How to Keep Ducks Out of Your Pool

Duck in a swimming pool can look pretty and attractive. It’s something you can watch as you enjoy a cool breeze on your home patio. Kids love them. But wait until you go to clean your pool and find all the duck poop floating on water. They might even start to mate, and their numbers will increase. That’s why you have to do all you can to keep them out of your pool.

How to keep ducks out of your pool is relatively easy. All you have to do is find the best way to scare them off your swimming pool water, and there are plenty of ways. You can start by covering your pool with a solar blanket or a leaf net cover, use an automatic pool cleaner, get a dog, disturb the water surface, and use duck repellant, among others.

As you can see, these methods are pretty straightforward. But before you can start implementing them, you might want to know more about ducks in pool, why they love swimming pools, how to keep them off, and the don’ts.

Why Are Ducks in Your Pool

Ducks love water since they are members of the waterfowl family. They are web-footed, and that makes them excellent swimmers. With their lives revolving around water, they are drawn to your pool naturally.

And considering pool water has no natural predators like the alligators, they find it a magical paradise. The water stays come without disturbance, allowing them to eat, relax, and do all the ducky business in peace.

If you take time to remove the leaves that fall into the swimming pool, the migrating ducks in the sky can see this as a perfect home. The state and smell caused by the debris attract the ducks, and they might assume it’s their new home.

Why Keep Ducks Out of Your Pool

According to the CDC, birds can at times carry harmful germs, which can make people sick. The germs can lead to various illnesses that can range from minor infections to severe problems that can cause death.

And according to Infectious Disease Epidemiology Section, Louisiana Department of Health, the fecal matter from animals could contain organisms such as Escherichia coli and Cryptosporidium species. They transmittable to swimmers when they consume the contaminated water.

As you can see, it is a risk swimming in water contaminated with such substances brought in by the ducks, especially to the immunosuppressed kids and seniors.

Even though pool sanitizer could neutralize the contaminants, therefore, cleansing the water, the duck droppings will still be gross. They might be floating on water and the patio or deck. And you know what, they are the primary carrier of the bacteria and orgasm transmitted to a human.

And since ducks are wild animals, they shouldn’t be hanging out in your backyard. Furthermore, floating in chlorinated water and drinking is unhealthy for them. It could make them sick or worse. It could damage their internal organs, starting with the kidneys.

Furthermore, if they stick in your backyard for too long, they might start laying eggs, and before you know, their numbers will multiply.

That’s not all; you don’t know where these ducks came from. They might be carrying all types of contaminants, including pollen, dirt, and algae spores collected from ponds. If they swim in your pool, they will leave everything there.

That can give birth to a more severe cleaning problem that could increase your pool maintenance tasks and make it challenging to balance the water.

How to Protect Your Pool from Ducks

Even though the ducks have hit your nerve, you don’t have to poison them or start heating them with stones. Here are humane methods you can employ to keep them off your swimming pool and backyard.

Cover the Pool with a Pool Solar Cover

Duck won’t be interested in your backyard unless you have open water around. If you cover the pool water, using a solar cover can help them prevent these birds from selling there. It might seem like an essential move, but it can do the trick.

The best solar cover to use here is a solar blanket. It can help cover the whole pool and prevent debris such as leaves and bird droppings from entering the pool water. The solar blanket can also help keep the pool water warm.

When choosing the best pool cover, remember to keep in mind besides deterring the duck from the pool, you can use it to improve your heater’s heating efficiency and reduce water evaporation and chemical loss.

Use an automatic pool cleaner

An automatic cleaner cleans a pool at intervals, and during the cleaning cycle, it tends to make some noise. If you don’t have a solar blanket, but you have the cleaner, you can use it.

And it’s not a must to keep it running all the time, mainly if you cover your pool at night. Please turn it on in the morning for a couple of hours before you and your family can decide to sunbathe or swim.

Most of these automatic pool cleaners are quite efficient and customizable. You can set them to active at particular intervals.

Besides this, when the cleaner is running, it will be cleaning your pool. If you’re using an automatic skimmer, you won’t have to worry about the debris and leave that fall into the pool.

Disturb the Water Surface

Ducks do not like water that keeps moving. That’s why you might never see them in the sea or ocean. It’s not their natural habitat. If you disturb the water, you can keep them away from your swimming pool.

You could install a pool fountain to keep the water moving and the surface not calm. And you might have seen; a pool fountain creates something magical in a swimming pool.

The visual effect it creates can be pleasing to the people’s eyes, but it’s a repellant to the ducks. And the far the disturb is, the lower the chance of ducks entering your swimming pool.

These birds love treading water quietly. If the water surface is disturbed, they won’t enjoy it, and they will move to find a new habitat.

It can even help you could down your pool during the scorching weather.

Get a dog

If the above homemade duck repellents aren’t working, you could try getting a dog. A canine can help solve the duck-in-pool problem quite quickly by scaring them away.

Often, a dog will try to run them up and down, playing with them and not trying to eat them. It might seem fun for the dog, but that won’t be the case for the ducks.

The barking will scare the ducks easily, and they will leave your swimming pool if they hear the sound and get even more scared if they see the dog running after them.

However, not all dogs can chase the ducks naturally. In that case, you will need to get your dog trained for the job. Don’t rely on cats as they don’t make any noise, and they might not be interested in running after the birds.

Try Predator Toys and Scarecrows

Ducks fear their predators a lot. They are easily scared by them. Using predator toys and scarecrows can help deter them from accessing your pool.

Alligator Toy or Floaters

An alligator is one of the ducks’ predators that they fear most. Using an alligator toy as a floater in your pool can help keep the ducks off while also providing the young swimmers with fun.

The sizing doesn’t matter, but you might want to get something that they can see even when they’re flying to prevent them from landing.

You can also use a snake, killer whale, and bobbing dolphin Toy.

Scarecrow kite

You can hang a hawk kite; realistic or style can help force them not to land. The ducks will try to avoid your property and search for a safe place.

Most of the kites come with an adjustable rope and pole with a sharp end to allow you to install them without much effort. Since the ducks tend to fly high, it’d be best to use the maximum length

Swan or Owl Decoys

A swan is another predator featured a lot by ducks since they can be pretty aggressive towards the ducks since they are territorial. Using a swan or owl decoy can also be effective in keeping the ducks off your pool. Use the swan decoy sharp anchor to stake at the bottom and use it for positioning it safely near the pool.

Use an Ultrasonic Duck Repellent

Ultrasonic repellent is another effective method you could use to keep the ducks away from your swimming pool and backyard. It’s also versatile as you can use it on a variety of animals, not just birds.

They are available in various audio frequencies designed dot specifically target the animal you want to scare. Some of the frequencies are audible to humans. It’d be best to remember this when installing the repellent.

It would be best to consider using several of these units across the area you want to be covered for the best duck pest control. For duck control, consider using more than one unit near the swimming pool, keeping in mind they have limited sound range. Don’t worry about the cost; it’s an affordable option.

You can also use a Sonic Cannon. As the name suggests is a device designed to release a loud sonic blast that scares off many bird species, including ducks.

It’s another alternative you can consider to keep these birds away from your swimming pool. You can customize a sonic cannon to release the sonic blasts at given intervals or times during the day.

However, it has one drawback; if you want to attract other birds to your lawn and backyard, the device might not allow it as it might scare them away.

Use Motion-Activated Sprinkler Intimidate

Since the ducks will probably use your lawn and backyard as the landing spot before getting in the water, installing a motion-activated sprinkler can help repel them from your property.

Some of these sprinklers can spray water up to 60 feet. So if you get two, it might be enough to keep the ducks and other animals away from the lawn. And you know what, it’s a convenient method that can also help your keep grass patches watered well.

It uses a built-in sensor designed to detect movement or use infrared light to detect animal heat on a specified range around it.

If it detects any motion or body heat, the sprinkler starts to spray water automatically in a scarily way forcing the animals to run or fly away.

And that’s why these motion-activated sprinklers tend to be effective repellants of various animals, including raccoons, pests, and ducks.

Take Advantage of Bird Repellent Deterrent Discs and Reflectors

Discs and reflectors can be an excellent decoration for your home and pool deck. They are shiny moving objects that can swivel 360 degrees and reflect multiple colors when hit by sunlight. The flashing and dazzling effect scare birds off, including the ducks.

Call a Professional

If you’ve tried everything, but the ducks keep coming or taking shelter in nearby shrubs and return when you open your pool, the best solution would be to get a professional – somebody who understands the ducks’ behavior well.

A professional can help your check what you might have done wrong and suggests a better solution to the problem. But of course, with a fee.

Professionals are often authorized by animal control to use poison as an extreme measure. But I’d advise you to try the humane options I have provided before you can use the hash technique.

I should also mention, a professional can suggest the best tips to prevent duck in pool problems in the future.

A professional can tell you where the duck could lay the eggs, their best roosting spot, and advise you on the best way to adjust your landscape to make it less attractive for these waterfowl birds.

Hiring a professional doesn’t mean you’ll spend a fortune. It might seem expensive, but you might get insights into the best gadgets to use and use them right.

Besides this, the professional might help you with other pest and animal control besides the duck problem.

DON’Ts When Dealing With Duck in Your Pool

Even though you want the ducks off your swimming pool, there some measures you cannot employ. Here are the don’ts when chasing away the birds.

Do Not Kill

These beautiful wild animals go through a lot of threats in their lives. Killing them won’t be the best move. They are finding a habitat free of predators. They don’t know that they come with problems that the pool owner has to deal with.

Do not hit or poison them. Poisoning the duck is killing them. And if the birds are too many, it could make the whole thing a problem for you. You can scare them away, and you might never have to see them again until subsequent migration.

Besides this, under the Migratory Bird Treaty Act of 1918, you cannot take, kill, capture, transport or trade protected migratory bird species, including ducks, without Department of Interior U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service prior authorization.

Do Not Set Traps

Setting up a fishing line or nets on the pool surface can be dangerous to the ducks and other birds or animals that play around.

These animals and birds cannot see the barrier. If they get tangled, they might drown, and you will have a new dead ducks’ problem to deal with.

Besides this, you might be charged for breaking the migratory bird treaty act.

Summary

And they you go; everything you might need to keep ducks away from your swimming pool. All the above methods are all-natural and safe for the ducks. Diverting or removing ducks away from your swimming should be your goal. Don’t a control measure that can hurt the birds or kill them.