Duck Pond Construction — AQAI

It is usual for small farmers who rear ducks, to herd the flock everyday towards some water source in the morning and return during evening. However, if moving towards using Ducks for commercial use and as an investment that would give results, it is integral to build a robust Duck pond within your place of rearing.

A duck pond is the all-important element that forms the basis of a duck farm. Ponds are essential for optimum production and management of ducks. Constructing a duck pond involves various factors to be considered like location, layout, depth etc.

Here are some important factors to keep in mind while constructing a Duck Pond.

A rectangular (6ft x 4ft) or square (5ft x 5ft) pit of 1.5–2.0 ft depth is dug on the ground and the inner sides completely lined with a thick sheet of 7–8 feet width. Checking for water pipes and electrical cables needs to be done during excavation of the pond.

The outer edge of the sheet should be properly secured so that the sheet doesn’t slip inwards when the pit is filled with water. The smallest pond should be at least 1.5 to 2 metres wide and in an irregular shape all round to make it look natural.

A small duck house of 10ft x 5 ft can be built next to this pond using locally available materials.

Optimal Water

About 300 litres of water is required to fill the pit of this size. Once every 10 days about half the water needs to be changed. About 25 day-old ducklings can be introduced inside the pond.

Low lying locations are to be avoided. Debris will wash into the pond in case of heavy rains and cause stagnation. The area should have a stable climate and the temperature should not go below 20-degree Fahrenheit in winter.

A series of connected ponds should be constructed at different levels so that water can flow down over series of small falls to the bottom of the pond which will assist aeration. They should be constructed with sloping sides to enable the ducks to get out of the water easily and

should have a minimum depth of 50 cm in the deeper section to allow the ducks to dive.

Another important factor to consider is to ensure that no dogs or other predators are able to get inside the pond, especially at breeding time. A simple picket fence should be good enough for protection.

1.Biofilter

A bio-filter which can process the entire pond water within 8 hours should be installed on one side of the pond and tested once in a while for checking performance.

A good quality aerator should be installed to create a bubble stream and underwater jets to keep stirring the water continuously to avoid stagnation and break sediments into small particles to be trapped in the filters.

Originally published at https://www.aqai.in.