how to clean ponds for wild ducks

[J3172]

I'm building a pen right now, I'm still waiting for the wire to come. It's going to be 16ft wide 23 feet long, and 12 feet high. I want to get some wood ducks, hooded mergansers, and canvasbacks. I plan on putting two ponds in, my question is how do I keep them clean? What can I use as a filter that will keep the water clean and clear, that's not going to cost me several hundred dollars?

 

[Matapatos]

Check out the duck stickies! I have a pond in mine and its almost the same size as yours, but mine isn't as tall. I just have a submersible pump that recirculates the water and keeps it cooler that way, I do need to drain it and scrub it clean every week. Wifezilla has a very intersting way to clean her ponds... Look for her on here. But as for a pen that small, I think you just hafta drain, scrub, refill..... drain, scrub, refill. Unless you have a running well or spring... Good luck!

 

[Boggy Bottom Bantams]

yep, theres no filer in the world to handle the mess of ducks, I've tried them all over the years.
The only way is to drain, bleach and refill as needed.
Easiest if you have sloped ground when you can put a 4 " drain pipe in the bottom, just pull the plug and wash it all down. otherwise, you'll need a sump pump to drain it, then have to get in a shovel the muck out of the bottom, really fun!
Once cleaned out, I use bleach and a bug sprayer to spray down the concrete and get the algae off it, same it using liners. and no, it doesnt hurt the birds either.
That's about it, no big secretes to it

 

[chickenzoo]

You could probably pay a septic tank pumper to drain it, their hoses suck up all kinds of... well crap.

I'm sure it would be worth it if you had a bunch of ponds.... hehe

 

[Quail's Hollar Farm]

.

 

[J3172]

Would you go with cement or plastic liner for the pond itself and why?
Thanks

 

[Boggy Bottom Bantams]

I always used cement.
Much more durable, easy to use, no worries with the right size, no tears from toe nails, can be sprayed down with bleach with do damage to it, bleach can deteriorate some liners. I always used misters over all my ponds, cement seeps water threw it very slowly, so that helped in preventing the misters from over loading the ponds and flooding the aviaries. If you dont want this, seal the concrete.

Also, you dont have to go very thick, 2 inches is very suffecient. You can do custom shapes with no aggrivation in shaping the liner, just spread the concret to the shape, dry and your're done.
Anyway that's my reasons, I'd never use liners personally

 

[Boggy Bottom Bantams]

Quote:

That's funny Jen, but EXPENSIVE!!!

 

[chickenzoo]

Quote:

That's funny Jen, but EXPENSIVE!!!

Hey, I was just saying....................

 

[Boggy Bottom Bantams]

Quote:

That's funny Jen, but EXPENSIVE!!!

Hey, I was just saying....................

I hear ya, It'd work!!