New duck owner!!

[Naisha]

Yayyy! So, after some time having chickens, now I also own ducks!! 1 male mallard , 2 female mallards and 1 female Muscovy. I have so many questions, and all the threads I'm reading are being so useful!
We got one of those preformed ponds for them, but the soil is so ffffckin compact that it's not easy or fast to dig, so for now they have water in a big container and they have fun there. It's so lovely to see them play! And the water is so dirty after one day
I'll take pictures as soon as I can. I just always forget my phone when I go to see them!

 

[cavemanrich]

When you do get the preformed pond into the ground,, be ready to ether filter the water,,,, or keep changing it out quite often.
That is my reason for not keeping cute little ducklings. I don't have a good natural pond for them to enjoy. I also don't have a small play pond with a sufficient filtration system. I also purchase my water from the township,,, so emptying pond as often as I would like would make me poor..
If I had my own well and source of water,, I would just change out the water often,, and use the pond water to water the lawn/garden.

WISHING YOU BEST,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,

 

[Miss Lydia]

Yes not having a natural pond and having to use water you have to pay for can get expensive. Thankfully we have a spring I use this in warm months for water for my flock and all other outside things, and in winter a well. I have a large kiddy pool and with 20 waterfowl it gets mucked up pretty fast what looks good when filled looks like it has been there for a couple days by days end. But my dh put in a thing similar to a faucet so I can drain it with out using a bucket so I put some fresh in at the end of day 1 and by end of day 2 it gets drained. They really are cute nasty little critters. So putting in a faucet type deal will really save your back and the water can help grow and lawn or veggies and boy do my ducks love to play in the water as it's draining.

 

[Naisha]

I agree, one has to think about managing the water well, because ducks are pigs with feathers xDD
Where I live, we use water from the "fields community" (I have no idea how to translate that), which is used to water the crops and it has nothing to do with normal water system in the cities/towns, so we're good if we change it regularly instead of filtering. When we change the water, that dirty water is reused for the land and not wasted.

 

[cavemanrich]

Where I live, we use water from the "fields community" (I have no idea how to translate that)

I understand what you mean by your above statement. .
Just have this suggestion for you to consider. I assume you are dealing with a similar pond as pictured below. Place on flat ground,, and build up the sides with decorative stones,,, or just earth, and grass. have a drain pipe attached to bottom of pond. To drain,,, just open the valve on outside of pond. Then close,, and refill with fresh water.
I know you mentioned digging the ground to be somewhat a challenge.
Ducks will not mind jumping/walking up that short incline to get to their spa.

 

[Miss Lydia]

I understand what you mean by your above statement. .
Just have this suggestion for you to consider. I assume you are dealing with a similar pond as pictured below. Place on flat ground,, and build up the sides with decorative stones,,, or just earth, and grass. have a drain pipe attached to bottom of pond. To drain,,, just open the valve on outside of pond. Then close,, and refill with fresh water.
I know you mentioned digging the ground to be somewhat a challenge.
Ducks will not mind jumping/walking up that short incline to get to their spa.

View attachment 3791571

After about of a week or less of that beautiful set up it would look like an army marched through it with cleats on. That sure is purty though. Nothing fancy but ducks don't care much for fancy lol

 

[johnspillman]

Good luck with your new ducks. I tried to plant a tree recently on some hard soil like that. After several hard hits with a heavy post hole digger, I had only removed a thin layer of grass and topsoil on top of compacted heavy clay that was hard as stone. I planted the tree somewhere else. I put many small containers of clean water out for the ducks when they are out foraging, but I noticed the Mama duck putting grass and dirt in some of them like she is preparing soup to be cooked. The ducks sometimes prefer this "soup" to the clean water. I think that there may be some minerals or something in the soil that their bodies can use or that they may crave for "flavoring". Now I just make sure that clean water is available and leave their "secret recipes" alone.

 

[CoriM]

I use a preformed pond as well and used pea gravel up to the edge of it so the ducks could easily get right in. Mine has a bench around the end and they like to stand on that and preen, also I can put a block on that that they use to get out. We put a drain with the valve outside the pond and then buried pipe where the water travels to a big drain pit that we dug. I have to drain and scrub mine at least once a week. It's worth it to see the ducks happy.

 

[Naisha]

Woooo awesome ideas!! Thank you guys!! Even though we'll dig a hole, it won't be totally flat to the ground, they'll have to climb a bit to get to the water, because I swear this soil is sooooo hard hahah!
Ayyy and we also love de idea of giving them one of those small pools like the blue one. I'm sure when we get closer to summer, they start selling them everywhere.

 

[Luv Ducks]

After about of a week or View attachment 3791595View attachment 3791597less of that beautiful set up it would look like an army marched through it with cleats on. That sure is purty though. Nothing fancy but ducks don't care much for fancy lol

Such beauties Miss Lydia and Missy is absolutely gorgeous!!!