dang ducks!!!!

[Pool_Fool]

Some ducks have found a pool I work on
They are crapping in it everyday.
How concerned should I be with all of the duck **** in the pool?
Ph 7.5
Alk 80
Cal 300
Fc 4.5
Cc 0
Cya 30
Swg commercial pool.

TIA
PF

 

[chem geek]

As noted in the scientific paper Occurrence of Cryptosporidium and Giardia in Wild Ducks along the Rio Grande River Valley in Southern New Mexico, wild ducks may carry some protozoan oocysts but not as much Cryptosporidium as Canadian geese carry. Also, it seemed that the species of these pathogens in wild ducks were avian species and not the ones associated with human infection.

So it would be safer to somehow dissuade the ducks from using the pool as a toilet. You can search this forum for "scaring ducks away" or similar terms but I didn't see any significantly effective solutions when I briefly perused such threads.

 

[elwood58]

Try putting a couple of big colorful balls in your pool and let them Float around. It keeps the ducks away.

 

[737mech]

We now have the same problem. I haven't found a way to keep them out just yet. I also never have caught them in the act. They leave plenty of mallard feathers and poop behind.....

 

[techguy]

I found the plastic snakes from Wal-Mart, set on the coping or floated on a floatie seem to keep the local mallards away. I had a nesting couple in my pool everyday last year. Talk about a mes... I have green and orange snakes.

 

[737mech]

I found the plastic snakes from Wal-Mart, set on the coping or floated on a floatie seem to keep the local mallards away. I had a nesting couple in my pool everyday last year. Talk about a mes... I have green and orange snakes.

Worth a try. Do the snakes keep other birds away too? Don't think our owl is scaring many birds away. We move it regularly, but we have plently black birds diving bombing our pool.

 

[gtnos]

Some ducks have found a pool I work on
They are crapping in it everyday.
How concerned should I be with all of the duck **** in the pool?
Ph 7.5
Alk 80
Cal 300
Fc 4.5
Cc 0
Cya 30
Swg commercial pool.

TIA
PF

easy problem you have there..... here are some simple solutions:

1. Roasted
2. Saute'd
3. If you have any deer meat, deer and duck kabobs are nice this time of year, especially while sitting in your lounger at the pool with an alcoholic beverage.
4. My ultimate favorite: Duck stuffed jalepeno peppers. You get some of that phildelphia cream cheese, puree the jalepenos to make the stuffing along with some other spices. Then you butterfly the breasts and stuff them, wrapping the whole thing in a thick piece of applewood smoked bacon. 300 degrees on the grille for about 10-15 minutes, leaving the meat slightly pink...... you dont want to overcook duck. You havent lived til you have had duck stuffed jalapeno peppers.

You start hunting them in season around there, you wont have an issue anymore. cooked right, its good too. so is canadian goose. I have a freezer full of both.

 

[mas985]

Deja Vu all over again:

http://www.troublefreepool.com/threads/75812-I-hate-birds-!!!


Fishing line

 

[Jfoeller0103]

I have found the answer to this!! FISHING LINE!! Put 3 or 4 pieces of fishing line across the pool at different directions... It throws off the ducks "radar" if you will, to land! I had 2 sets of ducks that were coming to my pool everymorning! Started tossing a few lines over the pool when im not using it and it works like a charm! Let me know if this helps you to!

 

[fireman00]

+1 on the fishing line.

Early last year I had a HUGE problem with grackles dropping "poop sacs" into the pool. I bought an owl which worked fantastic but this year the birds would land right next to him or fly over the pool and drop the sacs into the pool and all over the top rails.

I jammed three 10' tall pieces of conduit into the ground and ran fishing line around the poles - about 2" from the top - making a triangle then added a couple more runs of line over the triangle. The birds make a quick turn once they see the fishing line and I've had no more poop in or on the pool.

I might add a 4th pole and make a square around the pool then add 4 lines running N-S and 4 E-W and tie them off to the caps, will look a little neater.

 

[northrn]

We use life sized coyote plywood cutouts painted black to discourage birds in general from hanging around.