I was obsessed about starting a duckaponics setup for about 2 days until I read about potential ecoli and salmonella contamination of food grown in those conditions. One study showed that the plants actually uptook these bacteria some kind of way into the plant themselves rather than just surface contamination. So sad. I guess if I grow things to cook and eat it would be safe but salad greens and fresh herbs are out. This also led me to find out that some US farming organization or regulation requires 120 days between applications of manure and harvest of foods. Just thought y'all would find that to be useful info. I still might do it, but it would be mostly duckweed for the ducks to eat, or food suitable to be cooked. It would save a lot of water. This 120 day window means I am safe for my garden currently but will have to be mindful of my schedule in the future. The ducks are allowed in the main garden over winter and I emptied their coop into the bed in late winter. There's plenty of poop out there but none of it will be harmful by the time I am harvesting foods. But I won't be able to use their shitwater on my potted veggies, lawn and ornamentals only. I could also compost some of it. Some of the duck people on the backyardchickens site insist that they have never gotten salmonella poisoning from their ducks and that ducks are just the end all be all of fertilizer. Kind of lulled me into a sense of safety using their poop on everything. Reality is that contamination is still definitely a possibility.
No, but I’ve heard them referred to as “the Amway of farming.” Seeing the prices on some posted for sale around here, I believe it. Take a look at Nigerian Dwarf goats if you’re looking for a good pet. Especially wethered ( neutered ) buckling. Purchased and raised from a young age, the
It never occurred to me that could be an issue, but then the only way their manure ever gets to my garden is what they squirt out while they’re foraging around in it. Anything more seems like it’d be too “hot” to use, but then I’ve never heard of “duckaponics” until just now either. As I typed this, it occurred to me I have used their dirty bath water on my blueberries, which live nitrogen rich soil.
second this. Raised many Nigerian dwarf goats. Awesome pets, friendly like house pets. Very child friendly too, and if I didn’t have a bunch of dogs already I would have them for our actual house. Only issue with them is that I hope you aren’t emotionally attached to your shoe laces.
Aquaponics uses fish. Duckaponics or Quackaponics uses ducks. Ducks love water and shit in it a LOT. Their waste is not hot like a chicken's and you do not have to compost it before use. It is well balanced, nitrogen rich, and has trace elements. It's great for plants. My ducks will turn a 50gal bathtub solid green in a week. They get the tub plus daily drinking water. We use a lot of water, and it is expensive here. Here is one of a few videos I was looking at for general design setup Here was the swirl filter I was going to copy. It reduces the solids in your water and allows you to empty the solids without full water changes. I think applying their waste into soil is probably a little safer for your food quality compared to growing your food directly in their fresh shitwater. Just a hunch. I don't want to risk it though. I might still set something up since I already have a pump, buckets, PVC. I would need a few odds n ends but it wouldn't be terribly costly to set up, and it would save a lot of water.
I’d figure any bird droppings would be tossed into a compost bin with everything else and would be taken care of by the heat of that process? Didn’t watch your video so maybe something different entirely?
Something different entirely. My ducks have 3 areas they poop. Coop, run, and their tub. You can definitely compost their waste to make it safe. I currently apply their wastewater directly to plants. I would have to expand my compost setup significantly to deal with the amount of waste (including the contaminated straw) that they produce. It's a LOT, even for how few birds I own. Currently, I've been watering plants with their tub water to fertilize plants and reuse water. If I do this aquaponics thing, it would clean their bathing water while allowing me to grow them supplementary feed. Duckweed grows fast and is high protein. I could continue to cycle out their coop bedding like I am now. I do a deep litter in the coop which keeps it dry and when it is too deep it is moved to their run, which gets muddy. The straw breaks down and compacts down in their outside run. Then I can annually clean out the run directly to the garden during the off season, so by the time I am gardening again there is no risk of contaminating food with ecoli or salmonella.
Something that occurred to me while I was dealing with the ducks a few minutes ago @Kubla Kahn ... do you know what duck shit is like? It is totally liquid. You can't scoop or shovel it. Removing it means removing what it is on, or hosing something off. When they poo, you can often audibly hear it, like trying to get the last of the ketchup out of the bottle. They poo several times an hour. So "just compost it" is a bit more of a rigorous task than you might think. Some people keep sand or some sort of draining floor that can be hosed off for maintenance. I do what I describe above, which saves me work and uses the straw I buy as much as possible. Hard floors and rocks are also bad for their feet and can cause difficult to clear up bumblefoot like no tomorrow. The quality and uncontrollable nature of their poo is also why I think any person who has or wants a "house duck" is completely out of their gourd.
Well, I done fucked up. I let the broody experiment go on too long. Nobody sat. I cleaned out the boxes. 133 eggs. 5 down for dinner. I need to find my brine salts and pickle some of these somebitches.
@Trickysista shared earlier in the thread about how to preserve unwashed eggs with a brine solution. I am going to try it on a gallon jar full to save for winter. There will be plenty left to pickle. Might try a small batch, not sure I remember what they taste like. I think my mom used to do it with beet juice or something. Do you have a recipe you like?
I went with the Greenworks pressure washer...have not used it yet; probably will once I have a free day when the temps are over 75.
For anyone wondering, here's what Jungle Julia's TWENTY ducklings look like now (they're Indian Runners, it turns out.). Spoiler
Over the past few years, we've had a mallard couple land in our pool. We usually admire them for a few and then chase them out. Well, we've been out of town since last week and came back to them full on living in the pool and found these guys under a bush. How do we get rid of them? As you duck people know, there is shit EVERYWHERE and the pool is starting to look murky.
Have you actually seen a hen sit on the nest? If not, remove the eggs and destroy the nest. Scare the adults away when you see them around. They usually lay a large clutch before sitting to incubate them at the same time. If she has not been sitting on them you can also eat the eggs. Bon appetit!
We have not seen her but I scared them away this morning and 15 secs later they were back. Shoed them away again and stood out there and watched them circle around to come back again, saw me and took off. Five minutes later, back again. Edit - What do we do if she has been sitting on them?