All the ducks are swimming in the water

All the ducks are swimming in the water - not

When I brought our ducks in May last year there was an idea to put a pond in for them. It took a while thinking about it and in the mean time the ducks wandered the farm finding their own water sources be it a puddle, stream or other animals water troughs.

A deal was struck when farmer J spotted an ideal pond base at our friends yard down the road, the top of a Renault traffic was swapped for a couple of home made cakes and eggs. Complete with light fittings (under water lighting for night swimming?) it was loaded on the trailer to bring back here.

While another neighbour was digging up the road for new pipes to be fitted he was asked to dig out a hole for the roof to fit in, this time payment was pork. Once dug and roof put in place soil was put back around the sides and large plastic sheeting reused to make it water tight before filling up. The lights were removed before hand, apparently the ducks would not be doing any midnight swimming so no need for lighting. Hose put on it took a while to fill with no ducks watching by the sidelines.

Once full the ducks would be in for sure, however by morning walking past the pond it didn't look as full as the previous evening. Yep it had a leak, a couple of small holes in the plastic let the water out which then needed to be emptied and new plastic ordered. Once collected we had a supervisor on hand to help/ hinder us, Gorgon the pig, with his tusks was not an ideal helper, thankfully once he realised food was not in the offering he moved on.

Relined, refilled and waiting for water fowl it waited, and waited and waited. Not one single duck has entered this pond. After the storm last Thursday water gathered next to the pond and yes the ducks were in it. With the amount of rain water coming off the hill it has meant the chickens barn being flooded from water flowing through a pipe into the barn which then exits by a drain in the floor going under the barn ending up coming out of a pipe in the wall and into the field.Taking advantage of these free flowing water for the pigs and sheep it also turned into a shower and bath for the ducks. And they still haven't been near that pond!

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