Making a duck bath
Being waterfowl it's no surprise that ducks love water! It's important for their health. They need to be able to dunk their heads under water whenever they need to. If not they can be susceptible to disease, especially around the eyes. It also moistens their eyes - something they cannot do naturally. Water helps them swallow food too.
Unfortunately not all of us are lucky enough to have our own private lake or river running through our back garden. Ponds are a bad idea. They will become stagnant within a couple of weeks as it fills with duck poo. It's pretty hard to empty a stinky pond once a week...
You could use a paddling pool but I think using an old bath is a much better option. You can pull the plug when ever it's time to change the water.
I sourced mine from a local farmer. It was free! I had been looking around the local scrap dealer beforehand. You don't need a perfect bath that's ready straight out of a flake advert. They are very cheap.
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OK so decide on location. It's important you get it reasonably level. Dig down about 6 inches deeper than the bath.
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Fill with rocks and stones. This helps you get the bath level and will help with drainage.
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Now dig a trench at the same depth that leads away from the plug hole. This needs to be downhill if you are on a slope. Fill this with rocks too.
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Now manoeuvre the bath into place. From experience I can tell you that they are extremely heavy. 2 people will manage it at a struggle. The more the merrier! You might need to add a few rocks here and there in order to get it level.
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Now just run the bath for the ducks!
Make sure you empty it about once a week. They are mucky little things!
