Is it AWFUL for ducks to drink dirty water

[JerryDwane]

 

[PirateGirl]

It happens. Fast. Dirty water all the time. Give them fresh water at least once a day. They do love when it's fresh, but they do make it dirty. They like to dabble with their food and with the mud, sifting it in the water for goodies. My Ducks love if I dump the old water on the ground and they can drink from the puddles instead of the bucket, go figure. This morning my ducks spilled all their food on the ground not 30 seconds after I filled the bowl. Today they get to eat off the ground. It's ok, they eat bugs and plants and scoop up mouthfuls of dirt on purpose. The thing is, this is not nature, if you leave the scummy water sitting in the sun for days or weeks you will get bacteria and things growing in there and not at natural healthy pond levels, so if you dump it and refill at least daily you are getting rid of the bad before it has a chance to really grow and become unhealthy.

Oh, another thing... ducks will poop in water, like their pool. I try to have a container of water available that they cannot climb into therefore cannot poop in that is for drinking only because drinking poop water cannot be healthy no matter how you cut it.

 

[MatthewsHomestead]

My adult ones have two five gallon buckets that I change once in the am then once in the pm. My toddlers have a smaller bucket that they can reach and gets changed the same as well. It works and all are healthy.

 

[MatthewsHomestead]

Also I should mention they prefer their muddy mini river above everything!

Don't mind the bowl. It comes out when I'm washing buckets and their pools...

 

[jennybvcr]

No need to worry it doesn't matter how clean their drinking water is in less than 5 min it can be full of mud or feed. Just the nature of ducks . So you might try something like this

I used something similar to this when they were in the brooder and it saved my life. Mine was a large square tupperware that I cut three holes out of the top so all three could access. I felt a lot better knowing their murky water was food water and not poop water.

Now that they're outside, I'm still giving them clean water every day in that container and am working up to a 5 gallon auto-waterer. They also have a pool which they, of course, poop in and drink out of. That bums me out but I figure as long as I provide clean fresh water daily, if they opt to drink the poop water (I can't change the pool water daily, but more like every 3 days) I can't help them.

 

[thumper650]

When it's very hot and I'm not home I leave a backup water for them too in case they knock it over. Also putting it in a corner helps.

 

[Krazyquilts]

You really have to lower your housekeeping standards to keep waterfowl.
Seriously, they're just gross with water. Gross and happy.
If you have chickens too, raising a seperate water dish out of the duck's reach will let the chickens have clean water but ducks seem to take real joy in mucking things up

I used to have separate "proper" waters for the chickens but they preferred to drink out of the muddy, poopy duck pools and then the ducks would notice the nice, clean chicken waters and drink them up (after getting them nice and muddy too first of course) so I just gave up and now everyone uses the duck pools. The duck pools get dumped, rinsed, and refilled every morning in the winter and twice a day in the summer.

 

[Krazyquilts]

I agree with keeping ducks on fresh grass whenever possible, but I really disagree with his "duck shield" that allows the ducks to only stick their bills in the water but prevents the ducks from taking a bath etc in their water. He may have a "cleaner" dryer area, but his ducks aren't going to be as happy. Ducks are WATERFOWL - that means that they LOVE WATER. If a person is going to prevent their ducks from being, well, ducks, then they should just get chickens.

I know a lot of people raise their ducks that way, where the ducks can dunk their heads in the water but not bathe in it, but it is my personal opinion (and the opinion of my ducky masters) that ducks are happier when they can bathe.

 

[JerryDwane]

The guy in the video NEVER said to NEVER allow them to get in water...

 

[thumper650]

I agree with keeping ducks on fresh grass whenever possible, but I really disagree with his "duck shield" that allows the ducks to only stick their bills in the water but prevents the ducks from taking a bath etc in their water. He may have a "cleaner" dryer area, but his ducks aren't going to be as happy. Ducks are WATERFOWL - that means that they LOVE WATER. If a person is going to prevent their ducks from being, well, ducks, then they should just get chickens.

I know a lot of people raise their ducks that way, where the ducks can dunk their heads in the water but not bathe in it, but it is my personal opinion (and the opinion of my ducky masters) that ducks are happier when they can bathe.

Yeah I saw that video a while back, I don't really mind the mess ducks make, since they live outside. Ducks must be able to dunk their entire heads in the water.