Advice for new duck pond plz

[Joev1973]

Well thanks to tractor supply keeping cute baby ducks near the registers I now have added 4 ducks to our flocks. They are babys and in the brooder with some freshly hatched chicks. I can say knowing myself and my wife more ducks or other swimming foul will probably find its way here.

I went out and put a little kiddie pool inside the large chicken pen and quickly started thinking i can do better than that for the ducks and make something pretty to boot.

I bought a pond liner 16.5' x 16.5' ft square and planned on digging (with help of a neighbors machine)
A square pond. One end will be a few feet deep and it will taper shallower to the other side.

Also purchased a nice fountain for looks. Will tuck the liner under landscape stones & pretty it up.

Also will probably pump it out into gardens often & refill to clean the water.

Im in south tennessee & its just plain HOT down here. Once it hits 90 degrees in march or april it dont cool down till late fall which is why i decided to go a little deeper than the 18"-24" google recommends.

Im thinking with a 16.5' liner at a depth at one end of say near 3 ft i can probably make the size 12' square or better.

Anyone whis built a pond have any advice that will make things nicer for the ducks or know something I wont figure out until its to late? Any advice is appreciated.

 

[Beaglegal]

View attachment 2044418
Well thanks to tractor supply keeping cute baby ducks near the registers I now have added 4 ducks to our flocks. They are babys and in the brooder with some freshly hatched chicks. I can say knowing myself and my wife more ducks or other swimming foul will probably find its way here.

I went out and put a little kiddie pool inside the large chicken pen and quickly started thinking i can do better than that for the ducks and make something pretty to boot.

I bought a pond liner 16.5' x 16.5' ft square and planned on digging (with help of a neighbors machine)
A square pond. One end will be a few feet deep and it will taper shallower to the other side.

Also purchased a nice fountain for looks. Will tuck the liner under landscape stones & pretty it up.

Also will probably pump it out into gardens often & refill to clean the water.

Im in south tennessee & its just plain HOT down here. Once it hits 90 degrees in march or april it dont cool down till late fall which is why i decided to go a little deeper than the 18"-24" google recommends.

Im thinking with a 16.5' liner at a depth at one end of say near 3 ft i can probably make the size 12' square or better.

Anyone whis built a pond have any advice that will make things nicer for the ducks or know something I wont figure out until its to late? Any advice is appreciated.

It starts with a few cheap ducklings and quickly snowballs.... of course they need a Taj MaPond...

 

[21hens-incharge]

I posted this link in another thread.....thought maybe the drain idea would work for you with lots of planning of course.

 

[Joev1973]

Guys i bought a 16x16 ft liner. Paid some young kid to dig the hole stalled out in the hard tennessee dirt & roots. I called an old neighbor down with industrial tiller attachment on his big tractor and he pulverized the dirt roots and all. Wouldnt you know it as he finished the rain began. 7 straight days of rain and 1 heck of a mud pit. I suspended the job until the ground drys.

I bought the fencing and top bird netting today and when this project is done the ducks will have their own pen 20x30 with 12x12x24" pond & fountain. Even got a sump pump to pump the poop water to the garden thats always parched in the southern heat.

Today bought an x-large igloo dog house for the 4 ducks. Its coming together just a rain delay. I will update when we get er done

 

[BReeder!]

View attachment 2044418
Well thanks to tractor supply keeping cute baby ducks near the registers I now have added 4 ducks to our flocks. They are babys and in the brooder with some freshly hatched chicks. I can say knowing myself and my wife more ducks or other swimming foul will probably find its way here.

I went out and put a little kiddie pool inside the large chicken pen and quickly started thinking i can do better than that for the ducks and make something pretty to boot.

I bought a pond liner 16.5' x 16.5' ft square and planned on digging (with help of a neighbors machine)
A square pond. One end will be a few feet deep and it will taper shallower to the other side.

Also purchased a nice fountain for looks. Will tuck the liner under landscape stones & pretty it up.

Also will probably pump it out into gardens often & refill to clean the water.

Im in south tennessee & its just plain HOT down here. Once it hits 90 degrees in march or april it dont cool down till late fall which is why i decided to go a little deeper than the 18"-24" google recommends.

Im thinking with a 16.5' liner at a depth at one end of say near 3 ft i can probably make the size 12' square or better.

Anyone whis built a pond have any advice that will make things nicer for the ducks or know something I wont figure out until its to late? Any advice is appreciated.

If 3' deep, you'll only be able to go up to 10.5' side to side and 13.5' shallow edge to deep edge. That doesn't account for any edge at the top, which I would suggest you leave 1' on each side, which you would cover with rocks and landscaping to hide and secure in place. That means the pond hole can be 8.5' side to side and 11.5' shallow edge top deep edge. I am also assuming your shallow end starts at 0" depth and slopes straight to the 3' depth at the opposite end. If you decide to include shelfs, drop offs, etc. you will use up more liner and have to shrink the footprint of the pond.

With the setup I described above, you would have just over 1000 gallons of water in the pond when filled to the brim without anything else taking up volume (rocks at the bottom for example).

4 adult ducks can muck up a small pond pretty fast. A filter wouldn't be a bad idea to prolong the time between water changes. A simple filter made of a food grade plastic barrel (at least 35 gallon, but ideally 55 gallon) or heavy plastic water trough (these are usually in the 100 gallon plus range and what I will be using this year for my 10'x5'x4' pound this year) filled with lava rock (what I use), sponges or pond filter mats would make a big difference. You would want to pump the water from the bottom of the pond to the bottom I'd the filter and then out the top of the filter back into the pond. I would suggest at least 500 gph of water flow. 1000 gph would be better for a 1000 gallon pond. Waterfall pumps work great. A smaller pump can be used at night to keep the water circulating while saving electricity.

 

[21hens-incharge]

If 3' deep, you'll only be able to go up to 10.5' side to side and 13.5' shallow edge to deep edge. That doesn't account for any edge at the top, which I would suggest you leave 1' on each side, which you would cover with rocks and landscaping to hide and secure in place. That means the pond hole can be 8.5' side to side and 11.5' shallow edge top deep edge. I am also assuming your shallow end starts at 0" depth and slopes straight to the 3' depth at the opposite end. If you decide to include shelfs, drop offs, etc. you will use up more liner and have to shrink the footprint of the pond.

With the setup I described above, you would have just over 1000 gallons of water in the pond when filled to the brim without anything else taking up volume (rocks at the bottom for example).

4 adult ducks can muck up a small pond pretty fast. A filter wouldn't be a bad idea to prolong the time between water changes. A simple filter made of a food grade plastic barrel (at least 35 gallon, but ideally 55 gallon) or heavy plastic water trough (these are usually in the 100 gallon plus range and what I will be using this year for my 10'x5'x4' pound this year) filled with lava rock (what I use), sponges or pond filter mats would make a big difference. You would want to pump the water from the bottom of the pond to the bottom I'd the filter and then out the top of the filter back into the pond. I would suggest at least 500 gph of water flow. 1000 gph would be better for a 1000 gallon pond. Waterfall pumps work great. A smaller pump can be used at night to keep the water circulating while saving electricity.

That is what my math comes to as well.
I like the biofilter idea.

Tons of videos on how to make one out there.

 

[Joev1973]

Im exploring a drain at the lowest point

 

[21hens-incharge]

Yes, and of course my husband wants to do exactly what you said, overthink and overengineer the whole thing so it's developing into a big project and an even bigger argument. I don't want to do it at all now! Maybe I ought to just do it on my own but it's too big of a job I think.

Well dang. Arguments make any project a real drag.

I guess I should count myself lucky that my hubs has exactly ZERO interest in helping with ANY critter things.

 

[Joev1973]

Ok due to bedrock just below the surface...and a ruptured disc in my back a drastic change in plans.

Tomorrow a neighbor is coming with a bobcat to level the ground as my property is slanted. And also make a dirt ramp for access.

Will still have a fountain....redneck riveria

It has a drain plug & a sump pump

 

[Joev1973]

And they love it. However they wont let 2 baby swedish in the pool. Attacking them. But the blue swedish will be 2x bigger than these so no worries he will take over the pen when they grow