How often/how well do you clean ducks' pool?

[Katy]

In warm weather it gets cleaned every day.

 

[Fancie]

I clean the pond once a week, right now I use a hose to syphan out the water, but later on in the year we are going to dig it up and put it's own facet into it to make it easier to water the garden with the pond water.... the duck pond and the garden are on oppisite sides of the yard....

 

[jacyjones]

I have a small, quite shallow pool for my 1 duck. I empty and fill this every day when I do all the waters. There is always a lot of silt in the bottom and it would get very smelly if it was not done daily. When I had a bigger bath for more ducks I cleaned it out weekly in the sumer.

 

[blondiebee181]

I have 5 chicken hens and had 1 Pekin drake until about a week ago when I had to re-home him. I just had a large plastic kiddie pool that sat in the run, deep enough so he couldn't touch. Honestly, I cleaned it completely out probably once a month but I only had him in there and each day I would bail a little out and put some fresh. I am expecting 2 Indian Runner females in about a week and I think they will do fine in same pool, but I do want to get an old hose or some kind of syphon to empty it because baling the thing out is a huge pain in the you-know-what.

 

[new2ducks]

I put my dog's kiddie pool by the tree so when she splashes or when I empty it at night, I water the flowers and then dump the rest of the water by the tree. As for the ducks, I empty their one water pan on the pumpkin patch and just dump the bigger water pan on the area right by it and they eat the little bugs and the freshened weeds...lol

 

[Tahai]

I stopped messing around with the kiddie pool. It took way too much water to fill, and was a pain to drain.

Now I have 1 large and 1 medium mortar mixing tubs. I rinse and refill them in the morning before work and the evening after work. I haven't had to scrub them.

 

[PetesMom]

I just dump our pool out every other day.....and spray it with the hose. When it gets really bad with algae it gets taken away for the day and left in the sun where the algae dries and flakes off...easier to clean when that stuff is dry and flakey lol

 

[nthm94]

As most of the above posters have said, you seem to be doing a good job with keeping it clean. Chemical cleaners are never recommended, just put some elbow grease into scrubbing, as annoying as it is. However, have you thought of using a filter or aerator to keep the water moving? Algae forms fastest in still water so even having a device to keep it moving could help. Filters will obviously keep all impurities at bay. Make sure your filter can handle larger particulates as well, food and feces may buildup and damage your it By keeping it clear of debris it should make your job a bit easier.

 

[nickie]

I have an in ground backyard water feature. For a while I was using my small pump for the waterfall attached to a longer hose to water my garden (I conveniently moved my garden plot closer this year). My husband surprised me with a heavy duty sump pump a few weeks back so now I use that, sucks all the crud right out. I generally do a full draining and scrub down twice a year, first thaw and after all the leaves are gone and molts are over. Upon occasion the water would get a bit green before I had my new pump, but not anymore.

 

[blondiebee181]

Does anyone keep their duck pool open in the winter? I feel like it'll be a pain to keep thawed out. Do the ducks need it in winter?