Texas Brigades

This July I went to the South Texas Bobwhite Brigade. It was really fun. We got to play games, shoot skeet, and do all sorts of cool stuff. The food was great. The only downside is that they wake you up at five in the morning, but you get used to that eventually.

I guess I better explain what the Texas Brigades are. The Texas Brigades are a non-profit organization dedicated to promote youth leadership and wildlife conservation. They hold seven camps across Texas, and I went to the South Texas Bobwhite Brigade.

Each Camp teaches you about a different animal. The one I went to was centered on the Bobwhite Quail. They taught about its habitat, diet, and other stuff. They also showed us how to take pictures, shoot clays, and identify plants.

As I said before, Camp was awesome, and I hope to return next year. If you want to apply, go to http://www.texasbrigades.org/

The camp does cost $400, but you can get scholarships from organizations like your local SWCD, quail forever, and other wildlife organizations. I hope you go and have a great time!

more homework

here's some more homework

Pool Size

The number of Tilapia that we want is 105, assuming we will eat half and sell half. Adding 10% mortality we will buy 115 fish. We will stock with five gallons of water per fish. This is more crowded than a pond environment to keep the males from becoming territorial. Also, the height of the pool has to be no less than thirty inches, the best being more than three feet high. 115 times 5 is 575, so we will need 575 gallons of water. Since roughly seven and a half gallons fit in one cubic foot, the pool has to be approximately 80 cubic feet in volume. Since we want the pool to be cylindrical, and we have put the height at three feet, the diameter has to be nine feet.

Homeschool Highschool

I'm entering high school next year. The reason that I am going to high school at twelve is because first of all I started school at three, going to pre-k at home, and second of all because I did sixth grade in the summer. Anyway the point is that my dad wants me to post my homework on this blog. right now I'm still in eighth grade, but my dad decided to give me one class from high school, called 'backyard aquaponics'. Anyway, here it is:

BACKYARD AQUAPONICS

1.     Aquaponics is the art of raising underwater plants and fish in order that the fish waste feed the plants. Aquaponics came from hydroponics and aquaculture. Hydroponics is raising plants underwater using highly toxic concoctions of various chemicals that have to be replaced repeatedly, as the mixture builds up and kills the plants if left for more than a day. Aquaculture is raising fish in a tank with heavy stocking, which causes the water to be filled with a lot of fish waste. Therefore, the water has to be replaced daily, every day. Aquaponics is raising fish in a tank and having the effluent-rich water pumped into a medium where the plants grow, which filters it, and afterwards having it pumped back into the fish tank. This cancels out both of the negative elements of both hydroponics and aquaculture, because the fish effluent has almost all the things necessary for optimum plant growth.

2.     The basic components of the Aquaponics system are the medium, in which the plants grow, the fish, the plants, the tank in which the fish live, the sump, and the fish food.

3.     The medium can be gravel, river stone, crushed basalt, or expanding clay. The use of the medium is to not only harbor the plants, but also acts as a filtering system for the water. The fish are harvested and eaten when they are big enough, and also the fish’s waste is used to give nutrients to the plants. The plants are also harvested. The tank in which the fish live can be positioned under the pots in which the plants are so as to facilitate the reentry of the water into the tank after it has been filtered. If not, a sump may be used. A sump is a container into which the filtered water falls. This water is then pumped back into the tank.

4.     Aquaponics has ancient roots. It is believed the Aztec made moveable islands on canals where plants where grown. The Chinese also made them.

5.     Aquaponics was probably started in the U.S. in North Carolina.

6.     Affnan, some man, began making his own backyard aquaponics project in 2008 and is using tilapias, a type of fish, and yams, ferns, and other herbs. his website is http://affnan-aquaponics.blogspot.com/. Brian Naess used the continuous flow method of aquaponics. He grew broccoli. His website: http://snowcampaquaponics.blogspot.com/. A man called Mahfudz is using the flood and drain method and is raising Chinese broccoli. http://mahfudzaquaponic.blogspot.com/.

7.     Tilapia is typically used in aquaponics. Tilapia is the common name for any fish in the Tilapia tribe. Tilapias are the most commonly used fish in aquaponics, except in Australia. Tilapias take pellet food, are reasonably tolerant to ammonia, are easy too breed, grow fast, can withstand poor water conditions, but they need warm water. The silver perch’s scientific name is Bidyanus Bidyanus, and they are also commonly used in aquaponics. They are hardier to cold water than the tilapia, but they are almost naturally extinct for some reason. Also, they prefer flowing water.

We will probably use the flood and drain method, as that seems to be the best one. The water is pumped into the grow bed and left there for an hour. Then it is drained for an hour. Apparently this gives the plants time to absorb the nutrients, and when it is drained, it gives the roots oxygen. We will experiment different techniques, also, and see which one is the best.

Saffron and Canelo

We got a pair of donkeys yesterday, from a family who was moving to Montana. My mom named them Saffron and Canelo. They were a gift, and as a thank you, we gave them two of our chickens to eat. But my brother is saying that we traded the donkey for the chickens. Anyway, they also let us choose some of their chickens, since they had to get rid of all their animals. By some, I mean 28 chickens and roosters.  My dad wants to find out who chose that rooster who sings at five in the morning. Today the chickens are establishing their pecking order, which is a natural part of most animals. In chickens, they fight for dominance.

Oops!

I just noticed that i haven't written in over two months. As faithful readers might noticed, i've changed the subtitle to twelve-year-old. My birthday was on  December 8. Also, we bought a bull, called Beuregaurde, or Beureguard, or something. We just call him Beu. We just got some new laying hens, even though the old ones still lay.

Two Things

     We killed the broiler chickens a week ago. If you're interested in how we kill them, go to the post called ''To Kill A Mockingbird' (I Mean A Chicken)'. There's a slight variation to the steps. We rented a plucker. The plucker looks like a big plastic can on a base. If you look inside the 'can,' you will see a rotating bottom and rubber fingers on it and also on the sides. When you start it, streams of water are shot into the container, and the bottom starts to rotate. When you stick the chickens into this, it looks as if the chickens are going to come out torn to pieces. But they will come out clean as a whistle, if you dipped the chickens in the right temperature of water, and stuck four at a time into the plucker.

     The other thing, (look at the title of this post), is that some new broiler chickens have arrived. One of them has some weird illness, and its wings are drooping and it can't chirp. It looks far all the world as if it is trying to make a sound, cause it lifts its head, strains its body, and opens its mouth wide, to the rhythm of its breath. But nothing comes out. Does anyone know about this strange ailment?

Moved The Hens

  Three days ago we moved the egg-laying hens to the back of our house so they wouldn't be so far away and so we can fill their water more easily. Here's a fact: moving twenty chicken-hearted (duh!) hens to a new living quarters is not exactly easy. Step one, run like crazy after one of the chickens. Step two, after 15 minutes, grab the tail feathers and lift it to your arms. Step three, get surprised by the bird's sudden flapping and let go. Repeat steps one and two. Step four, bring it all the way to the new area you made at the back of the house. Step five, repeat for all the chickens.

Needless to say, I wanted to wring their scrawny necks.