Pond... for duck?

[Nepen]

It's going to be a few months yet until my little duckling (one egg just piped!) will be grown enough to go live outside. I want to build them a pond so I dont have to feel bad about not sharing my fish pond with them

Building a pond with pump/filter seems to be a better way to go than to get a kiddie pool and have to change water every day or every 2 days. which will get expensive for water bill.

I'm thinking easy build, just landscape timbers and liner. It'll be about 8x4 then half of that will be a filter bog. So the duck will get 4x4 pond by themselves. I'll only have about 4-6 ducks.

The problem I have is the duck/chicken place are far away from our house and has no water or electricity. That's why bringing water to the kiddie pool is very inconvenient and I dont have much time each day to complete this task.

I'll also have to get a solar panel for the pump. The pump doesnt have to be big since the water will be only about 130 gallons. Anybody has any to recommend?

I'll have a fence around my bog so the duck cant get to them. I'll probably have to put a drain so may be once every few weeks I can clean the pond.

I can even plant weed / pond grass for my ducks too and may be put water lettuce in there.

Is this doable? or just go with kiddie pool?

 

[sissy]

There are several video's on you tube for duck ponds that may help

 

[tbendl]

Oh my goodness Nepen, that's exciting. I have no idea but if you aren't going to have fish, do you need to filter it? I don't know anything about duck ponds but maybe it is good fertilizer for plants.

 

[Nepen]

I dont necessary need a pump or filter, I think. I just think that having it might make the pond cleaner longer?

Since I dont have the water source close to the duck pen, it'd be better to be able to leave the water for a long time, hopefully a month at a time.

sissy, the youtube doesnt really have the duck pond with bog filter, they just drain and refill or use water fall (dont know the filter type) or at least, i couldnt find one. But I do find something about solar panel...

 

[sissy]

I would worry about the smell after awhile .I googled how do you filter a small duck pond and there are lots of info on a lot of sights .On you tube I put in how do you build a duck pond and 20+ video's came up

 

[Meyer Jordan]

How will you keep the ducks from using both ponds?

 

[Nepen]

How will you keep the ducks from using both ponds?

My fish pond is near the house. The duck run and coop is fenced and about 500 ft away.

 

[Nepen]

http://www.ducksworld.com/?page_id=38

So this place has the duck pond with a bog and said it's been doing great. So I'm going to do that. I can also let the duck out to forage on the property so the poop is not concentrate in one area. I think planting lots of plant near the drain will help with the smell.

Right ow I just need I figure the electricity.... if I'd run it from the house (have to dig trench in clay is not fun) or just get solar.

 

[sissy]

if you afford a trencher they are not expensive to rent .I have rented one here a couple of times .

 

[Nepen]

if you afford a trencher they are not expensive to rent .I have rented one here a couple of times .

may be i'll look into that. I have lots of wisteria roots to go through and also clay... it'd be a very hard job for me using just the shovel.

 

[sissy]

I rented one 3 times and it was only 10 dollars a day but hint most rental places are not open on sunday so you can get a free day and the one I rented went through roots of a maple tree at the back wooded area .I could handle it myself and I am only 5 feet 2 inch's tall .It is just like my rototiller so easy

 

[sissy]

Also all it leaves is a small mess that is easy to tamp back down .I lied pipe the first time but second time I laid direct contact wire and used sand around the wire and red caution ribbon on top of the wires .

 

[Nepen]

wow sissy. Thanks! that sounds like a great tool. Where did you rent it from and do you remember the brand/type?

 

[sissy]

I rented it from a local company here .I don't think I really looked at the brand .The guy at the rental place asked all the right questions and suggested which one would be best for the job and would be easy for me to handle and he was right .They had like 8 different kinds for rent in different sizes .The one I rented was easy to put in my truck and easy to get out .He even gave me ramps to help me for no charge

 

[Nepen]

Slow progress... since I have only some weekends and it rained a lot too...

Dug the trench.. used dingo attachment, quite fun

It took a while for me to connect the electric city and water to the coop, finally it's done a few days ago, in time for the temp to go back down to 44 at night! But my baby chickens are all fully feathered (at 5 weeks) but I'll still have the heat lamp for them. The ducks are fine it seems... their fluffy fir is very thick. They have little real feather right now but can deal with cold a lot better than chicken.

Notice 2 chicken outside the fence, they are small so they just pass through the fence. The ducks and these chickens are sisters, wont be apart from each other.

And the duck pond... still working on it...

The ducks are happy this morning, heavy rain last night.