Should I worry about chlorine affecting my duck's eggs?

[CocoandDaffodill]

Can you modify your waterfall so it aerates more???? That will also help.

I'm not sure... I will look into it. Thanks!

 

[CocoandDaffodill]

Welcome to BackYard Chickens, And a Big Hello from Eastern Nebraska! The Best of Luck with your Duck's.

Thanks!

 

[CocoandDaffodill]

Greetings. I had a pool. Chlorine tabs vary in size. What size tab are you using???

Pool tabs (1", 3" mostly) generally contain stabilizers in addition to chlorine, and are intended to treat tens of thousands of gallons. Your puddle is... Not. Its about 59 cu ft. Roughly 440 gal, or what you should be able to fill with a faucet in 3 hours, a hose in under an hour.

Even a 1' pool tab is a LOT for that volume of water, and as your stailizer builds, the free chlorine will be less and less effective, while your algae will increesingly slect for greater chlorine resistance.

How does the water SMELL??? Do you have pool test strips? Commercial drinking water is deemed unsafe by EPA at 4 ppm. There is considerable safety factor in that. Commercial pools are generally 2-4 ppm. In either case, your chlorine levels are likely extremely high, even if it is exposed to full sun.

Recommend you empty. Allow to dry. Clean/brush. Treat. Refill.

Find an aeration system - like a solar powered pond fountain - O2 is no danger to your ducks, it can be quite effective in controlling algae, and after the upfront cost, is unltimately cheaper and scaleable over the long term. Moving water is also less attractive to mosquitoes and others known to lay eggs in stagnant sources.

thank you... it smells a bit like chlorine and... chlorine. we are using about a 3 inch tab, but it isn't just the pond. since it is landscaping, it has about a 30 foot "river" going into the waterfall, then into the pond. I will try to empty, dry and clean the pond. Thanks for the advice!

 

[U_Stormcrow]

thank you... it smells a bit like chlorine and... chlorine. we are using about a 3 inch tab, but it isn't just the pond. since it is landscaping, it has about a 30 foot "river" going into the waterfall, then into the pond. I will try to empty, dry and clean the pond. Thanks for the advice!

the Chlorine "smell" isn't actualy chlorine. Its chloramines - what happens when chlorine bonds with nitrates, and ammonia in particular (in a pool, that is "politely" urea). Unfortunately, there are no great ways to remove chloramine from water once formed. Chloramines aren't good disinfectants, either.

It can be done - activated charcoal, reverse osmosis, super filtration - but none are really suitable for the volumes of even a small pool. Or a huge bog filter.

It is, sadly, exactly what I suspected - because of the duck's waste.

Empty, clean, restart, and expect to have to repeat periodically.

 

[Debbie292d]

Thanks all for your warm welcomes... we did see a fox in our cameras last night and the ducks are fine, but I was wondering if there was any way to naturally repel them? I was thinking of letting our dogs run around the area (with the ducks penned up) to sort of repel by scent? if there is any other suggestions I am open to ideas.

There are fox around here too, but knock on wood, none have come here near our chickens. We have a border collie, corgi, and dozens of solar motion lights, so between all this, nothing comes in our yard except the bears.

If your dogs aren't good around the ducks, then I sure would try your idea, but I'd also get a few of those solar motion lights. We got ours on Amazon. I'm not saying this is a sure thing, but we've had excellent luck with keeping critters from the forest behind us, in the forest.

 

[CocoandDaffodill]

There are fox around here too, but knock on wood, none have come here near our chickens. We have a border collie, corgi, and dozens of solar motion lights, so between all this, nothing comes in our yard except the bears.

If your dogs aren't good around the ducks, then I sure would try your idea, but I'd also get a few of those solar motion lights. We got ours on Amazon. I'm not saying this is a sure thing, but we've had excellent luck with keeping critters from the forest behind us, in the forest.

That seems like a good solution. Only one of our dogs are good around the ducks, so I might run her around the area as well.

 

[CocoandDaffodill]

the Chlorine "smell" isn't actualy chlorine. Its chloramines - what happens when chlorine bonds with nitrates, and ammonia in particular (in a pool, that is "politely" urea). Unfortunately, there are no great ways to remove chloramine from water once formed. Chloramines aren't good disinfectants, either.

It can be done - activated charcoal, reverse osmosis, super filtration - but none are really suitable for the volumes of even a small pool. Or a huge bog filter.

It is, sadly, exactly what I suspected - because of the duck's waste.

Empty, clean, restart, and expect to have to repeat periodically.

Ok. I definitely will since that is very strongly recommended