Keeping clean water for your ducks to drink is an impossibility. Period! My daughter once told me that you provide fresh water for ducks, not clean water. Oh so true. It may be clean the instant it hits their pool or bowl (whatever type you have) but it won’t be clean for long.
So you need an easy way to clean your duck’s waterer.
This post may contain affiliate links. Please read my disclosure if you have questions.
Thank you for supporting this site with purchases made through links in this post. For Starters Here’s My Amazon Link
All about the Automatic Poultry Fount
Clean Water For My Ducks.
Chickens can dip their beaks into the water and take a nice dainty sip. Not Ducks! Their idea of water is altogether different.
Related: 10 Necessities To A Perfect Duck House.
Why Ducks Need Water
First, understand that a duck needs water to be happy and healthy. They need water for a lot more than drinking. I’m sure mine think that drinking it is the least important use of water.
Related: Duck Eggs Vs Chicken Eggs. Why Duck Eggs Are Better.
Ducks need Water For:
- Eating – Yes eating. They need to have water to wash down their food. They can choke if they don’t have water available while eating. They will even take their greens and other vegetables to the duck pool and dunk it in the pool to eat it.
- Bathing – Ducks like a nice bath at least once a day, just like chickens take dust baths, to get rid of bugs and mites. Ducks drown those nasty pests. If a duck has water to bathe in they will seldom have pests.
- Mating – OK they can mate without water. But given the choice, they much prefer to mate in the water.
- Cleaning their bills – and keeping their sinuses moistened and cleaned out. Ducks love to dig in the dirt to find bugs to eat. They will bury their bills up to their eyeballs! Then they look for the closest water to wash it all out of their sinuses.
- Cleaning Their Bodies – They don’t take dust baths like chickens do to get rid of parasites.
- Drinking – All animals, and plants for that matter, need water to drink. If they have to go without water for even a short time it will affect their laying for up to a week.
Related: Do Ducks Need A Pond?
Changing My Ducks Water Pool
My ducks, like all ducks, love to “play” in the water. Ok, I’m sure what I call play is really one of the five important tasks I listed above. But nonetheless, they spread the water everywhere and they get their water very dirty. It really grosses me out to think of them having to drink all that dirty water.
More Reading: Raising Ducks 101 – How To Take Care Of Baby Ducklings
So every day I empty out their water pools and refill them with fresh water.
Whew, that’s a lot of work.
What am I going to do when I go on vacation? My daughter said she would come by every other day or so to check on them, but that isn’t going to give them fresh water to drink every day.
Fresh / Clean Water For My Ducks
So I started checking into a way to give them fresh water. They can’t be able to climb into it or they will get it filthy. They will poo in their water.
And then I found it. WhooHoo!
Automatic Game Bird Fount
More Reading: Raising Ducks 101 – How To Take Care Of Baby Ducklings
This is a very handy waterer. It is deep enough for them to get their whole bill into, but not their butts. As they drink it automatically refills with fresh water. Since ducks drink a lot, this is good so there is no worry about them running out of water.
There is one design issue, I don’t want to say flaw, you just need to know about it. To function properly it has to hang. That’s what makes it shut off. We had planned to attach it to a hose and put it on a little shelf so I could just tip it to clean it. That will not work, because of that, ‘has to hang to shut off’ thing.
My Awesome hubby installed it for me and now my ducks are all ready for vacation too. He put on this Quick Connect fitting so it just pops right off to be hosed off. But it will give them fresh water each time they take a drink!
Now I’m Ready For Vacation!
We installed it near their food so they can eat and drink at the same time. This is really important for a duck.
I’m so excited I found this. Now they can have clean water to drink all the time. Even while I’m gone for a few days
This would be great for chickens as well. And I think it would also be good to have outside for your dogs or cats.
Related: What To Feed Ducklings
Remember, in the winter you may need to disconnect this to keep pipes from freezing. In that case, a heated waterer will work wonders!
Just an add on. I found this Automatic Treadle Feeder. What a great idea to keep the feed clean and the mice out! And no more wasted feed!
Did you go on vacation this year? How did you solve your animal and garden problems while you were gone?
More You May Enjoy
The Simple Start Raising Ducks System.
Setting Up A Brooder Box For Baby Ducks.
A Well Designed Duck Coop To Make Your Life Easier.
Duck Eggs vs. Chicken Eggs, Why Duck Eggs Are Better.
Raising Ducks 101 – How To Take Care Of Baby Ducklings.
How To Get Clean Water For My Ducks.
Did you like this post? Then, I’d love it if you’d share it!
Want some more top posts? Check out this list of Readers Favorites.
Happy Gardening!
I believe everyone can grow at least part of their own food! Let me show you how.
Mary is a gardener, backyard homesteader, and duck wrangler. She is also the owner and writer of LifeIsJustDucky.com and AGoodWordADay.com. (for daily devotions) Mary is passionate about helping others expand their backyard homesteading skills and learn to be more self-sufficient, no matter where they live.
Great tips! I never realized how important it was to keep the water clean for ducks. I’ll definitely be implementing some of these strategies to improve their living conditions. Thanks for sharing!
Great tips! I never thought about using a waterer that minimizes waste for my ducks. I’m definitely going to try the idea of using a kiddie pool for cleaning and refilling. Thanks for sharing your insights!
Great tips! I love the idea of using a small pond for my ducks. They enjoy splashing around, and it makes for a natural water source. Thanks for sharing your insights on keeping the water clean!
It’s important for them too. Thanks for reading.
Hi. I like your posts. I wish, though, that every picture was just that: a PICTURE, not a picture with added wording…it takes up too much space and detracts from the document.
I want chickens, but not sure about ducks….I did just recently have a couple of duck eggs from a friend: really good.
I’m sorry you don’t like the pins. Those allow people to share my posts on Pinterest to help others find it. It helps my blog grow so I can afford to continue to produce this information free to people like you. I like chickens too, but I like ducks even more. 🙂
I would love more info about how this works. Does it just constantly run? Does it somehow shut itself on/off?
Thanks!
As it hangs, it shuts off when it gets to a specific level. As the ducks (or chickens) drink from it, the level is lowered and it turns on. It’s really amazing!
It’s pretty standard.I got it at Home depot. Just take it in and ask. They will help you out.
This is so amazing! So how was is with the water being clean when you got back? My ducks always make their water bowl so dirty cause they have their mouth full of food and then take drinks and it’s make the bowl so messy with food crumbs. We’re leaving on vacation soon so I’m hoping your idea will keep them watered without having to have someone worry about it.
The water will not be clean when you get back. But they will have water and when you are there, this waterer is very easy to clean. With the quick connect (genius!) it can be dumped and put back together and it will refill. I never have to worry about them being out of water. (and they can’t poop in it) I hope that clarifies. Enjoy your vacation.
So this water fountain is under constant water hose pressure and doesn’t overflow? I am needing something like this so my chickens will have a constant flow of fresh water and I don’t want to use a gravity feed system.
Yes, it is under constant pressure so it can’t be used up north during the winter. It has to hang and that is how it stops the flow. When it gets lighter (when they drink) it refills. It’s pretty cool.
Hello Mary,
I love the idea! We are new to duck keeping and I have been researching everything duck related. I am not a technical type and can’t work out how to do this fitting. Would it be possible to have some more detailed plans on how to make this? Many thanks!
Linda
I understand, but it’s mostly a matter of measuring. Everyone’s set up will be different as not everyone has a chainlink “kennel” for a chicken run. The most important thing is to make it hang. That’s how the automatic shutoff works. The shelf at the top is just so not too much pressure is put on the pvc. Then just measure the height of your ducks so it is not too high or low. The quick-connect isn’t essential, but it sure makes life easier. We hooked it to a hose so we could disconnect to mow. You could use pvc all the way to the spigot, but you would have to bury it. I hope this helps.
Can I hook this up to my waterhose and hang it? My chickens waterers get so dirty 🙁
I wanted it to be more sturdy than that. It needs to hang straight or it won’t shut off. That’s why I used PVC. It was a real simple set-up.
Mary, I love this waterer! It is such a wonderful idea! I would like to try to make one. I was unable to find the instructions from clicking on the red bowl. Can you direct me to the instructions?
Thanks! Warmly, Beth
It will all depend on where you put it. It is all put together with pvc pipe. The only trick is it has to hang. I put it together with a garden hose but it can be direct plumbed also. Good luck.
This looks awesome, what are the components for the waterer? My husband says he’s going to build it, but needs a list.
If you click on the red “bowl” it will take you to the link for the waterer. All the rest of the PVC fittings will depend on how and where you are putting yours. I showed photos so you can see how we did it, but your situation will likely need different fittings. Just make sure it hangs.
Definitely showing this to my hubby. We have one of those chicken waterers that has a vacuum-sealing cap that is supposed to create an automatic water flow. However, the rubber ring dries out quickly and then it doesn’t work like it is supposed to. I like this idea. We already have a water spigot in the coop.
Karen,
This is working really well. I actually don’t even use the quick release most of the time. I hard spray from a yard away cleans it and then it refills itself! Easy Peasy! Have a wonderful day.
This is a great idea! We are in the process of converting a small trailer (that came w/ our property) into a chicken coop…the original owner ran PVC pipe out to the barn/garden area…so, we have water out there…But, this would be a wonderful addition to the chicken run! Have fun on vacation!
Nice to hear from you. How is the new homestead coming? I do just love this new waterer. Such a great way to get them clean water.