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Okay, so I was gone one weekend and my DH calls to say, "Did you know you have ducks on the pool cover?"
Well, of course, NO I don't know this!
Now every time I get my pool cover water almost pumped off, it's been raining ... and here comes the ducks.
When I open my pool, how can I discourage the ducks from thinking MY pool is their new playground? (It's on a flight route to a pond at a nearby park, I'm sure.)
HELP - What do I do about the DUCKS?
Thank you!
Blessings,
Debbie
12 gauge :confused:
Hi Debbie,
Have you considered adopting a dog???:p I noticed a pair of ducks on our neighbor's pool a few weeks ago. Their pool, and ours, remained open over the winter. Then, a few days later, I awoke to see a pair taking a nice paddle in our own pool! I guess they're trying to decide which neighborhood and which pool might make a nice homestead for nesting season.
My 2 dogs were sent out with the instructions to discourage the ducks from a return visit. The ducks were never in any danger, but they've only been back one time since....that I know of.
But seriously, I've also heard that floating a beach ball on the water discourages birds from getting too close. I don't know if that's true or if it's an old wives' tale. It's usually too windy here for me to keep any kind of floating toy on the water for very long.
How about a floating alligator.
Tying strings across 6 to 12 ft above the pool surface kind of haphazardly will annoy the ducks. They won't like having to dodge them and it will make them uncomfortable. Once they quit hanging around, you can take them down.
Thanks JohnT, that worked!
The ducks (2) were in the pool every morning for at least a week, and I scared them off each day thinking that would be it, but....apparently they REALLY liked our pool.
After reading your post we ran kite string acoss the pool in several areas, covering it fairly well...and NO DUCKS from day 1 and it's been several days now. Great idea John. It couldn't have been more effective.
Planning to leave it up until Monday sometime...
Tony
Here's something my Spanish-speaking wife hit me with a couple of weeks ago:
She (with a deadly serious look of concern on her face): "What would happen if a duck got into our pool?"
Me (after thinking about the potential ramifications): "Nada."
She: "Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha!"
I hope our Spanish-speaking friends enjoyed the joke.
We don't have ducks but our back-fence neighbors do! I've told them about them--they hit early morning late afternoon.
But when their automatic pool cleaner is in, the ducks stay away. I don't know what kind it is--I think it's pump-assisted, definitely not a robotic.
Their fence is VERY far away from the pool...basically the back yard is fenced and they have a huge patio. We, OTOH, have the fence very close to the water, which, I believe, makes landing and taking off for the ducks tougher.
Funny, because here ducks are rarely a problem and not that common in suburbia. Usually it's geese that are like giant flying pigeons and each one makes almost as much of a mess as a small beagle. But they haven't been around as much lately, unlike the infestations we had in years past.
Well, every spring we get two mallards that feed off the algae in our creek, my dog's been trying to get them for years now, this year, I finally trained him to leave them be, so now he just sits and stares at them......BIG MISTAKE - as of yesterday morning 5:30 AM, I now have 2 mallards splashing around in my pool morning and night.
I'll try putting my solar cover on tonight to see if that will discourage them.....if not, "ducks a l'orange" it is.
I had a duck issue for 2 years, there were 3 ducks who were determined my pool was a play area and bathroom. :)
I tried everything I could think of... If I chased them off they would just circle until I went back inside then come right back! Worst of all, my dog didn't care about them, he would just watch.
I finally found a solution that worked... A high power green laser pointer (75mw), the point is extremely bright in the sunshine and you can see the beam as it goes through the water. I'm not sure if they thought it was a snake (that would even chase them as they flew away in an evasive pattern).
They tried alterting the time of day they would come, but after it chased them 3 times they have not returned... But I noticed 2 of them moved over acouple houses to their pool. :)
Might not be the perfect solution, as these high powered lasers are expensive and can be dangerous, but it did work for me!
Thank god for Ronald Regan and the star wars defense program... we continue to reap the rewards.
Quote:
Originally Posted by falken
Much cooler than the strings.:D
Well, my ducks are still dropping in at their usual times of the day - however, now they just sit and clean themselves on the top rail - something about the solar cover on the pool I guess. have to chase them away every morning as i leave for work, don't know if they return throughout the day, but I'm hoping they will get the message soon!
My ducks even enjoyed the solar cover... they would walk across it and lounge on it like it was a float. Nothing looked better than baked on duck droppings on the clear solar cover. :)Quote:
Originally Posted by matt4x4
I realize this is an old post but probably still very relavent.
Every spring when I open the pool I get 2 mallards. Usually a male and female.
This year 2 males.
In the past I have used a blow up swan and it worked well. Apparently ducks don't like swans.
THis year however they seemed to enjoy the swans company. I have pictures of them swimming with the swan, If I can get my computer working I'll post them , it's funny. On the wifes laptop now.