In ground Duck Pool

[pinusresinosa]

From my experience, a small in ground duck pond is a bad idea. I can't imagine that even the best filtration systems hooked up to one would be worth it either- you'd pay a ton in electricity to run the thing, and from keeping fish tanks over the years with large filtration systems, heavy loads wreck pumps so fast. I could see it being a viable idea if the pond was really large, like 1/4 acre and 10+ feet deep in the middle with active plant filtration and a natural method of replenishing, or one duck in like a manageable pool or 200 gallon small garden pond. It gets toxic so fast, and smells horrid from the constant agitation and poop. Ducks will never let a thing grow in it either.

I fenced off our small pond, as ideally I'd like to be able to garden around it last year and the ducks ate everything I tried to plant around it and turned the water into a toxic waste dump. Cheap plastic kiddie pools make ducks happy and are easy to change and clean daily and don't need a lot of water. At least, that's what worked for me.

 

[saltandpepper2]

I found a plan for a pool like this. Pretty much the dug the pit for the pool twice as deep as it needed to be, put supports for the pool, and the installed a plug on the pool bottom. The idea was to drain the water into the ground below, and wait for the earth to soak up the water. I can't remember if there was an actual under-ground pipe for the water to drain into. I found another one where they did this on a slope, so that the pipe went from the pool to the side of the hill, and just ran down. Either one would work I guess.

 

[nayeli]

My husband is with you Newfoundland. I think that is a simple solution.

 

[TracyLovesDucks]

Hello, I tried something similar to the first picture in this thread. Just wanted to share my experience.

I did have the pool edge at exactly ground level, not raised at all. I did NOT put pavers around it. And I did NOT put a drain in the pool. I tried to empty it only every two days. It didn't work out for me for a few reasons:

1. The ducks spent all day biting chunks of dirt off around the edge of the pool and dropping it in the water, making a total mud mess.
2. At night, mice would come for a drink and fall in and drown.
3. Without a drain of some sort, it was very difficult for me to pull the pool out of the ground for a good rinsing (and I always messed up the leveling bed of sand that I had spread underneath)
4. My ducks (runners) had trouble getting out of it (not necessarily due to the design, but I didn't give them enough steps to climb onto and out).

I was pretty proud of the giant hole that I dug hand and shovel, it fit the pool like a glove... man was it a bummer when I had to fill it back up with dirt!!!

Maybe this will work nicely with the pavers around the edges and if you empty it every night (or cover it) to avoid drowned mice. Oh and also with some stepping stones or a ramp on the inside if your ducks aren't so good at flying.