Consolidated Kansas

[KsKingBee]

We spent big bucks having our dug three years ago and it is still a dry hole.

It has been full a number of times but it keeps leaking out.

 

[Trish44]

We spent big bucks having our dug three years ago and it is still a dry hole.

It has been full a number of times but it keeps leaking out.

If you have clay soil you have to put some stuff at the bottom to seal it, I can't remember what it's called now. I had to do that years ago when I was trying to keep water in one.

 

[KsKingBee]

If you have clay soil you have to put some stuff at the bottom to seal it, I can't remember what it's called now. I had to do that years ago when I was trying to keep water in one.

FSA told us to use salt, then we tried bentonite, it helped a little but there are some spots on the dam that leak too.

 

[chicken danz]

The oil industry uses oil field gel but it has to have water or dirt added above it to keep it from drying out. It can't be exposed to air. Also they make huge poly liners for holding ponds but they would cost a bunch. I looked at those years ago when I was building garden ponds as an alternative. Neither is a great situation if money is limited. I have such a high degree of clay that water doesn't permeate. It's great for ponds but really awful for yards. It's the equivalent of trying to grow something in sold rock.

 

[Ralph Moyer]

KsKingBee, You should get some of Danz's clay for the bottom. When anyone builds a pond around here,they line it with clay. But some have farms, that have dugout coal-pits, and hold water without going dry.

 

[Prairie Fleur]

It irritates me to no end. I held over $2000 worth of birds for 2 months for a guy last fall because he was going to make a trip down from Cincinnati to pick them up to save shipping costs. Then he dropped off the face of the earth as far as answering my messages after assuring me the whole time he was taking them. I have sold them but at way way less and I wasted 2-3 months of feed on all those birds. I am selling a lot I intended to keep around right now just to move some and make room. I'm toying with taking non-refundable deposits later this spring. I understand that things come up but when you lose real customers while you wait on one of these people who don't show in the end, it becomes costly and irritating. Also I have far more to do than sit around waiting for no shows.
I hate to be that way but I can't begin to count the thousands of dollars I've lost for no shows. I need to start doing this like a business instead of a hobby. It would be so nice to see people do what they say.
Well I'm working on plumbing and then I need to work on a new temporary breeding shelter. I'd better get back to it.

Ok I know im really behind on posts, but I just wanted to say that there's nothing wrong with requiring non refundable deposits. It helps weed out those who aren't serious. And as a buyer who's paid non refundable deposits many times, I don't find it insulting in the least. In fact with the alpacas I got this last week I offered to do one so they knew I was serious. Just my two bits tho.

 

[Prairie Fleur]

FSA told us to use salt, then we tried bentonite, it helped a little but there are some spots on the dam that leak too.

A friend of ours has a large in ground swimming pool. He uses the old tarps from ADM that they cover the grain with. Since they're used he gets them pretty reasonable and they work really well for a swimming pool at least.

 

[chicken danz]

KsKingBee, You should get some of Danz's clay for the bottom. When anyone builds a pond around here,they line it with clay. But some have farms, that have dugout coal-pits, and hold water without going dry.

Yeah you could come dig a pond out for me and take all the clay to line your pond!! You do have a lovely pond King Bee but it had no water at all in it when I saw it. I tried to get a pond built by the extention office but the problem was they want to do that only if it was farmed for the previous three years and if you leave it available for wildlife. Where they wanted to build it was too close to the house and I was afraid it would be a mosquito hole. So I decided against it. The ground had been farmed but the soil wouldn't support roots so it was worthless. We don't even attempt to plant that area any more. The top is too mellow because it was a feed lot for years and underneath the ground is solid clay. So the water sits on top and the roots can't penetrate enough to keep the crops from falling over. The only thing that will grow there is Johnson grass and horse weed.

 

[KsKingBee]

When they dug our pond they broke into gravel

so they put dirt back over it. I am sure that was one place that leaked but I can also see it leaking around the water control valve as well. Well, at least we don't have migratory waterfowl bringing in diseases.

 

[thndrdancr]

I would love to have a pond as well. We had one at the last house but it would dry up during dry years too, think it also had a leak.

Gosh what happened to the forcast? Much colder than originally forecast! The birds are unhappy!

Took some pics yesterday in the sun though!