cement duck pond

[HEARDFLOCK]

Alright so i am new to this hole caring for birds thing but i now have a dozen ducks and i was going to make a pond out in the yard. i was going to do one that was farly big and have a waterfall with it too. i am going to be doing all the work myself (with the kids) and with all the stuff that i have seen with the liners i dont want to use on of them if i am going to need to spend the $100+ every year. would the ducks be alright in a cement pond or will the ph in it be to high like it is with fish? i dont want to harm the ducks but i do want them to have a place to go swimming.

 

[Kevin565]

PH should be fine. However they will mess up a cement pond VERY quickly.

 

[HEARDFLOCK]

how would they mess it up? i was thinking that for there poop i would have a filter running all the time and that would push the water for the waterfall pulling from the bottom on the far side so it would have movement.
would there be any better ways of doing a pond?

 

[Kevin565]

Maintaining a duck pond is very different from a Fish pond. Duck poop can easily clog many filters. It's very thick. Also they have a tendency to bring in mud. Which also clogs up filters. Some people have had luck with a Skippy Filter so you may look into that.

Here is a Duckponics thread:

https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/146829/the-duck-ponics-experiment-raising-minnows

 

[HEARDFLOCK]

thanks kevin i will look into it and see what i can do

 

[Kevin565]

It's no problem at all. I hope it works for you! I had a concrete pond but switched back to kiddie pools due to the smell.

 

[wildpeas]

Ducks also like to add bits of their food to their ponds which becomaes a smelly sludge on the bottom and lose feathers in the water all the time. We would love to have a more permanent pond with filters but so far my husband hasn't been able to come up with a workable plan. We will probably go with a large preformed stock pond that we can dig into the gentle slope in the orchard. We can dress up the view from the house and still have to plug end open for draining.

 

[HEARDFLOCK]

i think at this point i am trying to figure out the best way to keep it clean. it is starting to look like i am going to do plants and try to find fish that can stay in there and eat the waste from the ducks. i don't know if it will work out like that but i am sure by some point i will have it all figured out. it just seams like a really big project right now

 

[wildpeas]

I think that in order to keep up with the large amounts of poo the ducks will make in the pond you will need a very large pond or be able to clean it out at least weekly. I hate to be a downer but the ducks will most likely eat any plants you put in the water and possibly eat the fish too. When you come up with a good solution I would love to know what it is. I really would like a permanent pond with waterfall.

 

[HEARDFLOCK]

It makes sence that the ducks will eat the plants i was hopping that they wouldnt eat all of them. with the resarch that i have done the ducks would be less likely to eat the fish if they were 3 in and bigger. and dont worry when i figure it out i will let everyone know