what's the smallest duck pond I can get away with?

[fordguy]

Hi guys - working in an enclosed orchard, want to put a little duck pond in - what are the major considerations? It will have 10 geese and 8 ducks, plus 5 muscovie ducks. I assume with so many birds it will stay a mudhole? any help?

 

[todd walker]

Yep no mater the size will end up a mud hole.Adding rocks around it will slow the digging down.
I use kiddy pools one for each 50 clean in am add water after lunch.
They will be messy is 10-15 min.
Had a goose once,only bird that made the ducks seem clean.
good luck,

 

[fordguy]

Hey todd, thanks! when you say 1 for 50 is that 1 pool for 50 birds? and you change the water daily? I work away from home so I won't be able to keep up with that water changing schedule...

 

[rainplace]

Don't even think you're gonna have a clean pond with that many waterfowl. I currently have 25 on our approximately 1300 gallon pond (not nearly big enough) and I'm draining and washing out my sludge filter everyday and the second filter once a week (I was doing this with 18 waterfowl also) I'm lucky if I can keep the water watery brown and not milk chocolate brown. I think I'm gonna have to break down and actually vacuum out the muck at the bottom of the pond once a week also. I have a couple more tricks up my sleeve first before I start doing that, but after my latest waterfowl purchases, I'm a bit strapped for cash.

If you're going to do kiddie pools then you probably want to empty them as part of your morning feed routine. As in empty, clean, and refill before letting them out and feeding them. We had a hard freeze out here that froze my pond more inches than I could break through, so I got the kiddie pool out. A couple times I went two days without cleaning it out... ewww

 

[SportTees]

The bigger the better!! 5 ducks will make a kiddie pool pretty nasty in a day. You could try a filtration system since you have so many birds it may help.

 

[sewsable]

Heck, 2 ducks make a kiddie pool pretty mucky in a day. I have to empty and rinse every morning and scrub every second day as it gets algae growth from all the nutrients they're dropping in there. I'd love a deeper proper pond, but we don't have the room unfortunately.

 

[headred]

I'm a fan of the kiddie pool.....easy to dump and you can cheaply have as many as you want. I've had a small pond before and that is pretty messy to just trying to keep it clean.

 

[todd walker]

yes I mean one pool per 50 birds.
do not think there is a filter big enough to keep any size pond clean,ducks are verry messy,at first you try to keep clean but you will give up.
Also use the little giant waters 1 per 100 birds,clean them twice a day,trick with waters is make a rock base around it mine are about 4'.ducks will drink and preen(sp) at any water they find then they will dig holes,if you have enough rocks wide enough around the water it will stop them.I'll try finding some pic's.
I've tried the bigger stock tanks and for me it just too much to water to waste,500 gallon tanked cleaned evey day is alot of water.Kiddy pool are cheap 9bucks last a year or so are easy to move to a new area after cleaning.Would not worry if you can't clean as much as I do there are times when mine don't get cleaned evey day and they do not seem to care,most times when I do clean the older ducks will go for the puddles on ground(from cleaning) then the fresh water in pool.
Now geese are diffrent or at least the one I had,he was in a dog kennel by himself as I was training him(clicker)for a friend he had a rubber 6 gallon water and a water bowl 1' high to keep him out of for fresh water he never drank the clean water and ever day would get clean water in his tub,he would not drink untill he pooped 2-3 times in it.
I'm a big in do the best you can,but if you have friends over and you feel bad about the way things look or smell you have to do better for your animals.
good luck

 

[kristen2678]

I'm thinking through pond/water issues as I consider ducks and geese this spring. If the pond were large enough, what about a filter intended for a pool?

 

[cwc362]

I used to raise ducks and geese and never had a pond- Old timers used to always tell me that as long as they could dip their whole head they would be fine. I have 4 muscovies now and 2 geese and I just refill one of those square 5 gallon buckets every day and they have done just fine. If you are going to have to empty it every day I think the kiddie pool would be the cheapest fastest thing. I used to have muscovies, pekins, geese and mallards and My muscovies and mallards raised babies every year and were always healthy.