Advice please- I want them to swim!

[sticksoup]

I have two 12 week old Pekin ducks. We got them when they were 3 weeks old and they have never liked to be handled or hang out with "the people". But they are sweet, healthy, and happy (just leave them alone). My problem is, they absolutely- under no uncertain circumstance- will NOT go near the big pond our house sits on. They are lots of feral ducks that live in the pond so I'm not worried about alligators (Florida). In fact, they will not gravitate more than 15 feet from their pen. I know they love to swim and it makes me sad that they can't enjoy that pleasure- a duck out of water? That seems so wrong! I give them a kiddie pool- well, they won't use that either. When they were little we had an inflatable kiddie pool they adored- but they popped it so I had to get a hard plastic kind. They can get in and out- but just are not interested. Finally, I filled a little 1' x 2' tub just so they can have something to nibble lettuce out of- THAT they love. There is always one of them (both don't fit- they have tried) bathing and snuffing around in the tub. It's just plain silly.

What should I do???!!

Note: The tub gets yucky after a couple hours and I'm tired of dumping it out and refilling it. I do this 4 times a day!

 

[ChickenToes]

Ducks are odd in that way, I've had some of the same issues. Sometimes I think they have trouble getting in/out of their swimming areas, so try to make it easy for them by making platforms they can climb up on to get into the pool.

My husband dug a hole in our duck pen and filled it 3/4 full of sand. We went to our local feed store and bought 2 flexible plastic tubs, they're about 2 ft. x 3 ft. and maybe 10 inches deep. We put them in the hole, and the tops of the tubs sit almost flat with the ground so the ducks have an easy time getting in and out of them. Because we filled the hole with sand, whenever I drain the tubs the water drains quickly through the sand instead of running all over the ground.

 

[xfilesnumber1fan]

My ducks love their pool..I have mostly mallards 8 of them and 1 crested/mix and 1 pekin/mix..I have a drain installed and the pool sets on a pallet the hose is under the pool and when I drain it I just pull the plug and the water drains out the hole and down the hill..I have a ramp for them to get in They use it to walk on but most of the time just fly in and out even the domestic ones can fly up enough to get in and out...