stock tanks for swimming.

[sydney13]

right now my goose and duck have a small 3 ft kiddie pool which is only 6 inches deep. i am looking in to either getting a 150 or 300 gallon stock tank for them to swim in instead. this way they could use it during winter, i wouldn't have to dump it and although its 10 times more expensive it would last longer. i am planning to have it on a hill so the drain is exposed but in the other side it is ground level. then i will make a little rock wall around each of the sides but leave on side open. their will be either steps or a ramp so they can get in and out. do you think this eliminates the possibility of drowning? and how often would i have to refill it? does any one else use a stock tank for their geese or ducks?

 

[zippy3]

I have a small stock tank for my 2 Chinese geese and 8 ducks. It holds 40 gallons and is oval and fairly deep (about 18" I guess). It is much sturdier and more flexible than a kiddie pool that I used to have for my kid to play in when little, which eventually cracked from dumping it out because the tiny drain took forever to empty the pool. Ten waterfowl dirty up any water very quickly, so I like the stock tank because I can dump it over, rinse it out and refill it---usually once a day---and I am only dumping out 40 gallons of water and the process doesn't take very long.
My little stock tank is deep enough for the geese to do their mating swim with style, even if it is in a fairly small circle. I have a ramp set up that rises up to a wooden platform set on cinder blocks, and I have played around with the length of the ramp so it isn't too steep. The stock tank lip is just at the height of the platform. When the birds were younger, I put a half cinder block in the tank so they would have something to step on to get out, but now that everyone is older, they can get out without help. Only one duck has never figured out the ramp. I have several other low swimming pans available so if the gander is hogging the stock tank, everyone else can also bathe. One is a mortar mixing pan and the other is one of those really large rubber feed pans.

If you do decide on a 300 gallon stock tank, you might consider a float valve...and a serious drainage area.

 

[Itu]

I have a 500 gallon stock tank that wasn't being used for anything, so I thought that it would be perfect for my geese. I filled it up and built a ramp so they could get in. They had a ball playing in the water. They could dive down and swim under the water and splash and play all day. I had problems convincing them to get out of the tank though. I did not have to drain it as often, but it was a huge chore to drain it as the drain would get plugged with the huge mess that they made in the water. Since their diet consisted of a lot of grass and green leafy plants, the tank would quickly turn green from their poop. We all know how much poop a goose can produce. Within 3 days there was algae everywhere. I tried different filtration systems to try to remedy the problem, but was unable to find any that could keep up with them. So I eventually drained the tank and went back to using kiddie pools....much easier to drain and clean.

 

[justanotheramy]

After about 4 years with only a kiddie pool probably much like you've described, I built my goose Ida a pond. Well, some handy mates of mine built her a pond: dug a big hole and lined it with food-grade pond liner, and hooked it up to a swirl filter and grow-bed for filtration.

It's about 12000L (about 3000 gallons), so probably a lot bigger than what you're after, but pond liner is pretty cheap, and can be used to make a pond of whatever size and shape you want -- and with whatever ramps you need to make getting out again easier.
I never have to drain or clean it, as it has water plants and the aquaponics filtration system which between them deal with any ammonia-waste and particulate matter.
In addition to providing R&R for the goose and any visiting ducks who fly by, it is also is home to 4 species of fish, fresh water muscles, turtles, and frogs. I get occasional algae blooms, but they're naturally occurring rather than out of control, so they're only an aesthetic problem not a practical or hygienic one.

Ida wouldn't get in it for the first 6 months, but once some wild ducks discovered it and they convinced her it wasn't full of pond-monsters, she loved it. It's worth every cent to see her gliding around with her feet trailing behind her, or chasing the fish, or duck-diving in search of who-knows-what.

Maybe not the most conventional solution to the problem, but it works really well and is very low-maintenance.

 

[The goose girl]

justanotheramy, what do you do in the wintertime? I just (yesterday) put in a 750 gallon glasfibre pond for my goose, Keld, and I'm planning to hook it up to a pond filter. But I don't know what do do when temperatures get freezing. I'm thinking about heating it. What do you do? Or do you live in a place where winters don't get that cold?

BTW, Keld loves his new pond. He went right up to it, looked down and then started yelling at me as to say "Where's the water? Come on, hurry up!" It took a couple of hours to fill it, and then it took Keld two minutes to jump in.

This video is taken right after the tub was put in the hole:

 

[sydney13]

i decided to go with the 150 gallon stock tank

my goose and duck love it and they swim all the time. yesterday after 2 weeks of having it i drained it, cleaned it and refilled it for the first time so im surprised about how clean it can stay compared to the kiddie pools

 

[justanotheramy]

Quote:
It doesn't get that cold where I am -- the speed with which the water evaporates in summer is more of an issue in this neck of the woods.

 

[The goose girl]

Quote:
It doesn't get that cold where I am -- the speed with which the water evaporates in summer is more of an issue in this neck of the woods.

Uh, lucky you. I'm jealous! I fantasize about getting a crew together, digging up the whole country and moving it a lot closer to the Equator.

Well, at least I don't have much evaporation issues. And Keld loves this climate - he seemed dangerously close to evaporating during our three weeks of hot weather this summer.

 

[glenntwo]

Quote:
We have been wanting to get a nice stock pond for ours, but the stumbling block is how to keep from emptying it and re-filling it with several hundred gallons of water once a week or so. I have looked at some pool vacuum systems and they would seem to do the trick, but the price is prohibitive. Has anyone come up with an alternative idea?

 

[justanotheramy]

Quote:
A swirl filter would keep the water moving and remove any particulate matter -- they're pretty cheap to knock together and a small pump doesn't cost much to run.