Duck Pond/Pool suggestions

[becky3086]

I would like some suggestions on building a duck pond that would be easy to keep clean. I have a small container for a pool for mine but it would have to be dumped every day and cleaned out and refilled which is more of a job than I want to do. I would love to hear other suggestions.

 

[ranchhand]

I don't know of any other way, except a fancy system to provides some serious filtration. And with ducks, the filter would have to be cleaned quite often.

I have used baby pools in the past and as long as I cleaned it daily it was fine.

I do have a small 200 gallon goldfish pond, and cleaning that filter is far more work than emptying a baby pool.

ETA, I only had 2-4 ducks at a time. Not too many to maintain. More ducks would be a messy undertaking!

 

[kwack]

check out wifezilla's thread on duckponics.

 

[rlhbond]

I built mine on a hillside with a drain in it. I just open a gate valve and it's emptied. It doesn't get much easier than that.

 

[becky3086]

Yes, that does look nice. My duck pen is on a hill so I might be able to do something like that but the digging would be the worst.
You have a very pretty pond.

 

[lovemeduckins]

Hi Becky,

We have two Pekin drakes in a 10x10 enclosure, soon to be 10x20, and for now, we do use a baby pool. However, my clever hubby decided to save my back and this is what he did:

He put several half cinder blocks under the pool, at equal distance, and level. Where the ground wasn't level, he stomped them in a bit.

Then he put small pieces of plywood on top of the blocks, to create an even holding area for the pool, so that no edge of the pool hung off (believe me, we went through several fills and re-fills to get it even, but it was fun!).

Then he installed a simple drain off to the side by the temporary brick-ramp they have in the pool.

PVC pipe and a PVC shut-off valve connected to a long 1 and a quarter inch PVC hose (left over from a well we had), that runs into the woods.

It runs up under the fence, but it settled into the ground a bit so the fence is not to propped up.

Voila! I now have a drain and while my precious ducks graze, I drain the baby pool by simply opening the valve, basically pressure washing the sides and bottom of the pool (like rinsing out a very dirty bathtub, chasing it all down the drain). Once or twice a week I have to hand wipe the sides, but that is very easy. Then close the valve and fill it all up!

Hope the pics help show what I've described. I can e-mail larger pics if you wish, I didn't want to take up too much space!

Good luck!

LMD

 

[hunterjumper999]

honestly,

we have a 20.00 ( so the biggest size they sell) kiddie pool from walmart.

after a few days of trying to dump a semi flexiable pool, getting duck poo and water splashed all over my face I do a 1x a day flush with the hose, simply put the hose in the pool and leave it on for 45 minutes.


we're on a well, so obviously if you were not it may be too costly.

Then twice a week I skip the flush and the pool evaporates 1/2 way and i can scrub and dump it out.

my father in law wants to dig me a pond and put a liner in ect...but my fear is without a stream to flush it naturally or a filter it will just get filled with crap and old food.

 

[streemers]

we have a sump pump at the bottom of our pond that pumps the water through pvc to the half wine barrals on each side of the pond.
the water goes into the bottom of the barral and gets filtered by going through several layers of rock and charcol then pours back into the pond as clean clear water. this worked really well for us and was very cheep to make.
hope it helps

 

[Sunny Side Up]

The easiest way to drain a duck pool is to siphon it with a hose. As long as the end of the hose is lower than the bottom of the pool, even by a few inches, it will work.

You need 2 hoses, one can be an old cruddy one. This is a good way to repurpose a broken hose. Put one end of the siphon hose where you want it to drain & the other end in the pool. Take the other hose and squirt water through the end of the siphon hose that's in the pool, under the water, for about 30 seconds. Move them apart & feel the end of the siphon hose, you should feel suction. If not, try again for a bit longer. Leave that end at the bottom of the pool. I lay a brick on it to keep it on the bottom.

If you can't get it to work, check your siphon hose. Make sure the end is lower than the bottom of the pool, make sure it isn't clogged or twisted.

Often I'll do this at night, so it doesn't matter how long it takes to empty this way. In the morning I give the sides & bottom a scrub & blast with the hose & refill. Here in swampy South Florida the pool grows a coat of mucky algae I cannot remove completely. So I've given up trying to get it really clean between fillings, just try to get the worst of it off. The ducks & geese aren't complaining.

 

[Wifezilla]

My set up is a 500 gallon pond liner with a skippy filter and extra plant filtration. Working on a duckweed culture to cut down on algae and provide "free" food for the ducks.
http://www.skippysstuff.com/biofiltr.htm