Seeking advice regarding Duck lodging... plus some project sharing

[White Elk]

I'm not sure how to go about the pond now. I've been mucking around the net trying to dredge up some good info and am just getting more confused lol. Not sure if I should build a temporary and easy pond with a Kiddie pool, or just go ahead and build the final deal now. I've got a lot of research ahead of me on this and should probably buy a book specific to duck ponds. I've got one for waterfalls and ponds, but with duck muck I may need to do things very different. I'm anxious to get a nice pond in for my family (and complete that belated Mothers Day gift), and I want the ducks to have their pool asap. I can work a temporary one with the little knowledge I have. So I may end up doing that and then building the real one next year?

For the pen liner the mattress pad is working out pretty good. I just worry about them eating the cloth since it has a synthetic fiber filler. But no problems yet. And just a short time to go before they can go outside to a hay bed. I've been cleaning it twice a day now. It stays very dry because it dries so fast. But the poop builds up quick. I hose it down and hang it to dry in the morning. I've just now created a space in the broodery to dry it for the cloudy days and over night. A few times I've hosed it down and then washed it in the washer with shop towels or my work clothes. If I do this again I think I will take a trip to a thrift store and buy a few natural fiber blankets and/or terry cloth towels.

 

[SueNH]

I've got 3 kiddie pools going for my 12 ducks outside. I dump them every other day, sometimes every day. There is a pile of yuck on the bottom each time and you can't see bottom in 6 inches of murky water. I also have natural swales here that fill up every time it rains. Even with natural running water the kiddie pools get gross. The ducks are loose during the day.

I lost my original duck flock this winter to a mink but they knew how to get to water on the property that is there all year round. Even with them ranging over 20+ acres those pools were still mucked up. My replacement crew isn't ranging as far yet and makes a big ducky mess. If it wasn't for the fact that I noticed a substantial decrease in mosquitoes and blackflies from them wandering and working the swamps and swales I wouldn't have so many. They are messy but so much fun to watch. Everything a duck does it does with gusto.



Fully feathered chicken chicks can take 50 and 60 degrees. They will stuff their fuzzy heads under their wings and be fine. Ducklings and chicks will feather out faster at this point if it's a little cooler.

 

[dixygirl]

A kiddie pool from Walmart would be the best bet if you have a lot of research yet to do. But you could dig a hole to set it in so they can get in and out easier.

The cost would be very different.
Large Walmart pool $25
vs
Pond liners $59 x2= $120 (one for pond, one for falls)
water fall pump $130
filter =$35
border rocks $50
hoses to connect it = $25 so about =$360 for small 6x8 pond with waterfall

 

[White Elk]

TY for the help and thoughts dixygirl, SueNH, and all!

These ducks better show me some love lol. Cleaning the pool daily is not something I want to add to my daily chore list (with my niece and nephews running around I want it as clean as possible). But I don't want the ducks not to have it, so I will do what it takes. I'm sure a more permanent solution can be found which requires less maintenance. Anything I do will obviously require constant attending to. But I'd rather make it a weekly program of cleaning pond filters vs a daily drudge of emptying the pool. I'll see what my folks think, but I'm of a mind to put in a temporary pool for now while I engineer a nice and natural looking pond and waterfall. We're not ready to run the electrical out there anyway. Gotta build the raised planter and more before we can get around to that.

For many of the stones I intend to make my own if the test batches come out looking nice. For others I've collected a couple dozen big ones from around the property, and a few yards of medium to small stones from various earth working projects. I'd love to go camping with my Father, Brother and Nephews this summer and collect more. Even just day outings to collect rocks with the family would be fun!

Regarding the heat lamp.. the duckies still have alot of down. Their feathers are coming in fast but there is still a ways to go. I had wondered if cooler temps would bring them out quicker. I am still turning off the light a little each day. But hopefully by mid-week they will all be moved outside... even if just for the day.

 

[White Elk]

I've replaced the heat bulb with a 60 watt. And turn the light off during the day. Within a couple days I hope to move most of them out. There are still two 3 week old chicks which might not be old enough yet? Hopefully by begining of the week they will be outside. But things keep coming up. Like needing to work with a tree scaler trimming up a large old Walnut tree..

 

[moenmitz]

Regarding your pond dilemma-I have ducks and geese and had the same wish as you- a natural looking pond. The birds turn any water into a filthy mess in minutes though, and I know no filter can possibly keep up with it. Thought I would share what we did.

First, the ducks house and pen sits slightly higher in the garden area. I dug a 10' diameter hole in the downward sloping corner of the pen. From this hole, I dug a trench to where the pond would be. I placed a long piece of field tile in the trench and covered it over with dirt. Then we put several inches of river rock in the pen area, including over the top of and in front of the tile entrance. This keeps the pipe from filling up with mud, but water can still drain aroudn the rocks easily. The rock in the pen is in layers, gradually increasing the grade as it gets closer to the duck house. Now, where the "culvert" comes out, I dug my pond. The pond slopes gradually so that the ducks can get in and out easily, and the culvert end is about 2.5 feet above the deepest part of the pond. The pond surface was then covered with river rock. The pond itself is comparable tot he size of a kiddie pool.

Here is how it works. In the morning, I hose down the rock in the duck pen. Everything is washed down the culvert into the "pond" Now, it might seem icky that technically I am washing duck poop into the pond, but realistically, it is pretty diluted by the time it gets there, and since theya re goign to poop in it as soon as they get in anyway, I decided not to stress over it. By the time the rocks have been thoroughly hosed, the pond is about half full. Since this is water I would be using to hose the pen every day anyway, at elast it isn't wasted. Then I use the hose to fill the pond the rest of the way. We have a lot of clay in our soil, so the pond holds water well, but drains slowly. If I fill it and don't touch it, it takes about a day and a half to drain completely. If you don't have clay in your soil, I would imagine it would be asy enough to amend your soil witha bag or two. Because it is always slowly draining, the water doesn't get stagnant or too disgusting. Yes, it is always muddy looking, but I think that is just going to be a given with ducks and geese using it. No way to keep it clear that i can imagine. It was more important to me that it not become scummy, smelly, mosquito infested and overall disgusting! The pond itself is nice looking-the river rock is pretty, and extends several feet from the pond area. Around that I have wood mulch that I freshen witha new bag every couple of weeks. This keeps the mud down, keeps the area fairly clean, and the mulch smells nice too. it just works it's way into the ground and breaks down, so there is no need to rake it out to clean. You mentioned a waterfall, and I am not exactly sure how you could incorporate that without re-circulating muddy-looking water, but where there is will, there is way!

I have found that I am wasting less water than when I was dumping the kiddie pool and refilling it every day, PLUS hosing down the duck pen. I have 8 ducks using this area now, so it really MUST be cleaned daily or the flies and stink are really awful. The water in the pond is about half fresh every day. Because the pond is not lined, all sorts of bugs and worms make there way up through the rocks in the bottom. Every morning the ducks are delighted to go "fishing". It has been several weeks now, and I am amazed that they continue to find worms on a daily basis!

Anyway, sorry for the long post, but I hope it helps. Now that I think about it, I will post this as a seperate topic for others who might be having pond issues.

 

[White Elk]

Thats a nice system you've got moenmitz and it gave some expanded ideas for mine. We live in wet country and I knew I wanted a gravel bed and drain under the pens. And I like the idea of using pea gravel on the surface and putting the litter on top of that. And since the pens are near the house I want them cleaned regualr! Water from this cleaning can then feed into other drain lines I must install which then can feed a small semi-dry creek bed which my folks would like installed to help drain the backyard better. That extra water might just be enough to let the creek run more often than just after rainstorms (which is often!).

I've got a flat roof garage which I need to redesign the downspout drainage for. And I've got to rework some of the house downspouts. And I have water seepage from under a big retaining wall to deal with. I'm thinking now that I should tie all these lines together and run them towards the pond. Due to the grade I can't feed the pond without pumping it, but I can tie this water into the creek below the pond and run it down to the swamp. This will tie in well with the waterfall/pond. All the downspout water already runs to the swamp and the addition of the seepage and cleaning water might help the creek run later in the year. I would want to put in a chunck of gravel in a "filter pipe" leaving the pen area to catch the debris. And make it so I can clean it out a when clogged. In this way the stream water will be clean.


I will post in your thread in the next couple days as I solidify my plans and get deeper into the building. We've ordered a truck load of crushed gravel for tommarrow and then will order pea gravel once we know how much we need. We've also ordered a pond liner for about $70 (7-14 days). Its like 4'x5'x18" I think. It'll look much nicer than the kiddie pool and if we use something else for the permanent pond, then this can replace the kiddie pool for the kiddies!

 

[White Elk]

lol I'm having doubts on the whole stream thing. The stream idea has been floating around here for a few years. But keeping the grass from growing over it, and keeping the forest duff out of it, seems like an extremely high maintenance chore. Not to mention the hassle it brings to mowing and more! Mom really seems to like the idea though. I do too... until I think about the maintenance of it.

If we don't do the stream, I want to use all that free water for the pond. It doesn't seem right/responsible to use so much fresh water purely for pleasure. So it would be nice to use recycled water as much as possible. So now I'm thinking of using a rainbarrel to drain all my drainspouts, ground water seepage, and pen cleaning water into. Then using the portable sump pump, I can pump the water out of the barrel and into the pond. Then pump the water out of the pond and into the planting beds. That way the pen/coop cleaning water is used three times!!! And much of the water I use to fill the pond will be recycled water. And all of the water coming out of the pond will be recycled. I think this is the thing to do. Gotta think on it more while I labor on other projects. Then run it by the folks. But I'm guessing this may be the way to go.


Thanks for giving me an idea to brainstorm off of moenmitz! It helped me tie a few projects into one; and provides a way for me to feel better about using so darn much water with such frequent cleaning of the bird pens. Plus I will save money and be a better Earth steward in my caretaking of a few of it's creatures. ty

 

[dlhunicorn]

This site has some good solid info and links (if you have not already found it):
http://www.malibuwater.com/PondDesign.html

...personally, (unless you are able to build a LARGE pond where you can incorporate the necessary plants such as reeds, cattail etc to help deal with organisms, I would give the ducks a separate system to the decorative pond your mom is wanting for the family... JMHO.

 

[White Elk]

I hadn't found it ty. I looked around a little and then bookmarked it.
That helps alot. It can be tough to find good info by googling.

I don't think I will be able to keep the ducks out of Mom's pond unless I were to fence it off which destroys the purpose. I think what I need is sort of a hybrid between an ecosystem and a filtered pond. Perhaps certain organisms can cut down on what needs to be filtered? Which might make filtering a duck pond more feasible?? I've got near a year to figure it out, and some time with a temp pool to see what I'm in for. And those links make for a good research start.