Reusing Duck Water?

[bluemerle]

Does anyone reuse their dirty duck water for watering & fertilizing plants? If so, do you have a specific setup?

I've found out that duck water is a really efficient fertilizer - we dump it on the lawn nearest to the pen, and the grass there grows faster than all of the other grass. Next year, because we use so much water (refilling their pool every day) I'd really like to store the water in a barrel & use it for the front yard plants. Trying to figure out the most cost-efficient way to do so!

 

[TashaFrancois]

It’s great! All natural, and as you don’t feed them crappy fake food, the waste water won’t taint your plants.

 

[Jpat]

The poo settles to the bottom ide just note that if you have it in bulk. People pay for fertilizer theres always a use for it!

 

[CrystaBub]

I agree - duck poo water is the best for plants. My shrubs have grown so much this summer because of it. First we pumped their pool water out through a hose to water the yard. That got old. Now I just Carry buckets by hand and dump. I consider it my workout

 

[llombardo]

It's good but I don't know if I would store it. It can start smelling pretty bad.

 

[CrystaBub]

It's good but I don't know if I would store it. It can start smelling pretty bad.

Unless you use a gas mask

 

[chickens really]

I dump my pools every couple of days. I carry buckets to water my plants and my fruit trees. Other than that I just water the lawn as I heave out the water..

 

[Blue Crow]

yup - small sump pump hooked to a hose for convenient watering and pool drainage

 

[PirateGirl]

I also use a bucket and carry it to different part of the yard/garden and water my plants. Over winter I dump the water in my raised beds in hopes of adding some nutrients back into the soil that got depleted the previous summer. It's dry where I live, so I feel I could use more water than I have on any given day to water plants/trees/garden beds. I'm not sure about storing it. I have tried hooking up a drain hose to the duck pool to run to my garden but it just got clogged and was faster/easier to carry buckets. I've recently acquired a pump for free, but have not yet tried it.

 

[nyrhtakholden]

I tried storing ours in 50 gallon rain barrels. We ran into fugus and mold issues that destroyed our greenhouse, yard and garden because the water got contanimated. Not sure if the fugus and bacteria has grown from the poo or the barrels being previously contaminated. I’m emptying the barrels and bleaching them to start over and try a controlled experiment on a few potted plants. Will know after that but I’m guessing long term storage of the water in a warm dark place (the barrels) allowed for the bacteria to multiply exponentially.