A Cool Pool for a Raft of Ducks
What do you get when you combine an injured duck, Mother's Day, and a mini excavator? A weekend (and then some) project.
In the two months since my last post, I’ve mostly been occupied with the daily drudgery of chores to building out the spring gardens and other yard maintenance. Recently, though, I decided to revisit an old project and make some upgrades.
It all started with the daily visit to the duck run. As I was refilling feeders and waterers, I noticed one of the ducks was crawling on the ground, seemingly unable to walk. Sure enough, she had lost all function in her right leg. Examining her, I spotted a sore on the bottom of her foot. It looked like bumblefoot, perhaps due to the incredibly soggy/muddy conditions of the run, thanks to copious rain and an accidental flooding from me inadvertently leaving a hose running for several hours.
Poor girl, I thought. I decided to pull her out of the run and confine her to a small pen in another building. I dried her foot, applied some medicine, and left her with some food and water. I called the vet and they suggested I bring her in for an exam.
The vet thought the bumblefoot wasn’t really the issue. It seemed the duck had injured her leg. How, we weren’t sure, but we speculated that she may have injured it from jumping down from the above-ground pool I had built for her and her duck sisters.
“Duck” as she became known the vet, seemed happy enough and certainly still enjoyed life (especially when we let her swim in a tub), but her right foot was completely nonfunctional. We were worried that if she had indeed injured herself as a result of the above-ground pool, then the other ducks might as well.
That was on Friday. On Saturday morning, I turned to my wife and asked, “what would you like to do for Mother’s Day?”
“How about you replace the duck pond?”
In other words, she wanted me to pull out the old above-ground pool (and deck) and replace it with a pool at ground level. This would not be such an easy task. It would involve:
Removing the existing pool and deck;
Removing the in-ground drain pipe I had installed;
Digging a large hole and new drainage trench in what was a very compacted, rocky/gravelly/clay soil;
Refitting the basin with a drain at the bottom; and
Plumbing a new buried drain pipe with a ball valve
The Project Begins
Removing the old pool was actually the easiest part. I pulled apart the decking and disconnected the plumbing from the tub. I tossed all of it outside the run and schlepped all but the tub, which I’d re-use, to the dump.
The rest — particularly the hole and trench digging — was the real challenge. It seemed to me the best path forward would be to drag the 16' x 24' run a few feet from where it stood so that I could bring in a mini excavator and dig without any interference. Once I had finished digging, I could drag the run back into place.
However, dragging the run was not such a simple proposition. I figured the run probably weighed about 500 pounds. Even with my superhero physique and strength, that was too much for me to push around. But, perhaps I could screw in some eye bolts, lash a chain to them and then drag it with my tractor? Why not?
Once I got the hardware in place, I hooked the chain to the tractor and slowly drove it forward. Instantly, the bolts gave way while the run sat unmoved. That was why not.
The run wasn’t going anywhere. Perhaps this was a blessing in disguise as I’ve come to believe that had I been able to drag it, it most likely would have torqued and twisted and collapsed, which would have been much, much worse.
In any event, was time for Plan B.
Bring in the Digger
If I couldn’t move the run out of the way, I’d have to figure out a way to dig from inside the run. I rented the smallest excavator Home Depot had available and brought it up to the run. It was too big to actually fit inside the run, but I could at least reach the bucket in through the doorway and dig out a hole for the tub. This worked fairly well until I mishandled the excavator and rammed it — several times — into the run. Boards broke, I cursed. I’d have to repair the run later. For now, I kept digging.
Eventually, I managed to dig a big enough hole to hold the tub and the plumbing that would run underneath it — all without destroying the run. I then turned the excavator toward digging a ditch into which I would lay new drain pipe.
It’s All About the Drain
Ducks are delightful creatures, but they make a mess that would shame a toddler. We have to drain and refill the tub every day or two, so I need an easy way to empty it. With the above-ground set up, I had a 1-¼-inch drain pipe that exited the tub’s side. Before it turned to go underground, I had a ball valve that we could open and close to help drain it. It worked well, though it took 10-15 minutes to drain.
For the new installation, I drilled a large hold in the bottom of the tub and installed a shower drain. Connected to that was a two-inch drain pipe with an in-line ball valve. By installing the drain in the bottom of the tub, I would be able to more effectively empty the tub. And by upsizing the pipe from 1-¼ inches to 2 inches, it would drain far, far faster.
I also had to find a way to install a new ball valve and make it accessible, since the entire drain pipe was underground. For this, I used an irrigation valve box with a removable lid. (To drain the pond, I’d open the lid, turn the valve and within a minute, the pool would be empty with all the water drained into the woods.)
Once the trench was dug, it was time to connect everything together. I set the tub on some concrete block supports to keep weight off the drain, connected the pipes and valve, and then backfilled the trenches.1
With everything in place, I added several bags of mulch, sawdust, and straw to the run to help dry it out, and laid river stones around the pool to help with drainage and keeping the pool clean.
Duck has yet to regain functionality in her leg, but we brought her back to the run and despite walking like a pirate with a peg leg, she seems to be managing ok. At least now the pool is at ground level, so that should eliminate further injuries.
Happy Mother’s Day!
Ok, I kind of lied here. In truth, I didn’t have enough drain pipe to reach as far as I wanted and was running out of time. I figured everything would be ok and the water could just permeate into the soil, right?
Wrong.
After I returned the excavator, I realized the drain pipe would need to be dug up again and extended another 60 feet to truly drain properly. So I went back, re-rented the mini excavator, dug new trenches, connected more pipe and finished it the right way.
Also, bonus video for those of you who read this far:
You are a good duck dad.