4m x 3m Omlet pen, cube, new auto door still boxed and coop light

[grunger]

Hi, bit of a newbie here, so a quick question.

Have built a WIR with a big plastic seed tray as a clean water splash pool for perhap 2-3 ducks which has been sunk into a cut out pallet for easy cleaning and tipping.

 

However outside the WIR is another fenced off area (not foxproof) but a potential area to let the ducks out in the day if we are around, and we are thinking of creating a larger swimming pond for the ducks (possibly concrete or possibly a rigid plastic pond).

 

However the water wouldn't be emptied to be cleaned, and pumping out and refilling it would take too long to do regularly....So does anyone here use or know of any pumps and filtration systems to keep the water moving (perhaps encorporating a fountain or waterfall) to circulate and clean the water without completely removing and refilling

 

Will try and post some photos to elaborate when i can of the run and hole for a potential pond!?

 

Cheers

Andy

[TheChookKeeper]

Not quite what you're looking for - but I use one of these:

http://www.screwfix.com/prods/65041/Power-Tools/Water-Pumps-and-Hoses/Automatic-Dirty-Water-Pump-400W-240V?cm_re=SEARCHPROMO-_-DIRTY%20PUMP-_-65041

 

It allows me to empty my 275L pond in about 2 minutes. I then scoop out the last bit of water with a dustpan, and stick the hose in to refill.

 

It is unlikely, I'd have thought, that you'll find any filtration system that is capable of filtering your sort of size pond - ducks do create a MASSIVE amount of waste in their water, and tend to attract mud at quite a rate too!

 

Any filtration system you put on it, I'm relatively sure would be blocked up and inoperable within a week or so.

 

 

Sorry I can't be of more help! I had all the same questions when I stuck my mini-pond in!

[Lesley]

That pump looks good Steve - as you say......ducks make a vast amount of poopy waste

[TheChookKeeper]

I have my pond under a huge Laurel bush/tree - you'd have thought that would cut down the crud falling from the skies... but no... instead, my little darlings launch themselves out the water, grab a laurel leaf, and let it sink and rot in their pond!

 

I wouldn't mind... but every time they get a leaf, they're reminded that they don't actually like them

 

I was fortunate enough to get that pump I mentioned above for £19... they had some sale in-store... it might be worth looking around, see if you can find it cheaper than their current price... I know B&Q do these type of pumps too...

[ajayb]

Am relieved that no-one is recommending that any filter system will work as we were beginning to think we'd need to spend a lot of money. Our very brief experience of duck-owning has already taught us that ducks take nanoseconds to make everything filthy (ours even go into the eglu cube run and dirty up the chooks' glug for the sheer hell of it!)

 

We made a really big pond using a liner and have decided that we just have to empty it out every so often and refill. We got an electric pump that does the business really quickly from - of all places - Lidl, for about £20. It takes hours to refill but the ducks are back in as soon as there are a few inches of water and just 'go with the flow' (quite literally) until it's full. They are great to watch in the water: it's their first port of call in the morning and they even sleep in it during the day sometimes.

 

(I should say we also made the novice owners' mistake of buying a lot of plants to clean/ aerate the pond and the ducks soon dealt with them!)

[beckyfitz]

We have just acquire a rigid pond from a friend for our ducks, it will need sinking in as its too deep for them to get in & too heavy to empty & refill. The pumps sound really useful, can I ask roughly how often the water needs changing?

becky x

[miller30]

I have the same dirty water pump as chookeeper it takes about 30 mins to pump my pond out and i do it once a week but they also have clean drinking water everyday.

[TheChookKeeper]

I too empty mine once a week - it does look pretty grotty by the end of the week... but I don't have the time during the week to do it - especially during the winter (dark evenings etc. etc.).

 

They seem fine with it - given the choice between nice clean, fresh drinking water, the skanky water in the pond, or a muddy bog hole in the ground... well, lets just say that cleanliness isn't the top of their priority list!!!

 

I have to admit to not always having nice clean fresh water out for them... anything I put out looks pretty grim after about an hour, but I do try and replace it daily (ish)

 

 

How often the pond needs emptying will depend on how many ducks you have on it, how big they are, and how big the pond is... mine is a 275L pond, with 2 silver appleyards, and 2 indian runners using it... in an ideal world, the water would be replaced every 5 days or so... but every week is sufficient.

[aberdulais]

Hi, bit of a newbie here, so a quick question.

Have built a WIR with a big plastic seed tray as a clean water splash pool for perhap 2-3 ducks which has been sunk into a cut out pallet for easy cleaning and tipping.

 

However outside the WIR is another fenced off area (not foxproof) but a potential area to let the ducks out in the day if we are around, and we are thinking of creating a larger swimming pond for the ducks (possibly concrete or possibly a rigid plastic pond).

 

However the water wouldn't be emptied to be cleaned, and pumping out and refilling it would take too long to do regularly....So does anyone here use or know of any pumps and filtration systems to keep the water moving (perhaps encorporating a fountain or waterfall) to circulate and clean the water without completely removing and refilling

 

Will try and post some photos to elaborate when i can of the run and hole for a potential pond!?

 

Cheers

Andy

 

I was offered two ducks before I had anything really ready for them. So I had a pile of breeze blocks and arranged these in a large tearshape circle. Then I covered these with old roofing felt to round off the sharp bits. Then I put over this a double thickness of blue waterproof tarpaulin from Argos that cost me just £20.....it's now lasted several months longer than I thought it would, it's really big enough for the six ducks that I now have and they can all swim and dive and float etc. To clean it, I simply pull up the corners on one end, pull out a breeze block and empty it which drains into the vegetable patch area......probably not the most scientific or technical, but boy does it work and its easy to clean, change water each week or 2 weeks and costs much much less than I was dreading.....the ducks are happy as they look brilliant and keep laying eggs so no complaints so far. I guess I will get round to doing it all properly but will wait until Spring now......