Duck set up and erosion

[Croft5Homestead]

Hi all, I have a few things I was hoping to run by you and get some advice. I’ve Haag ducks for 2 years now, and am finding a few more areas for improvement on my work.
(a) I have an xtra large kiddie pool in my back pasture, and currently have 4 cayuga hens and one Rouen drake using it. I want to get some welsh harlequins soon, so should I get another pool?
(b) after dumping the pool, the water runs down my pasture hill and sets at the bottom. Usually this is fine, but after 2 years, and much rainy weather, there has been a decent amount of erosion(yes, I have tried moving the pool and currently keep it rotated
Any ideas?
Thanks in advance

 

[casportpony]

Do you have any pictures?

 

[3bird]

Hi all, I have a few things I was hoping to run by you and get some advice. I’ve Haag ducks for 2 years now, and am finding a few more areas for improvement on my work.
(a) I have an xtra large kiddie pool in my back pasture, and currently have 4 cayuga hens and one Rouen drake using it. I want to get some welsh harlequins soon, so should I get another pool?
(b) after dumping the pool, the water runs down my pasture hill and sets at the bottom. Usually this is fine, but after 2 years, and much rainy weather, there has been a decent amount of erosion(yes, I have tried moving the pool and currently keep it rotated
Any ideas?
Thanks in advance

Our ducks have several places on the property where they can swim, but none are in the pastures around their duckhouse/run where they spend their days when they are not free-ranging. We've switched to providing small tubs instead of kiddie pool, and the ducks seem to be fine with it. We have three small tubs (we often have to separate our six ducks into two groups during breeding season), which we refill in the morning, and we can use the waste water in the garden.

You get a sense of size of the tubs we use below:

 

[Croft5Homestead]

Thanks!

 

[3bird]

Thanks!

The kiddie pool may still be right for you, but this has worked for us. I know it killed me dumping the kiddie pool on a regular basis, and the runoff was a pain. We tried to think of a way to efficiently capture the waste water for the garden, but nothing was working. I love the manageability of these smaller tubs, and the ducks really don't seem to mind. Good luck!

 

[Tankueray]

Rocks. Chunky, pointy rocks. You need a decent pit of rocks where you dump, and a channel lined with rocks where the water flows. Like a french drain system with a deep well. The rocks slow the flow of the water to lessen the erosion.

The original source of the French Drain: Farm Drainage by Henry French (1859).
Or just Google it for ideas and go grab a shovel and some landscape rock.

A less expensive and labor intensive option would be to install a drain with a hose fitting near the bottom of your tub and use the hose to move the water around to where you want it as it's draining. Slowing the water down is the key.

 

[Croft5Homestead]

We have given thought to the hose system, just afraid that a drain in a plastic pool may leak too much. But I am intrigued by the rock system though!

 

[Tankueray]

We have given thought to the hose system, just afraid that a drain in a plastic pool may leak too much. But I am intrigued by the rock system though!

If it's a normal kiddie pool, the sun will eat it soon. I can't get one to last more than a summer here. Especially since you're thinking about going bigger, look into the giant ones that people use for hot tubs at tractor supply, most feed stores sell them. https://www.tractorsupply.com/tsc/catalog/stock-tanks?

However, unless you need it to be portable, in that price range you could also look into building a lined pond with a filter. Hint: don't dig, bring in dirt and build up around it, like raised garden beds, it's much more pleasant to take care of a pond at knee level.

If you need a lower cost option, then look at some of the smaller stock tanks, many of them have drains already. The rubber or foam will last waaaay longer in the sun, and the black color will help reduce algae growth. And they're available year-round, because I can never find a kiddie pool when I need one!

Another really low cost option is to find a used tractor tire, you can usually get them for free, and use a sawzall to cut out one of the sidewalls. (You have to use a very sharp, smooth-bladed knife to finish the rough edge, YouTube knows how.) Line with pond liner or really heavy black plastic and fill. Tire flipping is for Olympians though, so you'd have to get a cheap sump pump to drain it. (Farmers use them all the time for livestock, I'm unaware of any danger the rubber poses. If it did, there wouldn't be any seagulls at landfills, right?)

Ooh, thought of another one - food grade IBC tote cut in half and you'll have two! The bottom part already has a hose valve. Use the metal cage for some other project.

 

[igorsMistress]

I bought a rigid pond liner. More expensive than the pool but lasts longer and thicker than a kiddie pool, no worry that the drain will leak. I have a six foot leader hose on it and attach a regular hose to water my shrubs that are further away with the waste water. You can buy them in various sizes also so rather than more pools you could have one large one. I just flip the lever to open the drain, then dump the last bit. The drain is on the side of the pond so it just sits on the golround and we let the natural grade do the work for us.