TheChookKeeper Posted May 27, 2009 Share Posted May 27, 2009 Hello all! As promised in a previous post, here are a couple of pictures of my new pond... it is an upgrade on the terracotta bowl my 2 ducks were using... at about 25L it was a little on the small side.... this one weighs in at a more reasonable 275L. Having dug a bloomin' great hole for it, luckily missing any gigantic Laurel roots, I checked it was level, and filled it up... just to make sure nothing scary would happen when it was full! As you can see from the photos... my garden is on rather a slope, which made the whole thing even more "interesting" to do!!! The bit of garden you can see if the most level bit!!! Gerald thought he'd had a quick paddle while my back was turned... This is the deepest water my ducks have ever experienced... they were VERY cautious to start with - it's the first time the water has been deep enough that they can't reach the bottom! After a few attempts, Gerald had treading water off to a fine art... but could only master swimming backwards... which was quite entertaining! In order to catch drips, sploshes, and general tsunami-style waves created by my two whoppers... I added about a foot wide patch of gravel around it, and some bricks to hold it all in. The gravel is about 3cm deep I would say. If anyone is interested... the gravel cost me a whole £5 from B&Q, the bricks were a few pence each from B&Q too. The pond itself cost £70 from "Containerama" (http://www.containerama.co.uk) I've bought a pump to empty it out too... but have yet to try this... I'll post more when I've tried it! Hope you like! The ducks seem to! They've bearly left the side of it for more than 5 minutes since Saturday!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bessandra Posted May 27, 2009 Share Posted May 27, 2009 wow it looks amazing! So, how will you empty it out for now? I have a child's paddling pool/sand pit for mine and emptying it out is a bit of a nightmare... I love your ducks - they are beauties Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
julia55 Posted May 27, 2009 Share Posted May 27, 2009 Looks great - thinking aload Bessandra, I reckon a hand held pump which I use to empty my bio orb would be a good thing to empty your pool. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lesley Posted May 27, 2009 Share Posted May 27, 2009 .......but, would it cope with all that poop? I know Chickenkeeper is going to use a pump suitable for filtering 'solids' - I'm waiting to see how it copes. Those ducks look so happy - great pond! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheChookKeeper Posted May 27, 2009 Author Share Posted May 27, 2009 Thanks for your comments! The pump is here... I'm just waiting for some pipe at present... it could do with being emptied soon I think!!! I'd have thought the problem with a siphon pump as mentioned by julia55, is that the pond will be on the floor, so I wouldn't have thought you'd be able to start a sipon... and pumping by hand all that water might take quite a while if gravity isn't on your side!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ems123 Posted July 5, 2009 Share Posted July 5, 2009 Hi, I need to get a pond before I can get my ducks but I thought you needed a proper one dug into the ground. If I could get one like yours it would mean that I would be able to get my duck a lot quicker. Is it okay to just have a pod ike that? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheChookKeeper Posted July 7, 2009 Author Share Posted July 7, 2009 Well, like I say, mine absolutely love it - and as you say, best of all, if and when we move house, this pond can be relatively easily taken out, and the small hole filled back in, leaving that part of the garden perfectly useable again. I whole-heartidly recommend them! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
