dirty ponds

A little green could meam algae which is not a big deal. Ducks are fairly messy and it's nearly impossible to keep their water clean at all times. Do you have a pump in your pond?

Edited by Kevin565 - 8/5/12 at 3:21pm

We use large medium and small kiddie pools. All medium and small pools are dumped daily, large if in the shade are dumped every other day. If any look off, too dirty or otherwise unpleasant they are cleaned more.

Ducks swim, poo and drink and breed in ponds/pools. To have the healthiest and happiest ducks you keep the water as clean as possible. Water turning green means there is a tone or organic material to promote growth. Personally we have a rule, if we wouldn't drink from it, or get in it we don't expect the ducks or geese to.

you can fence off your pretty pond and give the ducks a kiddie pool. Total win/win since your pond would stay clean and then the pool could be dumped easily.

I dont think algae growth would hurt the ducks if it is algae and not a build up of duck waste. You would know if there was too much poo in the water because it will start to smell gross. Eventually you will have to drain and refill the pond.

 

We only have wading pools at this point. I have a large pool and a small pool for 7 ducks. We have to empty and refill them every day. We scrub them once a week. I have a large pool for 2 geese and we only have to dump it out and refill it once a week. Mostly we just flush it out daily with a hose.
 

Your little pond is so nice!

 

I agree with Wildpeas, if it smells bad then clean it, otherwise I don't think you should have any problems. They have clean drinking water, so they can choose which they like better. Ducks are dabblers, it is natural for them to mush around in mud etc. Since you only have two ducks I think cleaning it when it gets nasty will work.

 

CelticOaksFarm lives in Florida - a very different climate than Wales - and I imagine in Florida dirty water can get really nasty really fast. I know it does here in Northern Illinois in the Summer when it's humid.

 

Thank you for saving their little selves. Domestic ducks are just not made for the wild.
 

Like what others have said, clean it when it smells bad. The last time I had ducks, it didn't take long until they dirtied up the pool like it was before.

If you want to get a small pond pump you can set up a waterfall like feature that runs your water over an algae scrubber which would help contain that particular thing. I just bought a painting screen and am using that as my algae scrubber.