just to keep them comming back.

Speaking of the water - it seems to be clearing. Lots of algea in the sump as I have not shaded it yet. I can at least see the bottom now. Turns out it was just a bunch of junk from the trees that had gotten in there. The fish tank is shaded and a bit of a roof. Water is clearing there also, but still cannot see the bottom.

As far as rabbits, found these online - don't know what shipping is. Anyone have a local or cheaper source.
http://www.agrisupply.com/product.asp?pn=25655

Might head over to the garden center and see if they have any worms. If not, there is a bait shop not to far.

Wish me luck!
Mark

Went out to check on new transplants...they do not look so good...most have leaves laying on the gravel. I will leave them over night and see if they perk up a bit. If they do, I will probably cover them to protect from sun and give them a chance to get a little more established. The ones in the garden don't look much better.

Mark

Remove the dead and dieing leave as they are more prone to diease.
If you get newshoots then all is well, if not then ditch them...
besides if the leaves are stuffed they are not going to be doing any good for the plant.
Just MHO only.
C1

yea it can take a while for transplants to recover. Some shade, removing the really wilted or bad looking leaves and perhaps they will make a come back in a week.

Most of them only had two leaves and hardly any root system at all. Walter was not trying to keep them when he pulled them - perhaps I should have dropped them in water for a day or two. I'm not real hopeful at this poiont, but will check in the morning and if they are not all dead will cut off leaves and hope for the best. The radishes I am a little supprised they looked so bad - in fact worse then the squash. I heard some root breakage as I pulled them out, but not a lot. I still have more to cull, so if no dice with these, I will get the hose out and make sure I get all the roots with the next batch. The soil is very sandy and with a good flow of water I should be able to get the entire plant out. Would have love some squash - but not willing to pay the 2.49 per plant here.

Went to the super market and they had some good looking hobanero for 89 cents. Picket one up and added to the dirt garden. I'm not sure why - they are too hot for me.

Wife is headed to the fishery tuesday to get some blue gill and cats (I'm thinking 10 each - can add more later if need be). Tomorrow I hope to go by the bait shop and get some worms and live guppies to add to the GB and FT. If they don't all die before tuesday then we are on for fish!

OH BTW - followed the instructions for the pineapple thread a while back. I have one in soil now and growing new leaves - and one in a glass of water growing some roots. If I can get anything to grow in the GB, I will add it there also. The one in soil I am really supprised with. It looked really sorry when I cut it and put it in water....I was sure it was a gonner.

Mark