Reed beds and duck ponds

[mutleybones]

Hi,

we're thinking of digging a duck pond for about 30 Aylesbury / Pekin ducks. Does anyone have experience in this field? I'm interested in the minimum recommended size for that many ducks, I was thinking of ~20m2. There'll be no running water through the pond just run-off from a couple of barn roofs, in an attempt to keep the water clear I was thinking of reed bed margin (or separate pond). Again, does anyone have any suggestions on this front in terms of size and whether it would work at all. The ducks will only be there for 6 months of the year (through summer).

Cheers,

Steve.

[welshboy]

Hmm,
I have two ponds about 250 sq m each. One has a good flow from a stream and the other has a land drain running into it -water flow is about the size of my little finger.
Both were stocked with carp last year.
Wild duck flight in the evening from Sept to March to both ponds about 40 to each - yes I am a sadoo I sit watch and count them arriving.They leave in the morning.
The pond with the stream running into it gets a bit brown from their activities but it clears by evening and the carp have grown nicely . I was looking at them last night- it was a warm evening and my dog went for a swim disturbing them from the margins to the deeper water.
The other pond with very little flow gets very muddy from the ducks and I think the carp have all died.
Based on this I think 30 in 20 sqm (unless you compensate by having a good depth)with no regular flow might be too many.
A friend of mine is a gamekeeper and on their shoot they had a rearing pond about 400 sq m and about 400 mallard.
Very little flow - the water was dirty and smelling.
Just my observations fwiw.

[dhaslam]

You might need to filter the water as well.   I am setting up two ponds, one of which will hopefully attract wild birds.  I am making a filter using an ordinary water tank and three layers of  foam.  Both ponds will pump to the same filter.   There will be water  cress in the stream from the filter back to the ponds.    Based on the experience with a smaller pond  it takes a week or two to clear the water and then it  needs less circulation and less frequent cleaning of filters to  keep the water clean.   The roof water from about  300 sq metres is only barely enough to keep the present  4 metre circular pond  reasonably clean. 

[welshboy]

Hi,

we're thinking of digging a duck pond for about 30 Aylesbury / Pekin ducks.  The ducks will only be there for 6 months of the year (through summer).



Steve.

If as I suspect these are destined for the table and reduce your carbon footprint maybe you could consider Muscovey.
They graze a lot and spend less time on the water. They also taste great. Had a trio once that hatched and raised 19 + 21 making 40. When they were small they would eat the lawn clippings from an atco and later provided many a Sunday lunch. Happy memories.

[biff]

i used to keep ducks,
             i had about 20sometimes more sometimes less, the pond was quite small but there wqs a good flow through it. the gravel in the stream is quite important and they use it to break down the food in their gut,
  they are a clean kind of bird and unlike hens they dont carry as many bugs.we used to swop the eggs for milk.they were freerange and spent the day in the company of two large gsd,s who tolerated their pecking and tail pulling with good humour.
  i quite liked them and was sad to sell them off when we moved house,the new house had no stream or pond and the dogs were old and prefered to sleep rather than play nursmaid to ducklings. mam ducks are not the smartest mams and would as soon ramble home with 2 little ducklings as they would with 20 so the dogs used to go looking for the rest and carry them home in their mouths.then the mam would give out stink to the dogs who would bolt off looking for the rest. my kids really missed them.there is an innocence and honesty about ducks,especially the drake.
                                                  biff

[mutleybones]

Hi,

thanks for all the response, all useful stuff. Here's a few more details.

Although we currently keep ducks and would love for them to have access to a pond, the main driver here is rainwater harvesting. We have a 40,000 litre underground cistern which was full in January and gradually emptied by May, the reason being 22 weeks with no rain (mid-France). We currently use this water for irrigation of a veg plot & polytunnel and for watering the animals but would also like to fill the toilets. Currently, we have 400m2 of roof connected to the cistern, either directly or into IBCs with hoses running to the cistern and this works well, when it rains. In the next few weeks I'll be digging a 6" drain to replace the tangle of hoses and we're taking the opportunity to prepare for a further 500m2 of roof to be connected to the cistern. This will give us a fast fill-up and make the most of any rain showers. It also means that, annually, we'll have way too much water captured and will be overflowing 60% of the water, around 380,000 litres. I'd like to make use of this water and have a pond for wildlife and ducklife, sadly though, the time of year when have the overflow doesn't coincide with the duck production, although this could be delayed to suit. Consequently, I'm looking for a method of filtering the pond water in the summer, we should have enough rainwater to keep it topped up, but not enough to refresh the pond.

The pekins currently have access to a cattle trough for swimming in, this water lasts a day before needing to be changed. For the most part of the day, they're either grazing or sleeping in the shade. A lot of our neighbours have muscovies, meat-wise I'd say there's nothing between them, I just prefer white puddle-ducks.

Steve.

[dhaslam]

My brother keeps a lot of different types of ducks and they share a small circular concrete tank, only about three metres diameter and .5 metres deep.   It isn't filtered and doesn't  look very well but the ducks seem happy enough.   

   

To keep a natural looking pond  clean it needs to be   deep so that sunlight doesn't penetrate to the bottom  and either have plenty of vegetation or have the water filtered or both. 

[clockmanFR]

Unfortunately, i have yet to see a pond or small lake stay good when it has ducks constantly on it.

And from my experience they eat/nibble damage and pull up the waterlilies, oxengenator plants and Norfolk reeds. The frogs leave home, the newts leave home, the fish (carp) die and even the water snails fade away. And even after just one year the water Eco environment is damaged and the grass banks become mud slides.

So Unless you have a really big lake (150m x 150m x 4m deep), and a constant good supply of water or you can widen a stream, or cope with the smelly mess. Don't keep ducks, look at other peoples.   

[EccentricAnomaly]

Suggested Google fodder: "natural swimming pool". They use separate shallow areas of plants to clean the water. The trick is to aerate the water to avoid anaerobic digestion, apparently.