We Dug a Duck Pond

We dug a duck pond for our duck farm. After years of careful observation, we finally applied some permaculture principles and did the necessary earthworks to capture water on our farm. Let me explain how we dug our pond with an excavator and a shovel.

About Gold Shaw Farm: Gold Shaw Farm is more of a farm-in-progress than an honest-to-goodness farm. Our dream is that someday we are able to transform our 150+ acre parcel of land into a regenerative and productive homestead and farm.

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Gold Shaw Farm
PO Box 225
Peacham, VT 05862

[stephenriley]

Morgan, A pond is great for livestock and wildlife all around. You will get fish too, the birds will bring eggs on their feet! A bucket of mud from an established pond will bring on the bugs. Looks like you have shallow, intermediate and deep, which is good. There is clay in your soil as it shines when compressed and is like a paste in your fingers. It must be permeable, though, as otherwise, the water would stay all year. A couple of lorry loads of true clay would allow you to line the pond successfully with a natural material. Where does the run-off go? In one year it will look great. If the new water is cloudy, chuck in some bales of straw. It will clear. I love ponds and I love fish. Can't have a farm without a pond!! Built my chicken run this week. The flock, 3!, will be here shortly. White Sussex. Regards Stephen.

[realitycheck]

SMART HAT.... don't apologize for protecting yourself from UV sunburn and Heat Stroke.
It fits a duck farmer...

[BanglesAU]

**releases the geese**
What majestic animals
**geese trip**
so graceful
**another trips and its fellows run and trip over it**

[roscop.coaltrain]

Your gonna have some super happy ducks

[builtontherockhomestead]

My college was founded in the 60's. When Darwin Hall was built, the basement kept flooding so pumps had to be installed. Fire Dept then ordered them to build a water source in case of a fire. So a beautiful duck pond was dug. They filled it up and all the water disappeared. They had to line the duck pond with cement so it could hold water. Glad you found clay. Smart to observe the land before building.

[BetterTogetherLife]

HA!!! You just said “it’s supposed to get to 88 degrees.” Man we are DREAMING and PRAYING for 88 degrees! 🤣🤣🤣

[margaretbedwell]

So glad you put in the pond...you are doing a great job providing a nice swimming hole for your ducks and geese . Sure is nice to have friends nearby with the BIG toys. That was a great help, kudos to that gentleman. Have a Blessed day.

[nancylitton]

How lucky you are to have a small spring on your land. In a year...It should look good, not just a mudpuddle...:)
It does.help to have friends with great toys! Lol!!!
Thank you for sharing some of your fun with us.

[AlongTheRiverHomestead]

Omg, the geese stumbling out of the pen, that's me every morning lol!!! I love the ducks coming to check on the big hole! Can't wait to follow along and see the outcome of the pond!

[michaelbrooks]

Ah..the cheep cheep cheep of youth. Gone. Which reminds us that life is fleeting but infrastructure remains and lives on. A duck pond. It will require some maintenance through the years but it is a good addition to the empire you are building. Great plan. As always, I enjoyed your video.

[HegenerHomestead]

ROFL, so funny how the geese trip over the edge of their house and face plant into the grass

[emphoenix]

Ducks in the morning be like:”What the quack?” 🤓 Great looking project!

[batpherlangkharkrang]

Morgan, thank you for sharing your video homestead 👋 bye 👋 bye 👋 bye 👋 🎥👍👍👍

[suldriks]

Be patient. As your pond fills, ducks swim, and duck poo becomes a great Pond Bottom Sealer. Takes a bit of time and poo....

[dragonladee]

Exactly like us! Clay soil and the water rose on its own to fill the hole. 2 yrs later a horrible algae problem began. We tried planting plants but the ducks and geese tore them all out and treating the pond with algicide and barley straw, etc did NOT help at all. Been 5 yrs now and even though the pond is only used 7 months a year, it is a horrible mess. I'm fed up so today I am actually pumping out all the green water. Tomorrow will be making a frame to place in the hole and putting a liner in with a water circulation system that will be a fountain. Cutting down from 30 feet circular to 10 x 15 feet. I really hope this geese and ducks appreciate all my hard work besides the fact that I don't eat them. ;)

[kazbleasdale]

That’s a good sized pond, they are going to love it. Cannot wait to see them having fun and enjoying it. Great job guys.

[Sienisota]

Alfred deserves some duck eggs or produce for free, that was some great work.

[crowgirl]

What a wonderful gift to your flocks. Great idea.

[meenha]

You've got a gem of a friend there Alfred, he's so so talented around land ❤

[promontorium]

It's called a vernal pool. The fact that they are temporary but come around the same time each year make them ideal breeding spots for amphibians. Because they dry up, there's no fish, so they won't eat the eggs. The amphibians adapt to the timeline where they all show up, lay their eggs, their eggs go through their aquatic stages and fully mature before the pools dry up.

I think it's nice to embrace the pooling effect. Many people try to reform the land to prevent the pooling and thus incidentally destroy amphibian breeding grounds and drive them towards extinction. I love ponds too. If you do end up getting it to stay full year round you would want some fish in there to keep mosquito populations down.

I have no idea if you even have amphibians there, but if you do, I suggest keeping an eye out, see if they're successfully breeding. Some minor design options could provide them safe breeding if in your estimation that seems to be an issue.