duck pool question

This is one of the larger pools i use. ~Julie~
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We've got several pools, mostly the small kiddie pools and one large one. They get dumped every day or two and rinsed and refilled. We have a dirty water pump and pump the water to our trees and bushes, who love it, then rinse and refill. I am not strong enough to dump a large full pool myself and its hard on them. Keeps them cool, makes them happy. They don't mind dirty water and it doesn't seem to harm them, but I am offended by it!
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I got tired of tipping the kiddy pool so I upgraded and added my own touches to our old 'water feature', or child death trap as my mom calls it. Have small koi ponds that are about 3 feet deep and 4 feet wide. Dug a hole in the ground that it would fit in, and then another smaller hole underneath. Drilled a hole in the side of the koi pond and stuck a plug with a string attached to it. The string ties off on the side of their bath. That way I don't have to lift, I just have to unplug it, like a bath tub...but I don't have to touch the water. So I just usually empty every other night when I'm doing the rounds and let it drain out at night. In the morning I plug it back up and fill it up. It works out well enough.
 
We're using a small kiddie pool (rigid not inflatable) that we empty every day for our 11 ducks, but I'd like to get a better system. One that's bigger - would love to see them be able to splash around and propel themselves underwater like they *try* to do in the pool they have, but it's too small. It would also be nice to have a 'living' pond system...one with plants growing in it, aerated water, etc, to keep it clean(er) and healthy for them. Wouldn't hurt that I didn't have to empty and refill it every day.
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I empty my small kiddie pools every day or two, depending on my mood. Every few weeks, I take an aquarium sponge and scrub out the algae (I don't obsess over it though--they are never pristine). They do get them filthy, and they do love them clean. In their natural habitat, they'd ideally live in large bodies of water occupied by an entire chain of life that would process their mess quickly. It is natural for them to want to bathe in clean water, but to also settle for filthy water, and to have no concept of how to keep their clean water clean.

Emptying the pools has a couple side benefits. One, I use the water to water the gardens and fruit trees (sometimes), and it is GREAT fertilizer. Two, moving the kiddie pools regularly prevents them from burning brown spots in the grass. Of course, it does not prevent the ducks from digging holes in the mud around the pool in each new location. lol.
 
70%cocoa :

The water drains to a sump (a tub set in the ground) and then is pumped onto the garden via an irrigation system.

I would love that!

Our 16 ducks have a 3' plastic kiddy pool I change every 2-4 days. I use water strait from the well so the oxidized iron covers the "duck" color (so I tell myself) and alge has never been an issue. I think I get away with doing it so infrequently because they also have a small streem and large roadside ditch to play in. We dammed up a portion of the streem to creat a swimming area 3' x 16' and at the deepest 2'. it does have a deeper spot further down, but not such a large area to swim in. In the spring when I got them there were a few places they could dive.​
 

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