Help! Duck Waterers

[chickensducks&agoose]

I have a kiddie pool that I dump and rinse out daily... usually they have the pond, but sometimes I need them contained, then it's just the pool in their pen.. anyway, my SIL came over at around 10am one day (i changed the water at like 7am), and was all horrified by the water gunk... she was so cute, and said 'uh, would it help if I changed the water for the ducks?', all nice and helpful, but in a totally grossed out, didn't want to be rude, kind of way... i explained that I had just changed it, (she didn't believe me) and we changed it again... within 1/2 an hour, the water was back to the way it had been, half full of dirt, mud and poo... and she was SO SHOCKED!!! and apologetic.

 

[nettie]

i use pea gravel in my ducks outside hut area... it's fenced in, and i usually put their pool in the fenced in part. I think most people prefer to feed and water their ducks outside of the coop.... but i also have this problem...

my ducks live inside 90% of the time, and only go outside to play in their pool and run around... and when the temperature changes, they won't want to go outside any more (they are little divas, if it's below 45 or above 90 they throw temper tantrums about being outside.) So i struggle with the dirty water and food issues too. I only have two ducks, and the best solution i've come up with so far is to build a seperate food and water center. I keep their food and water at least a couple feet apart, so they don't get their food wet and their water dirty. I use a glass jar for their water because it's easy to rinse out. both the food and water are on a wire mesh, with kitty litter pans or containers underneath to catch whatever they drop. I put horse bedding/pellets in the pans to help absorb some of the liquid/poop/smell. here is a link to some pictures i posted of their pens....

here's my ducks newest pen:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=238885

Here is their old indoor pen:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=131278

 

[Rare Feathers Farm]

Waterfowl are always EXTREMELY messy with water...and in the winter, it can be disasterous--I know from experience!

I use this method for my young ducklings & goslings. I actually use a rubber tub on the bottom because they can't tip it over as easily as the plastic ones...

http://www.liveducks.com/diary/images/day9a.jpg

When they get older, I use this method--which works relatively well.
http://www.backyardpoultrymag.com/issues/1/1-3/Harvey_Ussery-3.jpg

I did not sink the larger tub down, I rather built up a platform around it. Otherwise, I found the larger tub too heavy/filthy and hard to move to clean out...

I have Muscovies, Cayugas & Sebastopols. I'm planning to start over with silky ducks next spring if I can get a hold of some more from Holderread's.

Eventually, I'd like a rubbermaid trough built into a hillside with a drain (pvc) pipe added to the drain for cleaning...

I also plan to build something similar to this http://www.bantamclub.com/photos/displayimage.php?album=8&pos=18 to house my silky ducks which are call-sized. I did house mine in with my chickens but then started having issues with an over-zealous roo.

My future goose/duck pen will be rather large and they'll have a trough with gravel/river rock around the bottom to prevent them from tracking in too much dirt...they also have access to a kiddie pool I bought at Wal-mart--when I'm home and able to supervise...

 

[Scott]

Quote:
I agree... ducks are notoriously messy with water. I keep my calls on wire, give them a rubber bowl for water, and have it so I can drain their swimming water with the turn of a button. To see my set up, go to this post here.