Building a duck pond and aviary? Anyone with experience?

[Miizki]

I've always had this dream to one day build an aviary. Well now I have a chance to build one and I want it to be the best I can possibly make it. I love muscovies so that's what will be housed inside. So far the measurments are around 12' long x 7' wide x 6' tall.

I want to build a pond inside. I don't want stagnant water so I want the water to cirulate and clean itself. Can I have fish inside? (assuming the ducks don't eat them all? Maybe like large koi or something) how do I make a pond the cheapest I can? I was thinking dig it to how I want it to look with a waterfall to help circulate water. And put like a heavyduty tarp type stuff in the bottom with big rocks to surround and hold down the tarp. Then I can put small pebbles in the bottom of the pond which won't be very deep.Maybe a foot or two.

I was going to make it all out of metal paneling to make a zoo like aviary. I was going to make it around a tree but how could I go about doing that?

What kind of plants I could put in the aviary to make it beautiful and green but the ducks won't completely ruin and is safe for them? I live in Arizona so the temps get hot in the summer

Pond
I have two pond designs. Which one would be better?

First Design
Ok its kind of hard to explain but the vertical line is going to be plywood (in the corner of the aviary) so one corner will be a hill, and then a pump or something to make a waterfall work. Then if I want to drain the entire thing, I can turn the faucet on the other pipe and drain all the water to start fresh. Will this work? What do I need to get so this will work?

Second Design
OK so this is a rough outline of how I am doing the drainage system. There will be a pipe leading out of the pond and it is angled so that when I need to drain the pond, everything will drain out. I was thinking about using a pvc pipe with a facet thing on the end so that I can stop it and start the drainage whenever I want. And a pond liner for the pond, but how will I attach the two together?

I would like to find a way to make it as clean as possible. That I would only have to completely drain every couple weeks or so. Does that mean I need a pump? I have no idea about ponds and how to make them work with a filtration system.


Ok so what type of plants will be able to be kept in the enclosure that isnt poisonous but that they wont eat so that the aviary will continue to be prettty? I want the cage to be beautiful and green for as long as possible

Also is there any kind of wildlife that can co-exist in the aviary/pond? Like larger fish and smaller, so that the ducks can eat some but not all? Or maybe a semi-large turtle? Frogs or Salamanders would most likely get eaten right?

Turtle Breeds
http://www.reptilecity.com/Merchant2/merchant.mvc?

Fish Breeds
http://www.liveaquaria.com/product/aquarium-fish-supplies.cfm?c=900

 

[HorseFeatherz NV]

I have not built what you are attempting, but I do have ducks.


My ducks love to make a mess in the pond/water/pool. They take dirt/sand/food/plants and swish it around in the water. They will eat every fish in the pond, even if it is too large to eat - they will chase/nibble it to death unless there is a place for the fish to get away from the ducks.


I have calls/call mixes and their run is 40 x 30 and is not large enough for them. They want to be out and about on the property.



My post sounds discouraging, and I do not want to discourage you - just let you know what happens with my ducks.

I believe, BYC member Wifezilla has a duck pond with filter; you might want to PM her or search for her postings (use the search link in the upper blue bar, just above your logged in user name - you can search by author, or whatever).

 

[Cetawin]

Wifezilla has a great method for filtering. Search her posts. You may also want to so a search for "duck enclosure" or "duck aviary" or "aviary" I recall a member who had a wonderful aviary with a pond in it.

 

[grundail01]

For the drain you'd need some sort of bulkhead. You might look at a pool supply, with all the above ground pools they might have something. Or maybe even modifying a roof or deck drain assembly.