Will a regular chlorine swimming pool hurt ducks

[Viking84]

i have a 2 acre fenced in back yard with a regular cement swimming pool. I have free range chickens and they do not come up onto the cement walk around the pool and have never tried to drink from it. But I am getting some ducks and know that they will find this pool to swim in. I know it would be messy, but I am worried what the pool chemicals would do to the ducks. Would they drink the chlorinated water and get sick? Any suggestions would be helpful. Thanks

 

[WannaBeHillBilly]

Do you get sick if you drink your pool water? - If yes, you are either very sensitive to those chemicals or you are using the wrong chemicals or the wrong dosage.
It is surely not healthy to drink pool water, neither for humans nor for ducks but it is not a poison.
On the other hand: Would you like to swim in duck poop?
I don't know how many ducks you will have, but i would not let them swim in my pool - if i had one. I bet that duck-poop water is far more unhealthy to humans than any pool chemicals! I would do my best to keep the ducks away from the pool so that you (also) don't have to worry about them drinking the pool water.

 

[cheezenkwackers]

It certainly wouldn’t be good for them and it would be beyond messy for you. They would spend all there time in it. I also have an in-ground pool, although mine is salt water. I used to only allow mine to free range when I was home and still it was a battle to keep them out of the pool. For a while I had them scared of beach balls and floated a few in the pool. They overcame their fear. I would run out and yell at them if I saw them heading near the pool. They learned to peek in the window to see if I was watching and then make a break for the pool. I ended up enlarging my garden and they are only allowed to free range there (but all day).
This is them in January, on top of the floating pool cover. They even posted a lookout.

 

[Viking84]

Do you get sick if you drink your pool water? - If yes, you are either very sensitive to those chemicals or you are using the wrong chemicals or the wrong dosage.
It is surely not healthy to drink pool water, neither for humans nor for ducks but it is not a poison.
On the other hand: Would you like to swim in duck poop?
I don't know how many ducks you will have, but i would not let them swim in my pool - if i had one. I bet that duck-poop water is far more unhealthy to humans than any pool chemicals! I would do my best to keep the ducks away from the pool so that you (also) don't have to worry about them drinking the pool water.

Thanks for the replies. I'm not worried about the mess or swimming in duck poop. We have a 60 acre lake bordering our property that we swim in too. I was just concerned if swimming in the pool would effect the ducks or their eggs

 

[cheezenkwackers]

The main chemical used in pools is calcium hypochlorite -basically bleach. It can also be used in small amounts to purify water. So, yes, small amounts aren’t harmful. You will be adding a lot of it to keep up with the organic load from the duck poop though. If you don’t, your pool will be green with well fertilized algae. You also will be spending a lot of time cleaning the filter. Ducks don’t just poop a little.

 

[Helloworld]

You should be worried because of salmonella poisoning. If you haven't got it wow.

 

[Viking84]

You should be worried because of salmonella poisoning. If you haven't got it wow.

Where would I get salmonella poisoning? The pool water is chlorinated and will kill any bacteria or virus. It will be much cleaner than the lake we swim and water ski in, as it has ducks geese fish turtles etc... Pooping in it

 

[SuperDuck]

Chuck and Buck love our in ground pool. They don't get free range of it but theyre in it at least once a day. They have a kiddie pool in their area that they turn their bill up to.

They're still alive and kicking

It does require more upkeep than normal but the tradeoff is worth it. My son is a pool and open water swimmer. He swims in lakes and oceans 7 days a week that has a lot worse than a handful of duck poop. He also swims with Chuck and Buck in our pool every chance he gets. The boys love chasing and diving to get their human.

 

[Miss Lydia]

Now we need a video!

 

[HenOnAJuneBug]

The chlorine might dry their skin. It does that to human skin, but I don't know about duck skin. When I used to swim a lot my hair turned green once from the chlorine.