I want to make a Pond for my ducks in my chicken coop.. advice?

[FirstLady]

Below is a picture of my chicken coop. I have two ducks and six chickens. I currently built a wood frame for a large run in addition to this coop to protect my chickens and ducks from predators. I am just waiting for the wire to arrive and they will be all set in a few weeks! I am looking to build a small pond or use a pond liner in the ground in the run. I want something that will be washable, removable and hazard free for the chickens. Any suggestions? Thanks!

 

[Enchanted Sunrise Farms]

i'm not sure it's a good idea to keep ducks and chickens together. Ducks are very messy, especially once they get a pond to splash in. If you build something deep enough for the ducks to enjoy, you may end up with drowned chickens. Chickens can't swim. Discovered this when one of our EEs flew into our swimming pool. Thank goodness i was there to pull her out.

This is just my two cents.

 

[dumb_cluck]

Not a good idea to keep chickens and ducks together because of their"needs". I would start with a small kiddie pool for the ducks.

Small to start with because it becomes pretty discusting after a couple weeks.
Read more posts here to get a better idea of how toset up good "pond"with"drainage". Good Luck!

 

[KMurphy]

Maybe you could make a separate little coop for your ducks and put a pond in there. My ducks and chickens are separate and my ducks have a very nice pond. They love it. And my chickens love their dirt baths!!!!

 

[FirstLady]

Hmm, the separate coop is a good idea. Although the chickens and the ducks really enjoy eachother's company even though i know that sounds odd.. ill have to figure something out. I work on the farm 24/7 so the chickens and ducks will be getting their coop cleaned twice a day so keeping it clean won't be too much of an issue. However I am worried about the pond being hazardous to the chickens. Maybe ill make a shallow one. Thanks a bunch.

 

[cfdf]

Ok so I have ducks and chickens. This is what I am in the process of doing....My ducks and chickens share the same coop at night. I lock them in every night. My run is made of 10' x 6' tall dog run panels. All together I have enough panels to make 3 10 x 10 dog runs. Instead of dog runs I am taking the panels and connecting them together to form one long run. Since I have 3 panels with gates, I am putting one gate at the far end, one gate on the coop end and then I am taking one gate panel and using it to partition the run in half. On the far end area I am going to use a large round metal trough for the duck pond. I will keep the chickens out by locking the gate between the runs. At night I will let the chickens go to roost first....they do that now anyway...and then open the gate and let the ducks go in the coop. In the morning I will do the reverse. The ducks are usually the first ones out. I think this will work for me. It will keep the chicken's run dry and the ducks can splash all they want. Right now I have them all together and use a shallow kiddie pool for the ducks. It can get a bit wet in the run but it has worked ok. I'm just ready to give my ducks a deeper and bigger pond.