Reichardt Duck Farm
Overview
Reichardt Duck Farm located in Petaluma, California is the largest supplier to the massive number of Chinese markets in the San Fransico bay area. They sell only fresh birds, over 5,000 per day.
Challenge
Reichardt’s annual crop of 2 million ducks generate 200,000 gallons of fecal matter per day. In 2014 the first of 3 manure ponds was almost full and would cost over a hundred thousand dollars to excavate. Reichardt had to use 180 gallons of chlorine each week to disinfect the recycled wash water for the duck coops to prevent avian flu and The Water Quality Board was concerned about nitrates. SludgeHammer Group was engaged to design a solution.
Solution
With almost 50 million gallons of manure in 5 ponds the farm was too big to put in a SludgeHammer aeration system. What the farm needed was a source of SludgeHammer bacteria to supercharge their large, extensive pond system. We set up a 1,500 gallon SludgeHammer Bacterial generator on site that used the ‘duck excrement’ to grow 500 gallons of concentrated bacteria each day to inoculate the system and bring it to life.
Results
The ponds responded with explosive bacterial growth. The scum layer disappeared and Pond A now was able to get oxygen from the surface so the sludge in the pond was digested. As the organic load decreased, so also did the need for chlorine. Usage went from 180 gallons/week to just 30 gallons/week. The ducks grew faster and the farm saved over $180,000 annually in operation costs.
