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Country living, DIY, & a Dash of Fun!

DIY Easy Drain Duck Pond

DIY Easy-Drain Duck Pond

Make sure to watch my little ‘Duck Tale’ about Momma Duck and her new DIY easy drain duck pond! By the way, if you’re wanting a few little duckies of your own, I recommend ‘My Pet Chicken’ as they have a huge assortment of adorable baby ducklings (and chicks) of every breed, size, and color, along with all sorts of fun goodies and supplies for our little feathered cuties. Oh, and they ship all over the US!

If you liked my sweet Ducky Story, Check out my two other ‘Duck Tales’ as well!

Little Mallard Becomes  Momma

Scooter’s New Britches


Isn’t this just the coolest duck pond ever???  It’s SOOO easy to drain and clean!  (I just love the little water fall that fills it up too). Be sure to watch my video above to see how much my cute ducks LOVE their little pond!

My little pond can be drained whenever needed, and I don’t have to get into my icky clothes to do it (and that’s just the best thing ever), because let’s be frank…

Ducks like to poo in their water…

A LOT…

Now I could’ve just put out a plastic kiddy pool, but those are such a pain to lift and dump every day, and it’s just no fun getting splashed by all of that yucky water.

I wanted something that was easy to drain every day, refill with clean water, AND looked nice too.

My sad ducky story…

…but let me explain the REAL reason why I finally broke down and built this awesome pond.

It all started a few months ago when I bought this really cool pet water bowl for the dogs and kitties.  It’s called the Hydro Pet and it hooks up to my drip system.  When it turns on, it’s self cleaning, self filling, and hence the dogs and cats always have fresh water.

I was so excited about this new bowl, but there was only one problem.

Our Mama Duck is obsessed with water TO AN EXTREME!

From the first day of hooking up my fancy new water bowl, this is what went on all day.

…every day.

…for weeks and weeks.

She just wouldn’t leave the bowl, and the dogs couldn’t get to their water.

…EVER.

So, I ended up putting out a separate glass bowl of water for the dogs and kitties, which completely killed the point of having an automatic water bowl!

Consequently, construction of the new pond finally began…

Draining the Pond…

So the biggest question of the day is, “How does the pond drain,” right???

Well of course!

The answer to that big question is, with one twist of this handle.

EASY!

Addendum

By the way, you’ll notice in the video that there are a couple small differences than in my finished instructions below.  I changed the location of the drain hole in the bottom of my pond and also the location of my drain shut-off valve.

When I first made the pond, I used a leach line method by burying a ton of rocks underneath my pond and having the pond drain into the ground.  Alas, this only worked for about a week as the ground stopped taking in the water, and my pond stopped draining…UGH!

To make a long story short, I ended up digging up and redoing my whole pond and this time putting in a drain that led to a lower part of the yard.  My second attempt worked so much better…WHEW!


DIY Easy-Drain Duck Pond Tutorial

Want to print out this tutorial without the ads?

Click here to download my DIY Easy Drain Duck Pond PDF Printable Tutorial for only $5! 

Tools and Supplies:

Tools:

  • Chop saw (for cutting PVC pipe)
  • Hand drill
  • Diamond bit hole saw-I used one at 50mm in diameter (I bought it HERE)
  • Shovel and pick

Supplies:

Misc:

  • A mound of dirt or rock to sink your plastic pond into (for good drainage, the bottom of your pond needs to be at a slightly higher level (like an inch) than the lower ground where the drain water will be drained to.
  • PVC Cement and Primer
  • Marine-grade silicone (for sealing off drain)
  • Flagstone or decorative rock (to make it nice for the finishing touch!)
  • 1 – backwash hose – 2 inch diameter  (for draining water to different areas of your yard)  For attaching hose to drain pipe you’ll also need a 2in hose clamp and a piece of 1-1/2 inch diameter pvc pipe (about 1/2ft)

Pool and Drain:

  1. 1 – Hard plastic pond liner (I used a 30 gallon one, which worked just fine for 3 ducks, but you can go as big as you want) I bought mine at Lowes
  2. 1 – Plastic 1-1/2 inch diameter shut-off valve (this will be your drain valve)
  3. 1 – Coupling (1-1/2 inch diameter) with threaded male end (drain)
  4. 1 – Coupling ( 1-1/2 inch diameter) with threaded female end (drain)
  5. 1 – PVC pipe (1-1/2 inch diameter) the length depends on how far away you want your dirty drain water to be carried away from the pond (I used a 4 foot piece)
  6. 1 – Coupling (1-1/2 inch diameter)
  7. 1 – Valve Box (6 inch)
  8. 1 – PVC Pipe (1-1/2 inch diameter) 12 inches long (You will attach your drain hose to one end and the other end will be pushed into the end of the drain pipe).

Pictures of Supplies:

Note: Numbers above pictures shown below correspond to Pool and Drain Supplies listed above.

1. Hard Plastic Pond Liner

2.  Plastic 1-1/2 inch diameter shut-off valve

3.  Coupling (1-1/2 inch diameter) with threaded male end

4.  One Coupling ( 1-1/2 inch diameter) with threaded female end

5.  PVC pipe (1-1/2 inch diameter)

6.  Coupling (1-1/2 inch diameter)

7Valve Box (6 inch)

8.  PVC Pipe (1-1/2 inch diameter) 12 inches long

Instructions:

Preparing the ground:

Since I use flood irrigation to water my yard, my chicken coop already sat on a dirt pad that was somewhat higher than the rest of my yard, to keep it from getting flooded when I irrigated the yard.  All I had to do was dig a hole to sink my pond into it.  If you don’t have this, simply dump a mound of dirt or rocks in the area you want your pond, then sink your pond into the center of the mound.

Attaching the drain to the pond:

First, using the hole saw, cut a hole in the side-bottom of your pond.

See the hole I drilled into the side (see picture below)?

Next, find your #3 coupling, cut off the smooth side and throw it away (I used my miter saw or you could use a hack saw).  You will only be using the threaded side (This will serve as the actual drain opening that attaches to the bottom of your pond).

Now, gather both your #4 coupling along with the #3.

Place the #4 coupling on the outside of the pond and the #3 coupling on the inside, (sandwiching the pond in-between them), screw both couplings together tightly.  The tighter you get them, the better seal you’ll get, and you may not need the silicone to seal the drain later.

Next, glue together your drain shut-off valve (#2) to your pvc pipe (#5)

Now, attach and glue this assembly to the outer drain hole of your pond.  For good drainage, your pvc pipe should have a slight downward slope, from the pond to the lower part of the ground. (If it’s not a steep slope, no worries…a slight slope works also)

Next, I attached another 1ft long pvc pipe with a coupling on the end.

Now, set the valve box on top of the drain shut-off valve.

Time to fill everything in with dirt to cover up the plumbing and the sides of the pool.

Now, add some silicone around the drain to seal from leaking.

Note: Your drain hole should look like this, with just the opening showing so the water can drain easily. (See Below)

Attaching Drain Hose:

First, attach your backwash hose to a short piece of pvc pipe with the hose clamp (#8 supplies), and simply push the pvc pipe into the hole.

Now, your pond is ready to drain!

My pond drains at a lower level of ground in my yard.  All I did was attach a simple backwash hose to the drain.  This allows me to water different areas of my yard with the drain water to avoid over saturating the same area.   I love that the hose is simple to remove with one easy tug!

My hose will divert the dirty pond water to any part of my yard!

Draining Pond:

To drain, simply twist the drain shut-off valve

Extension T-Handle:

To go a step further, my handy hubby welded up this cool little extension T-handle so that I don’t even have to stick my hand down into the valve box to drain the pond.  Simply stick the bottom end of this extension onto the handle of the drain valve and twist!

Waterfall Pond Filler:

To create the water fall, a simple line of PVC was connected to my on/off water spicket, and run up along the side of the chicken coop. I attached another 9o degree elbow and ran more pipe along the roof so it was overhanging a little ways from the edge.  A 45 degree coupling was pushed onto the end of the pipe to direct the water slightly to the right, and smack dab into the pond.  It seems that our 3 little quackers love their new pond, those Lucky Ducks!!!

Flagstone Finish:

To finish it off, I added some decorative flagstone around the perimeter. I did this by first placing the flagstone where I wanted it, then poured dirt on top of the stone to fill in the cracks in-between. After all the cracks were filled, I swept the remaining dirt off of the stones, then lightly sprinkled some water over it all. Doing this holds the stones in place.

My ducks are now happy campers and swim in clean water every day! I get a lot of compliments on the pond as well.  Don’t you agree that it turned out great?!!

Have a Lucky Ducky Day!!!

Want to print out this tutorial without the ads?

Click here to download my DIY Easy Drain Duck Pond PDF Printable Tutorial for only $5! 


Feel free to comment!  I love to hear from you!

DIY Easy-Drain Duck Pond

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44 Comments

  1. Tink

    Hi Tee, This is sooooo adorable! I’m glad Mama Duck has her little pond! What a cool project and such a cute little video. You make me smile! Thanks for sharing!

    • Tee

      Hi Tink,

      AWWW, I’m so glad you enjoyed the post! …and I just love hearing from my readers! See you in my next post 😉

  2. Gail

    I enjoying seeing your blogs. Thank you for sharing.

    • Tee

      Hi Gail!

      So glad you enjoy them! I just love hearing from my readers and I’ll be seeing you soon in my next post 😉
      Have a beautiful day!!!

  3. Amber adams

    Wonderful ideal and very attractive to the eyes. Great video and step by step instructions. Would you like a white male duck? I need to find a home for him.

    Thank you for all your great projects!

    Amber

    • Tee

      Hi Amber!

      I’m so glad you enjoyed the post!
      Oh I so wish I could take your little duck but I’m pretty full with ducks and chickens right now, not to mention the neighbor’s flock loves to come visit everyday also LOL
      Hope you have a wonderful day! 🙂

  4. I love it! Thanks for sharing!

  5. Dee Parkinson

    Hi y’all from 12,000 miles away down under! I just love this idea. I will definitely begin making this at Parky’s Patch, Jeeralang Junction VIC Australia. My American Pekin, Cayuga and Khaki Campbell’s ducks will love the new swimming hole.
    Thanks Tee
    Cheers
    Dee
    Parky’s Patch
    Jeeralang Junction
    Australia

    • Tee

      I’m so glad you like my duck pond! Please come back and share a picture of yours! I would love to see it when you are finished! You will love how you can easily drain it! Thanks for visiting!

  6. Ivo

    Hello Tee
    I am in Croatia, living in the village. I breed chickens, rabbits and ducks for meat. Not for the market, just for my family. So we know what we’re eating. The most mess in the yard do ducks. They need a lot of water and they quickly get dirty. In the same yard there are chicks as well as older chickens. It is therefore difficult to provide them with clean water. These are the problems that always interest me with good ideas and experiences. I like your solution. The dirty water rinse from the duck pool is great for watered orchard.

    • Tee

      Hi Ivo! I’m glad you enjoyed my tutorial about the easy drain duck pond! You are right about the ducks quickly making the water a mess. Not only do I love my pond, but my ducks love having clean pond water every day, and my plants also love it when I water them every morning with the dirty pond water 🙂

  7. Gail

    Very nice. Great how the drainage is hidden. Thanks for sharing.

  8. Billy

    Great idea, and really appreciate the detailed instructions. I have 15 ducks currently. We have ducks that roam our neighborhood because it is close to a local park that has some big ponds. I noticed that every time one of the mama ducks would have babies she would only have them for 2-3 days max before they disappeared. After doing some reading it was apparent that the babies were getting killed. Fast forward a couple months and mama duck has 14 new babies. A quick phone call to my wife/ #1 helper, and we spent day building a pen for the ducks. Building pen was fairly easy, getting mama duck, and babies in said pen not so easy. I guess the ducks are 5-6 months old now so I let them out of pen after having a fence installed in backyard. Initially I was not planning on keeping ducks I just wanted them to have a chance to grow up. I leave the fence open everyday just in case the ducks want to leave, maybe go to the pond, go anywhere else….no such luck. They seem to love it here, I’m sure it doesn’t hurt that I feed them peas, green beans, corn, & unmedicated chicken feed every morning. I’m sure 1 day they will leave but I enjoy watching them. I will definitely be using your idea to upgrade their pond which is currently a dollar general swimming pool. Thanks again for the great post.

    • Tee

      Thank you for your nice comments, Billy! I’m sure your ducks would love this pond! It is so much easier to clean that even a Dollar General swimming pool and it looks good too!

  9. Kathy Wilson-Byington

    That is perfect. Going to try this in my yard, may have to raise the pond up, because our yard is relatively flat. Concept is perfect, our ducks love their water, even when it is frozen. Thanks for the detailed pics and explanations.

  10. Jillian Tindall

    It is ingenious!

  11. jodi

    Hi, I live in MA so what would you suggest be done about freezing temps? Do you use a heater? If it freezes, you can’t drain. Is this only good for mild climates?

    • Tee

      Hi Jodi,
      Good question! I live in a very warm climate so I’ve never had that issue. You might be able to put a heating coil at the bottom of the pond (like they have for livestock water troughs) to keep the water from freezing. If you try this let me know if it works!

  12. colin

    before finding this post I was planning my own very similar with a 40 gallon farm bucket. My question is how has your. How do you handle the large volume of Mud the ducks bring into a water source. When I had a small wading pool they three ducks would bring a inch or two of mud in. I was concerned the pvc would become clogged.

    Thanks..

    • Tee

      Hi Colin,

      Actually, mud has never been a problem for me. The only thing that ever clogs my drain is when a lot of leaves and twigs fall into the pond. When it gets clogged, I first remove the drain hose. I put a spray nozzle on the end of my water hose, turn it on full blast, and poke it into the drain hole inside the pond so that it shoots water through the PVC pipe and out of the pond, dislodging the clog. If the clog is really bad, I poke a long metal rod into the PVC pipe (from the outside of the pond) and push the rod in and and out until the clog is dislodged and flows out. Works every time!

  13. Barbara

    This is a really creative idea! Thank you

  14. Marilyn

    I appreciate all the photos of all the materials! It lessened my ignorance of all things drainage and I will be printing this to follow it exactly. Thanks so much for helping to heal my back which no longer can empty little blue swimming pools! I have 10 adult ducks and 15 babies in the bathtub! My pond will be exactly like yours at 6 feet in diameter as I have a galvanized tub…thank you SO much for the brilliant tutorial!

    • Tee

      I’m so glad you like it, Marilyn! Thank you for writing and visiting today! You will have to come back and post a picture of your duck pond when you are finished with it! 🙂

  15. Brenda

    Now that the pond has been in a while, is there anything you would do different? Improvements?

    • Tee

      Good question! I would have probably built up the mound of dirt that I set the pond in a little higher so that the water would drain faster. Mine takes a few minutes to drain, I just get in a hurry and want it drained instantly…LOL. Also, the ducks liked digging their beaks into the mud in-between the flagstone pieces so I ended up mounting the flagstone in place with a couple of inches of cement underneath, to keep the pieces in place. Other than that I’m pretty happy with my pond!

  16. Joe Boone

    Thanks for sharing this information! Very insightful………..

  17. Vanessa Miller

    Could I please get the duck pond plans?

  18. JoAnn

    Love your idea and illustrations. Love to see more on how you fill the pond

    • Tee

      Hi JoAnn,
      Setting up the ‘waterfall’ for the pond was really easy. All I did was attach some PVC pipe to the faucet (which is next to the chicken coop), and ran the PVC pipe up the side of the chicken coop to the top, then continued it to the front where I let it overhang a bit over the pond. When the faucet is turned on, the water runs up through the PVC pipe and shoots out into the pond. That’s it!

  19. Adela

    This is the greatest idea ever! Can’t wait to get started on one for my three ducks!! Thank you!!!!!

    • Tee

      Hi Adela,

      You are going to love being able to easily drain your duck pond, and you ducks will love it too!

  20. Cat Howard

    Thank you so much for this! 2 coworkers of mine have ducks and baby ducks, and ive been researching the easiest way to handle the pond construction. kiddie pool dumping and refilling was definitely not the way i wanted to go. This is awesome and looks great!

    • Tee

      Hi Cat,
      Glad you enjoyed the duck pond post! I love mine and I don’t have to dump those heavy plastic pools anymore! 😉

  21. I’m actually planning to make a larger scaled one, possibly a lazy river type since we have 10-15 ducks; and place their home in the middle protecting it from the bobcats and sorts. I’ll probably make the walls and floor concrete even tho it would be cool if i could get plants to grow in. I’ll post pictures of it later!

  22. Rich

    Thank you for showing that, I am going to give it a try when the weather warms up. Still snowing in upstate NY.

    • Tee

      Hi Rich,
      You’ll definitely have to give it a try! I love mine and so do my ducks!

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