How to build a No Mess Duck Pond

[@carla-leekamp4261]

Really great cleaning technique. I am building a much smaller pond and am struggling with the right system to put in to keep the water clean. Please show us more about keeping the pond clean and what options we have.

[@ghostridergale]

I’m just got some baby ducks and geese too, I’ve had chickens now for 4 years and done well with them. So now I got to build the ducks a pond. I think the best solution to cleaning a duck pond is to have a drain built into the pond itself where it can be drained easily . Either that or you have to use a sub pump would work also. I’m considering making a irrigation system that will drain and fill the pond automatically on a timer. Not necessarily drain it completely empty, just change some of the water and hopefully take out some of the muck at the same time as it drains some. I almost like to be able to have it like a stream where the water can run through freely whenever I want it to by letting the water level get higher to run out one end of the pond thru a drain pipe or make a seasonal stream sort of that let the extra water go to a different location away from the pond. My property where I want to put my pond already on a slope so it should be easy to make a drain and a seasonal stream or spillway you could call it. That would drain off high water. Still put the drain in to drain all the water if or when needed? I also have an old antique cast iron bathtub that I might turn into another smaller pond and the drain could easily be used too

[@vanissaberg5824]

If you can run power for a pump you could come up with a pond filtering system. Keep in mind unlike a fish pond, ducks are going to be a lot messier so any method you use will have to be scaled up to handle all their waste and feathers. A bottom drain is probably the best option and run that down to a drainage system with a valve to empty and clean the pond then just refill it.

[@elizabethmichels8250]

If you use a sand filter or sponge filter that is controlled by an air pump instead of a water pump, you can create really efficient aerobic microbiome that will break the icky thinks down and create almost perpetual filtration without issues Cleaning once in a while just to reduce blocking is all you need And always treat the water when filling with chlorinated water so it doesn’t kill the microbiology

[@AmyRochester-tv4ze]

We built a small cement pond, just larger and deeper than a large kiddie pool, in our immediate barn yard. We put a pvc pipe laid on the bottom and cemented around it. Ran the pipe to a small clay pond I dug in an adjoining yard. The cement wasn’t a good seal for the pipe. The pond tended to drain itself every few days, which was a good cleaning schedule, so it worked out. I’d just hose it down, let it drain, then fill it up again. So, maybe 6 years later, there is dirt erosion around it. The cement edges grow taller, then crack and break off from the pond. ( I let it, because we no longer use it after a mink found the ducks in the barn and took 2 drakes and a duck before I caught on and got them moved to a hardware clothe enclosure. Then my Great Pyrenees dogs were given access and chased him off

[@PazLeBon]

im thinking i will use sump pump and water the plot with that waterr during the summer. a full drain means i can jet wash off the plastic etc

[@robertingram5600]

I would add that installing a solar/DC or AC aerator would keep the water much cleaner.

[@PazLeBon]

small enough pond to have a solar fountain with UV bulb

[@roblena7977]

Really happy I watched this going to save so many headaches

[@chaoticdriver]

Wow, what a simple and wonderful plan for handling the messy water

[@geoffanddebshipton6797]

Great job Carl! Such a clever way of minimising the mess. 👍

[@SelfSufficientHub]

Thanks guys 😊👍

[@OtterwoodCottage]

This is very cool! Love the engineering that’s gone into it - fascinating to watch and a beautiful end result. Mentally filed for that mythical future day when we have our own smallholding big enough for a pond and ducks! … 😃

[@SelfSufficientHub]

It’s definitely how I will do it for myself in the future when we get the space too!

[@PilotsPitstop]

the drainage system is super smart!

[@A_Pa-Plainjane]

I admire your ingenuity and all the forethought you put into this, not to mention all the physical effort..can you explain your concrete mix, please.

[@christinalibarios7756]

Thank you so much for sharing this! I will be redoing our duck pond soon (its a disaster of a mudd zone). I will be implementing this 100%.

[@Gods_creation.His_harvest]

How do you clean it? How often do you pump it and refresh?

[@elegantsufficiency2866]

Nice one! Just need to think of somewhere to put a pond.

[@SelfSufficientHub]

Haha yep 😊👍

[@AquascapingAndStuff]

Great content❤ will make a mini version in my garden bit drainage plugg in the bottom

[@danawaldrop4930]

Do you have a video on how to clean that green water?

[@bavismoser7817]

Great job!!!

[@heathermurray6134]

Thanks for the idea that’s a great idea the drainage pipe. I made a wildlife pond out of concrete like you have done and it went green like yours did, it was the lime leaching out the concrete I drained it and sealed it to stop that, then it was lovely crystal clear. Will the tanking that you put on top seal the lime in from the concrete ? Cheers cool idea though thanks for sharing

[@vladtepes97]

ducks leave their droppings in the pond. how is your brother keeping the water clean?

[@SWW2024]

Great video! Thank you! 😊

[@Starganderfish]

Could you just skip the surrounding drainage pipe buried under the edge and connected to the larger drain? If the idea is for the mud and water from the ducks to drain away when they waddle out of the pond instead of muddying the grass, have it drain back into the pond. Very gently slope the edges of the pond into the shallows, creatig a fairly wide very shallow shelf, then put a 40-50cm rim of gravel around the rim of the pond, leading into the water. The mud and water will be drained off the ducks feet in the same way but instead of going into the drain pipe and out, it drains back into the pond? I've always found that Ag line (the perforated pipe) is a short-term gimmick that fills with silt and dirt, blocks and becomes useless. After a few year that surrounding drain pipe is just going to fill with dirt and silt and stop flowing. Drain it all back not the pond and take care if it there. Add a decent-sized bog filter to help clean the water, a bunch of reeds, water plants, duckweed etc, circulate the water through the filters and clean it rather than letting it ferment and have to drain and clean the pond periodically.

[@alextodd6828]

Hey Master Pond Builder! You are fantastic - we'll have to look into getting one of those drainage systems at the homestead, for sure! Best, Alex - NetZero Homestead

[@SelfSufficientHub]

Cheers Alex 😊👍

[@gloriamartinez1676]

Great job!🎉🎉🎉

[@KleverskoyeFarm]

Love this, I am also thinking of doing this but with a regeneration area - david pagan butler has some great videos on it.

[@CherylGUIDA]

Do you run a pump to keep water moving ??

[@PazLeBon]

id want alternative to concrete as much as the plastic tbh

[@josephlundy3534]

Is it feasible to add an aquaponic system to handle the filtration rather than drain and clean ?

[@SelfSufficientHub]

Yes 100%, it’s all about balance. You need to balance all the inputs and outputs. How do you do that with ducks? No idea! But if you researched it and balanced your system so that the needs of the plants were in synch with the output from the ducks then it would work. Love to know if you try this! 👍

[@Thewellshomestead]

Curious why you didn't just lay the concrete layer directly on the soil?

[@ErossaanBooming]

doesn't the sitting water attract mosquitos? or the ducks jumping in and out will prevent that (maybe they will even eat the musquitos if they lay eggs or arrive)

[@mariahwoods9378]

Great job

[@shannonward4393]

great idea mate, it's too good for you to have come up with though, am I right?

[@SelfSufficientHub]

Wrong actually 🤣

[@microsnook3]

i still cannot understand the most important part of this video, the filter and how the water exits, etc. seems cool though. Why not plant water plants and add fish? Then won't the water be filtered?

[@serotonin11]

The ducks would eat the poor fish...and at the very least sample the plants.

[@PazLeBon]

@@serotonin11 you need lots of fish for both to thrive

[@conradalexander172]

Great video mate, subscribed. In your opinion is it possible to build a pond like this but add filtration and plants? Im a builder by trade, but total noob on ponds. Just bought a farmhouse with land and looking to add a pond with ducks. Cheers

[@RipVanWinkle_Nature_Discovery]

What about adding a drain in the bottom that drains by gravity. Then putting a valve somewhere on the drainpipe that can be opened to drain the pond. If the pond was drained a small percentage per day and refilled, it would keep the pond water clean? I'm actually looking to build my own duck pond and seeing what works.

[@SelfSufficientHub]

Two things about that idea that would need to be considered. Firstly just the depth, in our case the bottom of the pond is actually lower than the drainage so we couldn’t do anything like that. Secondly the sump/bottom will collect duck pop and clog pretty quick if not manually cleared, maybe not a dealbreaker but definitely something that would need to be considered. Good luck 😊👍

[@RipVanWinkle_Nature_Discovery]

@@SelfSufficientHub Thanks :)

[@kristinescott4037]

Ducks are dedicated dirt movers, which means yes, a gravity drain would work but you'd need a really generously sized outlet AND to spray the sides down before refilling if you want clean water. (Clean water for my ducks lasts about 30 minutes.) I've planned to gravity drain their pond muck directly into a garden bed as it is quite nitrogen rich

[@RipVanWinkle_Nature_Discovery]

@@kristinescott4037 Yes the drain size would have to be large enough not to clog given the amount of silt in the pond. The bottom of the pond needs to be slanted towards the drain also, so that the silt at the bottom could be drawn into the drain. The idea of using the silt from the drain for fertilizer is also a great idea. One thing that could be done to keep the pond clean would be to have an above ground reservoir and have it periodically flush a small percentage of the water in the pond, if you see what I mean.

[@freddymercury2259]

Where does the Duck Poo go??

[@ArmageddonAfterparty]

No, I have no better system, but I do have a question, when you see "Bubble Pumps are too dull for magpies" , would you say there is a way to use David's system in a high waste producing environment like a duck pond?

[@davidmeadows8135]

Great information. Does the pond need any circulation and do you need to water change at all?

[@SelfSufficientHub]

It doesn’t need any filtration because there are no fish or plants in it it’s just for ducks. The water is changed periodically and the duck poo cleaned out which accumulates on the bottom - this makes fantastic compost/fertiliser 😊

[@davidmeadows8135]

Brilliant, thank you.

[@thehighlandlife2023]

@@SelfSufficientHub when you say periodically how often roughly is that? I ask because this video couldn’t have come at a better time! We are looking into putting in a duck pond and looking into best ways to do it for less mess. This is by fair the best Iv seen! Just wanted to know practically how often we would have to change the water xx

[@SelfSufficientHub]

@@thehighlandlife2023 it’s going to come down to three things - 1 size of pond 2 number of ducks 3 tolerance for dirty looking water If you have a low tolerance for dirty looking water then whatever you do this will drive how often you have to change it. If you are happy with green looking water though, and have a clean drinking water feeder available then that changes things significantly. The older pond that has been in for about 18th this has been cleaned out about once every 6 months. There is quite allot of duck manure in it by this point though so be aware of that!

[@thehighlandlife2023]

@@SelfSufficientHub thank you for such a detailed reply this has really helped! A lot to mull over….. thanks again!

[@janeneh.3093]

Do you have it designed so that you can drain it also? I only have two ducks but would like the option to be able to drain it a few times a year.

[@Gunshow0]

im still confused - how long can you leave the water in their before you need to change it?

[@st4rskream]

Those ducks are going to be shitting green for sure. You need some sort of filter to get rid of a lot of that algae or the ducks will get sick.

[@anthonybessinger2652]

Could you share a sketch

[@MeganHurst]

How often do you have to drain it and clean it?

[@SelfSufficientHub]

it's going to come down to three things 1 size of pond 2 number of ducks 3 tolerance for dirty looking water If you have a low tolerance for dirty looking water then whatever you do this will drive how often you have to change it. If you are happy with green looking water though, and have a clean drinking water feeder available then that changes things significantly. The older pond that has been in for about 18 months, this has been cleaned out about once every 6 months. There is quite allot of duck manure in it by this point though so be aware of that!

[@MohammedIsmail-ki2nn]

Hi my Name is ismail and I have 3 ducks and 2 turkeys and 2 gunie fowls and I am from India Bangalore how to difference between male and female.

[@vladtepes97]

maybe, next time, turn the camera so we can properly see the project; it's not really necessary to see you as well. i mean, i'm sure you're a lovely man, and your family and friends love you, but i'd really rather see the project you're talking about.

[@TheFrogfeeder]

You concreted it and then sealed the concrete… why even use the plastic underneath, seems like an unnecessary step and big expense for something that plays no role on the finished product The part where you talked about how muddy and gross the duck areas get, that’s exactly what I want… All that duck poop and mud and stomping around with their big flat feet seal the pond… I dug it out, now the ducks are gonna seal it for us. It may take a couple years, but I’ve seen it work.

[@Jeffsdata_0]

He says it in the video - the plastic is for waterproofing. Concrete is porous, so you'll slowly lose water if you don't waterproof underneath.

[@TheFrogfeeder]

@@Jeffsdata_0 concrete holds water just fine, sealed concrete holds water even better, what are you talking about…lmao

[@lvanzant3074]

You don't have to apologize for using plastic 😂😂😂 even the greenest person you know uses plastic.... we know your green buddy

[@PazLeBon]

there are eco friendly options available nowadays