Their pond smells kinda…. Green?

[Member 671655]

My duck and chicken pond smells kinda like it has an overgrowth on algae I have some algae eaters in there is it okay for it to be a little heavy on algae? Chickens and ducks seem to still enjoy it and are very healthy looking. Fish are growing and happy as well ?

 

[NCchickentender]

I've read that heavy algae can lead to severe neurologic or liver damage in chickens.

Is your pond a natural pond or a little man-made pond? I have a little man-made pond with goldfish in it. It would get so bad I could barely see the fish so I got a uv light that kills the green. I only have chickens and they love it.

I don't have any ducks or a big pond so I know nothing about that

 

[Stravager]

It also depends on what kind of algae you have growing. If it is hair strand algae that can wrap around legs, or if blue green algae that can essentially kill everything in the pond in large enough quantities. If it's a natural pond you might need to look into some different methods of algae control. Do you have a filter or a pump running for water movement?

 

[Penpal]

If it is hair algae get a stick and pull it out. You can just dump it in your compost.

In a healthy pond, you can expect an algae bloom in the spring. As other plants start growing they will absorb the nutrients in the water and their leaves will shade out the algae.

You may have too many fish in the pond which are putting out too much fertilizer. I have never had noticeable algae in my small pond at this time of year.