Keeping the pool clean

[gal5150]

I have a drain installed on the side of my pool and it's hooked to a long hose so I can choose where the water drains to. I drain it and refill daily and just use the hose to fertilize and water all of my plants. Win win! Was super easy and pretty inexpensive. All parts bought at Lowe's and hooked up in about 10 min.

 

[CarliJo]

I am new to this also, and I have muscovies which don't spend near as much time in water... but... I have found that once the water gets "thick" they really care less for it. When there is a good amount of poop, I like to get it into my watering can and spread the love. Research prior go getting ducks showed definitely they will crap. In water. All the time. When I clean out their tub, they are delighted and run right for it.
It takes quite a commitment and mind that I don't have to build a filtering pond and blah blah. Regarding trying to kill algae or use plants, and not dump the water, I just lean back and think about how seldom I see wild ducks hanging out in stagnant water. They really prefer moving or 'clean' water.

 

[mikeythepotatoe]

I have a drain installed on the side of my pool and it's hooked to a long hose so I can choose where the water drains to. I drain it and refill daily and just use the hose to fertilize and water all of my plants. Win win! Was super easy and pretty inexpensive. All parts bought at Lowe's and hooked up in about 10 min.

Thanks a lot! I will definitely try this out!

 

[This just Ducks]

We have a stock tub (35 gallon I want to say) that we turned into a pond. We just drain it ever 2 days and refill. They get it so dirty (pooping in it) that I cannot see any other way of keeping it clean.

Just my 3 cents, I have 3 Swede blk hens that I built a pool off the side of their ducky house. I used a commercial stucco tub, 45 gal advertised. I set it up on cinder blocks to clear the plumbing I installed. I bought an Intex above ground sand pool filter/pump all in one off ebay. The filter has a strainer but I added a very fine mesh pre-screeen to catch the fine grass and straw that would clog the pump vanes every couple of months or so. It has a settable timer to filter up to 5 hours a day. This setup lets go on vacation and the pool stays super clean for a good week even when we are running 95+ degrees. I have it to auto fill with fresh water so whomever I have looking out for my animals while we are away only has to backwash the filter once a day when they come to feed and the rest is automatic. My girls come out of their house when the chicken door motor opens in the morning and they go straight to the pool. During the day they are in it several times,even with this level of use the water stays clear and clean. The whole setup cost me about $250, been worth every penny and more.

 

[DanielleInUro]

I have a 150 gallon stock tank in my duck's pen (they get locked in the pen at night, and free range the yard all day.) The ducks sleep in the "pond", and they go bob around in it sometimes during the day. There are concrete blocks that work as steps up into it, and twice a day for five minutes, a hose on a timer that's at the bottom of the tank runs into the tank, and as the water rises, it drains out of overflow holes I drilled into the top, down the rubber hoses in it and into two raised beds I use to grow veggies. Once a week, I pull the bung at the bottom and drain the whole thing through a pipe over to some fruit trees. It works pretty well. The water never looks AWESOME and I wouldn't make lemonade out of it, but it's not foul.