Making a pond?

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My wife’s animal rescue is growing and we’re looking to make a small pond for the ducks & geese rehabs. She’s been using the pools but having to flip it constantly gets painful and time consuming.

She’s looking at making a 2-3 foot deep x 20 ft. So far I’ve seen dig it and pack the clay them add a pond liner

Anyone made one? Got tips? Help?
 
Do you have running water, stream or creek, on the property? If not it'll get pretty nasty. May be easier to keep it small enough to flip like you do now. I picked up a garden tub from a Habitat store and set it under the downspout of my barn at the old place. I had to clean it every so often but the dogs loved it. Treat it for mosquitos though.

I have a little stream and I want to make a smallish pond so bad.
 
I’d love to make a pond on my place. The problem is I’d have to cut off the water in the small creek to do it and i have neighbor who waters his cows from it.
 
I’d love to make a pond on my place. The problem is I’d have to cut off the water in the small creek to do it and i have neighbor who waters his cows from it.
Thats only an issue for as long as it takes to fill up.
Do it before a rain and he won't be put out at all.
 
Just as a thought, waterfowl are named correctly. They fowl water.
Their droppings are very high in nitrogen and that promotes plant and bacteria growth.
Thats not necessarily a bad thing, as plants will use the nitrogen and "clean" the water.
If it were me, I would dig the hole, line it with sand then old billboard material or tarp from Craigslist.

You going to fill it from well or divert rainwater?
Knowing what I now know about ponds, I would install an aerator. That water will get nasty quick. Aeration will promote decomposition of the detritus that will build up on the bottom. It's gonna stink.
I would probably add Tilapia to help with Ditritus (muck).
I would definitely make provisions for an outlet that would handle 5x what you expect.
100 year floods happen! Screenshot_20200105-060942.png Screenshot_20200105-060808.png
 
Chris, I’ve built several larger ponds.

First step is to determine your watershed, and best location based on same, and the average rainfall in your area so you can determine how large of a pond will be kept filled from rain water. Second step is to test your soil to determine its suitability. You can go the liner route, or truck in clay / bentonite to seal the bottom. If you seed it with rye and let it become well established before filling it will help to keep it clear.

Slacker is well versed on pond design too, especially for fishing.
 
Not only will ducks fowl the water with poop, but they create massive amounts of mud. If you've been using pools you should already know this.

We had about 20 ducks and used large kiddie pools. They would use the water to soften the ground and dig in it with their beaks. Not only was the ground muddy but the pool water as well. It might not be an issue for a couple, but IMO 20 ducks would make a huge mess of a 20ft pond. We wanted a pond too but decided not to unless it was at least half an acre.
 
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These folks detailed a wholeeee lot of DIY off grid projects. Pond is one of them.

IIRC, they have their driveway culvert feed the pond with rain runoff. Was pretty smart set up as they designed their ind to not just function as a pond, but a flooding/wash out mitigation system as well.

http://mikeandlisaworld.blogspot.com/p/our-off-grid-story.html

eta- looks like chapter 98 starts some pond building
 
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These folks detailed a wholeeee lot of DIY off grid projects. Pond is one of them.

IIRC, they have their driveway culvert feed the pond with rain runoff. Was pretty smart set up as they designed their ind to not just function as a pond, but a flooding/wash out mitigation system as well.

http://mikeandlisaworld.blogspot.com/p/our-off-grid-story.html

eta- looks like chapter 98 starts some pond building

They built a dam using packed top soil.
Big mistake.
I didn't read all of it but im betting they had to demo that dam and start over with a core trench and the correct soil.
 
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