Duck pond is driving us crazy - ready to give up my precious ducks :( Advice?

[Sarynu]

Well, we were planning on getting more ducks - but then I got four chickens. I fell INLOVE with the silly chickens. So now I just want to keep my four ducks happy.

We used our duck budget on the filtration system, that is doing an adequate and short-lived job.. so we may be hulling out water buckets during the winter. Wish they lived closer to our house !!!

 

[Weeg]

Not sure what your climate is like.... Mine don’t get a full pool every day for winter. Warm, sunny days I fill up a bigger feed tub (30 gallons or so) so they can have a bath, but since we get lots of cold, nasty days it’s not worth lugging all that water out for it to freeze. Some days I can’t even keep my cows’ stock tank (inside an insulated box) from freezing WITH the 1500W heater in it. Lol. They won’t die if they don’t have a nice pond to play in all winter.

As long as they have a 1ft deep water area to duck there WHOLE heads in, they will be fine. They are less likely to get bumble foot, if they have somewhere, like a pool, for them to get the weight off there feet. Plus it makes them more comfortable if they don't have to stand all day, since they are more built for water, not running on land.

 

[Sarynu]

oh just switch to a kiddie pool! much easier to clean and mine love it! we used to have a huge pond (like half an acre of just pond) before we moved and the ducks seem to prefer their pools over that

We had one for the first few months of duck-hood, then I decided to "upgrade." I'm not sure It was the best idea. I should have just gotten a bigger kiddie pool like yours! :O(

 

[Sarynu]

Get duck weed plants for the pond and that should help it a bit. You can also get this, it is for drinking water, I feel like it would be fine to use in the pool, you might need 2 bottles for 1 usage though. Its an edible water protector, I don't see why it wouldn't work. Hope this helps!
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I'll search for it!! Thank you

 

[Weeg]

I'll search for it!! Thank you

Hope it helps!

 

[Trisseh]

As long as they have a 1ft deep water area to duck there WHOLE heads in, they will be fine. They are less likely to get bumble foot, if they have somewhere, like a pool, for them to get the weight off there feet. Plus it makes them more comfortable if they don't have to stand all day, since they are more built for water, not running on land.

Yeah, no worries, my guys are set for actual water requirements, and are bedded down appropriately, not my first rodeo with these guys; but a lot of people think they need an actual body of water to swim in year round, and they don’t. I’m sure they’d love to have it, but it’s not always feasible. There’s a reason wild ducks migrate out of here for the winter.

 

[Weeg]

Yeah, no worries, my guys are set for actual water requirements, and are bedded down appropriately, not my first rodeo with these guys; but a lot of people think they need an actual body of water to swim in year round, and they don’t. I’m sure they’d love to have it, but it’s not always feasible. There’s a reason wild ducks migrate out of here for the winter.

Ya, this makes perfect sense! I have a pretty hard run, so they are lucky we have a small pond, that we have a stream running out of it constantly, and a spring feeds the pond constantly too, ours is always draining, and alway filling, so we don't have this issue. Just had to make sure the OP knew that they need head dunking water! You gave good advice too!

 

[Duck mommy 2019]

oh and since it’s almost winter, just take away the pond and provide water buckets big enough to dunk their entire head. swimming water on warm days only to prevent them getting too cold

 

[Phneyda]

I don’t have ducks so I’m curious OP, is the issue algae and decaying material or duck poop? We have a turtle and after trial & error (and lots of wasted money) we created a pond environment via pool with minimal gunk cleaning.

 

[BunnyEberhart]

My husband made a heater for our pond. It is a heating unit from an RV water heater. Our pump sends water threw a pvc tube over the element and then on to the "upper level pond" it keeps the water from freezing. The whole pond stays ice free. And even the duck mess is not an issue for the heater. If anyone is interested i can ask him to make a short how to video on making it.