Duck Pond/pool pictures

[heartsizedfarm]

Ok, silly question all. I have 2 Pekins, nearly fully adult feathered. We have a 50 Gallon tub in the run for them. It's an old leftover from my fiancee's family farm, so it isn't really built for ducks. It's deep and compact. Anyway, we just set a board up on the side for them to walk up. When we realized they were having trouble with the incline, we put some little footholds up for them. I've still never seen them get into the tub. I know they want to because they will go over to the side and sort of bump their chests into it (they're not very graceful). 

They're waterfowl so obviously access to water is important for them. Any suggestions on a better way for them to get in? I have thought of a little set of steps or whatever, but they thing is they are just so darn awkward. The only way they get any tub time right now is if I go out and pick them up and put them in. Then, by the time I get the second one caught, the first one has bailed out because it was oh so rude of me to plop it in!

How high are the sides? And how do you drain it? It might be possible to build up the one side, where the drain isn't, maybe using straw bales, rocks or loads of dirt to get it built up to the rim.

 

[Mama Ducker]

My husband dug this pond and lined it with a rubber mat It has a bubbler and pump the water back up to the waterfall (small rocks to the right). Its out 10' by 10' and about 3 ft deep in the center.

 

[heartsizedfarm]

My husband dug this pond and lined it with a rubber mat It has a bubbler and pump the water bac up o the waterfall small rocks to the left). Its out 10' by 10' and about 3 ft deep in the center.

I love the beautiful setting and natural looking pond. Nicely done.

 

[smonkeySK]

The first one was soon outgrown!

So here's the upgrade being demonstrated by my lovely assistant

Ah the fruits

Of course it's not level or anything like finished! But I'll have to rip it all out to install a filter at some point, plus I've got a slightly smaller pond to go in next to it too.
Will be worth it in the end!

Would love something much bigger but most of the big ponds on here would swallow up my entire yard!

 

[wonkyflock14]

How high are the sides? And how do you drain it? It might be possible to build up the one side, where the drain isn't, maybe using straw bales, rocks or loads of dirt to get it built up to the rim.

Heart, it is 12" tall. The entire coop and run slopes downward, so it is not level or anything like that. It is technically an agricultural watering trough, so it has a plug to drain it on one side (we retrofitted it with a spicket to make it easier). The chickens love when it gets drained out because all of the ants come running up and they pick them off one by one.

Do you think the ducks could get on a straw bale? The highest I have seen them go is from the ground onto a pallet (the pallet is lying on the ground so only a few inches).

 

[heartsizedfarm]

Heart, it is 12" tall. The entire coop and run slopes downward, so it is not level or anything like that. It is technically an agricultural watering trough, so it has a plug to drain it on one side (we retrofitted it with a spicket to make it easier). The chickens love when it gets drained out because all of the ants come running up and they pick them off one by one. 

Do you think the ducks could get on a straw bale? The highest I have seen them go is from the ground onto a pallet (the pallet is lying on the ground so only a few inches).

12" tall is very doable. Just hill up one side, not the drain side, with a gradually sloping dirt hill. Lay your dirt over straw bales just to save money on dirt fill. I've seen fabulous raised ponds made like this, with the makers eventually putting nice floral material all along the edges. If you're still having difficulties imagining I'll hunt Internet images tomorrow ok?

 

[heartsizedfarm]

Your ducks can get up because they're not hopping on a straw bale, but a gradually sloping dirt hill that uses a straw bale as fill, right?

 

[FowlPrincess]

...

The first one was soon outgrown!

So here's the upgrade being demonstrated by my lovely assistant

Ah the fruits

Of course it's not level or anything like finished! But I'll have to rip it all out to install a filter at some point, plus I've got a slightly smaller pond to go in next to it too.
Will be worth it in the end!

Would love something much bigger but most of the big ponds on here would swallow up my entire yard![/quote here did you buy that!

 

[wonkyflock14]

12" tall is very doable. Just hill up one side, not the drain side, with a gradually sloping dirt hill. Lay your dirt over straw bales just to save money on dirt fill. I've seen fabulous raised ponds made like this, with the makers eventually putting nice floral material all along the edges. If you're still having difficulties imagining I'll hunt Internet images tomorrow ok?

Thanks heart, I will try that out. I'll do a google image search and see if I can't come up with some neat ideas.

 

[KristiKaty]

We have three duck areas. Each area has a pond. The first pond is for our 7-week-old ducks:





This one is for our fully grown (breeding) ducks:





And for our ducklings:



The two larger ponds were emptied and cleaned out right before I took the pictures, but they are usually very dirty. I probably need to get a skimmer and filter. That's been on my to-do list, but I don't have any idea where to begin and what would be best to get. The little one gets dumped and cleaned daily.