Keeping the Duck pool clean

[RosieinKS]

I bought a couple of small plastic pools for our 4 ducks this summer. They love them, but keeping the green stuff from growing on the walls is difficult, even if I change the water every day or every other day. The pools are big enough for 2 ducks in about 8" of water. I was thinking I could put a few drops of bleach in the pool to keep the walls clean. Would a small amount of bleach in the water - we have well water - be harmful to the ducks?

Rosie in KS

 

[Mrs.H]

I was having that same issue. So I got extra pools and just swap them out. I leave them out to dry and the green stuff just dries up/disappears rather quickly.

 

[Jessica89]

My boyfriend made a pond for my ducks and it's awful to keep clean!
We had to order a pump but it never sucks it all out so I have to somehow scrape all the muck and poop from the bottom.
Sometimes I think it would have been easier to have few paddling pools myself.

Personally, I wouldn't risk using bleach unless you clean it with bleach first and then give it a good rinse off.
I wouldn't leave it in the actual water though.

 

[needlessjunk]

I dump my pool every other day and let it dry over night and fill it up in the morning. I haven't had any growth problems. I will be using kiddie pools or stock tanks for ever because I don't even want to deal with a pond and filter. I had one in our back yard with a turtle and a few fish and that thing had to be emptied once every month or two. The 2 filters couldn't even keep up with it. Once they are in the ground too it is a back breaker! The shop vac was my best friend to suck all the water out.

 

[RosieinKS]

Sometimes the simplest things work best. I found my 2 pink clam shell-shaped pools on clearance at Wally World for $13. They needed to be small enough to move and dump easily when full without using so much water to fill them up. We have well water, and in dry years we have to ration water for dishes, showers and laundry. This winter will be our first winter with ducks, so the pools will not be an option when it freezes, since I don't imagine my husband will want to come up with a way to keep swimming pool water for ducks from freezing.

If anyone has an inexpensive way to keep a pool of water from freezing this winter, I'd like to hear your idea.

The worst part about having animals to take care of is that's it's impossible to be away from home overnight without finding someone to take care of everything while you're gone, and someone has to be home before dark so the coyotes don't have duck a la rouge for dinner.

I did find a suggestion to use spa or swimming pool chlorine instead of household bleach in the pool for the ducks to help keep it clean.

Thanks for the comments

 

[TracyLovesDucks]

I've seen pictures of those clam pools, they look so much sturdier than the only ones I can find... the circular ones.

How about a stock tank heater? And run an extension cord out to it. You'd have to find a way to keep it from getting duck feet stuck in it, some kind of a cage or box or something around it. I don't know how hot they get either, might be a concern.

 

[enriquec]

I haven't dealt with extreme cold but a beach ball or ping pong balls could work. Something that floats and moves easily with a gust of air should prevent freezing.

 

[enriquec]

If you build a little electric filtration system that wouldn't cost too much and should keep pool clean and unfroozen

 

[karamel688]

Here are a few pond heaters I found via google. http://www.azponds.com/New_webpages/New_fall_winter.html

I have not tried any of them but they might be what you're looking for to keep the water from freezing. As for clean, I would swap them out and let them air dry so the algea doesnt keep growing. I would use a scrub brush with baking soda to clean them. Baking soda is the safest thing to use. I always use that when cleaning my fish tanks and frog terrarium. I do not trust chemicals on sensitive little bodies, and I wouldnt with birds either.

 

[RosieinKS]

Does a stock tank heater sit directly on the bottom of the tank? If so, I'd be concerned about it melting my plastic wadding pool. I know they don't have to having swimming water all the time. Friends of ours who are both 75+ don't put out water for swimming in the winter time because they don't want to mess with changing it out when it's cold out. I guess I'll just wait for days above freezing and then put a pool out when it's warm enough.

Thanks for the ideas, though. I like to hear what others have tried.

Rosie