Is it AWFUL for ducks to drink dirty water

[Lil Drake40]

I live on a pig farm and we us 50 gal barrel hog waters with touch sensitive spouts and the wild geese and duck use them when the pigs are in the barn it takes about 20 minutes to make and maybe 20 bucks or less

Pics?

 

[Soon2BChixMom]

Happy and healthy ducks (before their pools were put in, still green, even if their pools are constantly getting dirty) they have a large open run with a few small nesting houses and one larger house. They love to lay under the large house for shade during the hot part of the day.View attachment 1411854 View attachment 1411856 View attachment 1411861also zip ties have since been cut and ducklings integrated so the pen is gone....

I just love your duck set up!

 

[MatthewsHomestead]

Thank you!

I just love your duck set up!

 

[Moments]

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.

I have a container and mine will drink from the poop water pool anyway lol. Often even if I have a tub of fresh water, pool of fresh water and then the pool they pooped in..... still drink the poop water. I usually change their pool daily, sometimes every other day depending on how bad it is. With multiple pools sometimes they don't get too bad.