How to Keep their Water Clean?

[chickboss]

Can't you use the water for your garden? It is fantastic, and then it isn't wasted.

 

[jlgoinggreen]

Great idea! I only have four ducks though in a huge pool (all our farm animals are super spoiled, you should see our chicken coop), so a smaller pool will still give us water for our gardens and not use too much water while still giving them a good swimming hole.

Thanks for the idea!

 

[Penturner]

Has anyone ever tried actually filtering the water? Even as I think of this I realize that most people I have seen with kiddie pools etc are keeping ducks in less water than I woudl keep tropical fish. I say this because volume of water to the bio load (Fancy word for poop) is much easier to manage if the volume is high and the load is low. But even at that I know of a very large pond that was being destroyed by the gees that lived on it. fountains where installed and now the geese and water are in harmony. It is not impossible to build a filtration system that can handle a huge bio load. it just takes comparatively lots of maintenance. exemplified in these posts with the practice of dumping and filling pool daily. Basically a filter would be a place that bacteria that eat the Bio load live. all you have to do is have a big enough home for the bacteria and a way to keep the water and waste moving through it. The bacteria convert everything into a sludge and you need to clean that however often your filter fills up. I know of some pond filters that only need to be cleaned once a year. plus the sludge is basically compost and a high grade fertilizer. I know I was going to build a filter for a pond in my back yard. I estimated the pond would hold 2500 gals of water and was building a filter that was 150 gal. that was a huge overkill and would probably handle the waste produced by ducks. Not sure bit it might be worth experimenting with on a small scale unit some numbers can be established.

 

[Hattiegun]

Heres my pond,,, I have a tub drain on the bottom (left side) that drains into a PVC
pipe out into the brush......A hyrant on the right to fill back up... is simple and easy
and seems better than possible filters and pumps etc.. I drain and fill every few
days but I also throw treats in the water and their food is on the ledge of the pond
for the time being... I pop the drain takes 8 min and spray the pooh down and and
out.. turn on the hydrant and do some other chores while it fills.... super easy.

 

[jlgoinggreen]

Awesome. That is really nice! How often do you have to clean it out? I mean every how many "few" days and how many gallons of water fills it?

 

[Hattiegun]

I go 3 days for sure and can prbly go 4 but its so easy to clean I hate it dirty.
I will have to look at gallons, cant remember.. Its about 6' long and
not quite 2' deep and has ledges around the sides where they can sit
and where I throw treats.. I got it at Menards...got it cheap cuz it had a hole
in it, but my husband fixed the hole , good as new...

 

[Red Maple Farms]

Quote:
That isn't a pond, but a pool.

 

[nettie]

when ducks are given the choice of a clean fresh water source or a yucky pooped up one, I swear every time they will chose the yucky one...

 

[chickensioux]

Quote:
or the mud puddle beside it.....

 

[FenDruadin]

Or the slimy, poopy, disgusting sludge below the straw of the area where I just poured the mucky water so I could replace it with clean.