Anyone have pics of or tips on using a bathtub for a pond?

[Tivona]

My old plastic kiddie pond (their main pond) is cracking and I found a good deal on a used bathtub. I plan on using it for my ducks but was wondering on the best way to set it up. Its looks like it is to high for most of my ducks to get in it easily. I also currently have two tall water 18 gallon muck buckets and only two of my ducks fly up into them to bath, with the rest just stretching up to reach the water for drinking. Seeing as most of my ducks and the two geese are not able to fly up 2 feet to get into the buckets I am pretty sure they won't like trying to fly up into the bathtub for a bath.

So what is the best way to make it easy for them to get into it? Ramp, steps, or just a mound of dirt or sand high enough for them at one side? I don't want to bury it because I want the drain to be above ground. Anyone with a tub for a pond please post pictures! I really need ideas.

 

[70%cocoa]

Hi Tivona,

I used to use a tub for a pond. I made a ramp to go up to it. The wooden 'ladder' thing inside the pond did not work (it floated..........of course) so I replaced it with a ramp made out of welded mesh that I put in the pond then bent so it hooked over the side of the pond. The ducks had no problem using the timber ramp but they did take a little while to work it out. For the ramp, don't use an angle of greater than 45 degree or they will struggle to get up it - a shallower angle is best. Put something grippy on it too (I glued semicircular timber dowel onto the ramp - you can see it a bit in the bottom pic).

 

[OldGuy43]

My original plans were for using a bathtub, but I decided that it wouldn't be big enough for my 12. Here's what my plan looked like:



The pump was to be a fountain pump from Harbor Freight and the filter just a 5 gallon bucket with holes in the bottom and layers of burlap for a filter media. The pipe to aid with draining was going to be a piece of PVC pipe with lots of small holes drilled into it.

As I said, never actually built it, so I don't know how well it would have worked out.