Help with water dirty vs clean

[Amiga]

I have a swim pan and a water pot for the ducks. They will drink from the swim pan

but mostly they drink from the water pot, especially since I place the water pot next to the food dish.

 

[AZrachel]

Thanks everyone. I ended up putting out a clean water container (Rubbermaid with a hole cut in it so just their heads can get in).

The 87 gallon "tank-pond" is pretty clean but it smells so I do worry about disease...so I have been emptying it every 7 days into our trees. The bio-filter works well enough to filter the water through a "poop-removal" system about 50x every 24 hours, so its a very light greenish-clear color. Cleaner than the kiddie pools used to be for sure! Good for swimming, but terrible for Mosquitos. Here was my mistake - we built the pond INSIDE the duck coop!! (14x14 area, 3foot round pond that's 2 feet deep). I think this is how they can make crazy messes all day long. Doh!

Despite this enormous pond-building adventure, i e decided to rehome my three beloved ducks to a place where they can free range all day (also has a pond) because keeping water fowl is a little too much mess for me to handle. And I commend everyone here for being able to do it!!! I think I'm gonna stick with dry birds for now. Maybe, if my husband and I move to a place with less Hawks and coyotes, and I can free-range them while I'm at work, I will definitely try again.