Any tricks to keeping duck water clean?

[slimpys]

I got 3 Indian Runner ducklings a few weeks ago and I feel I must be doing something wrong with the water. The ducklings free-range with the chickens and have several waterers around the yard and all end up with mud in the bottom each day. It doesn't seem to matter if the water is near the food or not, or in the grass or not-so-grassy areas. Is this normal? Will it help to raise the waterers? Is there a type that stays clean easier then others?

Thanks for help!

 

[newbyduckmom]

My ducks have always gotten their water filthy in a matter of minutes.

 

[Aglaboost]

I've heard that putting river rock around their source of water helps (prevents them from picking up scoops of dirt).

I've been watching craigslist for some free rock, I'll post the results if and when I get some.

 

[Sunny Side Up]

It's a good thing that ducks are so adorable because they're SO DIRTY!!!!! Duck keepers quickly learn just why Donald Duck doesn't wear pants, and their front ends can be almost as messy. They need to stick their bills in the water and blow out their beak boogers so their water bowls always have some silt on the bottom.

But really, it doesn't bother the chickens to drink from it and it doesn't hurt the ducks to wait until the end of the day to rinse & refill their water bowls.

 

[Oddyse]

I raised my waterer onto a few bricks and put stones all round it. Just to stop them from getting it so muddy. It doesnt really work but it does help. That was before I built DUCKTOPIA ! Now its all pea gravel and no mud , which means everything stays clean!!!

 

[TLWR]

As long as they are able to get into grass/dirt, they will bring dirt in their bills back to the water and you will end up with a layer of dirt on the bottom of every water container they touch. Mine will go play in a mud puddle, have a face full of mud and run to the nearest "clean" water dish and rinse. Go dig in the garden and go to the nearest water and rinse.

The water dish in their duck yard, which is all pea stone, just has food on the bottom for the most part. If they are out and about in the yard, they tend to rinse in their pond.

Ducks + Water = Dirty No way around it.

 

[kuntrygirl]

Quote:
Yep.

 

[newbyduckmom]

My mom always said I never grew out of my love of "playing in the mud"....first it was gardening, now I have ducks!

LOL They are messy.

 

[mickeymousears]

My first thought: keep the ducks out of it

Sorry I know that's not helpful. My chickens are doomed to drink dirty water because ANY water in the yard the ducks destroy in seconds- and I only have 2. My porch has little fence around it to keep birds off- the chickens of course hop over it like it doesn't exist so I put a clean bowl of water for them there and somehow it got muddy. I think the ducks have telekenetic minds and stared at it to muddy it.

 

[Amiga]

It is normal for ducks to muddy the waters, and quickly. So to keep your sanity, remember that as long as it doesn't sit around too long (this varies by season) and start to get rank

, it's fine for them.

My management includes having small enough containers that are easy to dump, rinse and refill, places to dump the water that will benefit from the nutrients (poop and mud), such as the grape arbor that is at the end of a small channel from the duck swim area, and a routine for cleaning out drinking and swimming water (an arbitrary, artificial difference that the ducks ignore).