Ducks and pools

[summer33]

I've heard that chlorinated pools aren't great for ducks, and that ducks aren't great for pools either for that matter. If you have a pool how do you keep a duck out of it? Assuming you provide the duck with a baby pool of freshwater you keep changed. Do some ducks like running ducks want/need water less than others?

 

[Amiga]

I don't have a pool, but I have put up fence around areas I don't want the ducks going.

 

[Going Quackers]

A fence would work for non-flight breeds. I don't know much about runners, i do have Muscovy who often get get touted as no pool needed, that said i have found it's not true, they do like water and need it too... just they are not as swim, bob about in pools like mallard derived are.

I think all ducks should have access to a means of bathing in whatever way you choose to offer it. Here it's troughs and pools, no pond and we don't have a human pool lol

 

[vehve]

Or you could go all crazy duck lady and turn the pool into a duck pond! How much do you use it anyway, right?

 

[Starfire669]

I have an above ground human pool for my kids and 4 kiddie pools for my 8 geese and 7 ducks. My above ground pool is tall enough (4 feet) that they can't get in, and any bird that can lift more than 2 feet off the ground has its wings clipped immediately. My back fence is only 3 feet high, so that's why the 2 foot rule. All my chickens wings are clipped regularly. My chickens kept going over the fence to tear up my mother's garden (she owns the property behind me), so we started clipping to keep them out of there, lol. So far the ducks and geese have only managed to get a few inches off the ground, but we are watching them closely. When our human pool is not in use, we remove the ladder to prevent the chickens from climbing it and falling in. If your pool is in the ground, you will have to fence it off to keep the ducks out. The chlorine is not good for them, and swimming in duck poop isn't good for humans either (at high concentrations, which would likely happen if you allowed the ducks in the pool). I have not found a good way to keep a pool clean enough for both ducks and humans, if you discover a way, please share. Until then I will have human pools and waterfowl pools to keep everyone happy.

 

[vehve]

I have an above ground human pool for my kids and 4 kiddie pools for my 8 geese and 7 ducks. My above ground pool is tall enough (4 feet) that they can't get in, and any bird that can lift more than 2 feet off the ground has its wings clipped immediately. My back fence is only 3 feet high, so that's why the 2 foot rule. All my chickens wings are clipped regularly. My chickens kept going over the fence to tear up my mother's garden (she owns the property behind me), so we started clipping to keep them out of there, lol. So far the ducks and geese have only managed to get a few inches off the ground, but we are watching them closely. When our human pool is not in use, we remove the ladder to prevent the chickens from climbing it and falling in. If your pool is in the ground, you will have to fence it off to keep the ducks out. The chlorine is not good for them, and swimming in duck poop isn't good for humans either (at high concentrations, which would likely happen if you allowed the ducks in the pool). I have not found a good way to keep a pool clean enough for both ducks and humans, if you discover a way, please share. Until then I will have human pools and waterfowl pools to keep everyone happy.

If you get a large enough body of water, some sort of biological cleaning system might work. I've seen some documentaries where they pump the water into a smaller pond with specially selected plants and let the water filter through sand and gravel back into the bigger pond. Ozone is used pretty much for cleaning pools too, but I don't know how the ducks would react to that. Anyway, I think it would be pretty disgusting to share the pool, I don't think you can get it cleaned well enough for humans to find it appealing.

 

[Starfire669]

If you get a large enough body of water, some sort of biological cleaning system might work. I've seen some documentaries where they pump the water into a smaller pond with specially selected plants and let the water filter through sand and gravel back into the bigger pond. Ozone is used pretty much for cleaning pools too, but I don't know how the ducks would react to that. Anyway, I think it would be pretty disgusting to share the pool, I don't think you can get it cleaned well enough for humans to find it appealing.

That's my thought too. And imagining my children swimming in goose/duck poo.......

 

[JalynEvans]

I have seen what my 2 Pekins can do to my bathtub in a short amount of time…I would not let them in your "human" pool if you want to consider using it…..

 

[Starfire669]

I have 4 kiddie pools, 2 large and 2 regular sized. I have 8 geese and 7 ducks. I clean all my pools daily. Every day I scrub one pool with a brush, the other 3 pools are simply rinsed out and refilled, unless they just look that dang yucky then I will scrub more than 1 a day. Here are some pictures taken in the morning, with clean water, and some taken in the evening after a days use by my single swimming chicken, ducks and geese.

You can see our above ground pool in one of the pictures. It is a no bird zone. The metal frame on the ground in front of the people pool is a shade we usually have over the pool, but high winds forced us to take it down or risk the tarp being ripped.

 

[summer33]

Darn I wish we still had an above ground pool. I've never lived anywhere with such a terrible slug problem and I hate slugs sooo much. What would be better natural slug control than a few awesome pet ducks? But it looks like ducks aren't a good fit for our home and family unfortunately. Back to the salt I guess. Thanks for your replies.