Godney Aquaponics


Godney Aquaponics
In the village of Godney, with the beautiful back drop of the Glastonbury Tor, Melv and Sal are embarking on a new venture. Fed up with the poor quality of veg in the shops, they have the ambition to set up an aquaponics system to provide fresh vegetables and salad crops for the village, and with a little help from their hens a supply of fresh free range eggs too.


What is Aquaponics??


What is Aquaponics??
Aquaponics is a sustainable method of producing quality food with minimal external inputs. It is a system that combines conventional aquaculture (e.g. fish in tanks) with hydroponics (cultivating plants in water) in a symbiotic environment. Water from the aquaculture system is fed to the hydroponic system where the by-products are broken down and are utilised by the plants as nutrients, and the water is then re-circulated back to the aquaculture system.


Saturday 23 September 2017

Getting ready for our feathered friends

Once the barn was cleared, our priority was to get the barn ready for our new hens, first the floor needed to be concreted then there was a new coup to build, large enough for at least 20 new comers.


Then there was the cladding on the outside of the barn that would be part of their enclosed/safe area outside, if for any reason we needed to pen them up.

 

 
Built for cleanliness with easy to wash down shelves and the minimum of nooks and crannies for mites to hide in, the coup is very plush and very fit for purpose.


Plastered and white washed on the outside, with netted windows, door and outside compound.

Inside, has stone dust, great for congealing chicken pooh on the floor, perch with trays covered in sawdust underneath, to catch the pooh and of course the nest boxes. These are made from old plastic ice cream signs - thanks Matt, on wooden frame.


Then finally the out door compound, just in case we need to pen the girls up for any reason. My word was a residence - I can see us moving out of Fishermans Cottage and moving in!!

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