Quick Answer:
Ducks in your pool can be a nuisance, but there are ways to keep them away without causing any harm. Try using inflatable pool toys, a solar pool cover, a robotic pool cleaner or your pet dog as scarecrows.
You should also avoid using fish line or bird netting since it could harm the ducks. With these tips, you’ll have no more duck drama in your swimming pool!
Why Are Ducks in a Swimming Pool Bad News?
The answer to this question seems pretty obvious! Of course, you do not want ducks waddling about in your pool, that is always bad news. But why, specifically, is this bad news? What do the ducks do that makes this a particularly bad invasion?
Well, ducks, like many other birds, are carriers of dangerous diseases like bird flu, salmonella, E. Coli, etc. These are diseases and viruses that can be dangerous and possibly even fatal for humans.
While the chlorine in your pool should be able to kill these bacteria off. But if the chemical balance in the water is not correct, it will not be effective in killing off resilient bacterial and viral strains.
Ducks could also leave excreta (duck poo) in your pool and nobody wants to deal with that! (I have an article about the dangers of pee in your pool).
But apart from being harmful to you, getting comfortable in your swimming pool is bad for the ducks as well. The chlorinated water is not good for any animal to consume too much of, so if the ducks take in a lot of the water it could lead to kidney damage.
Now, you may not give two hoots about the duck’s health (though you probably should), but for your own benefit, you do not want the duck to get sick and die in your pool. Taking care of a dead duck is a lot worse than cleaning up some excreta!
I have a few articles aimed at getting rid of or keeping out different pests:
- How to Get Rid of Water Bugs in Your Pool
- How to Keep Frogs Out of Your Pool
- How to Get Rid of Worms in Your Pool
Why Do Ducks Love Your Pool?
Again, the answer to this question is obvious – ducks are water birds. But a swimming pool is a safer habitat than a swamp or a pond since there are no predators here (other than some humans desperate to get rid of them).
So a body of water and no obvious predators in sight? Naturally, they take the literal plunge at this opportunity.
How to Keep Ducks Out of Your Swimming Pool?
Now, let’s get to the real question—how do you keep ducks out of the pool? There are a few different methods you can try. The following are some of them:
Use Inflatable Pool Toys
Inflatable pool toys will work like scarecrows in this scenario, except they will be for scaring the ducks. Ducks are terrified of predators (and understandably so) and they may not be the brightest birds in the pond. So try a large inflatable toy of an alligator or a snake.
The presence of this inflatable toy in the pool may fool the ducks into thinking there’s a predator in there and they will avoid the pool.
Use a Solar Pool Cover
A solar pool cover is a plastic sheet that you can put over your pool. The sheet looks sort of like bubble wrap and is available in varying thicknesses and colors. When the solar cover is on, the ducks will not be able to land on the pool. Even if they do land, they will not be able to float on the water as the pool will be covered.
Solar pool covers also give you the added benefit of retaining the natural heat of your pool and help you keep the perfect pool temperature. They also help keep out debris like dried leaves and dust out! You can take care of two birds with one stone, pun not intended.
Install a Robotic Pool Cleaner
A robotic or automatic pool cleaner is a more expensive method for only getting rid of ducks in your pool, but they also do an incredible job of keeping your pool clean and healthy.
An automatic pool cleaner will work like a Roomba and move around on the floor of your pool giving it a good scrub and clean.
When ducks see something moving about in the water, they take it to be a predator—even if this predator is not shaped like what they may be used to.
Put Your Dog on the Job – Or The Cat!
Speaking of predators, you do not have to fabricate the threat of a predator when you have a dog in the backyard. While dogs do not eat ducks they certainly may enjoy hunting or chasing them.
If nothing else, your pet dog is likely to bark their head off at the sight of this invader in your pool which should be enough to scare the ducks away.
If you leave your dog to hang around in the yard and around the pool, this should do the trick. Even if they are not outside at all times, the local duck population will be able to recognize your home as the one with the dog in it and will automatically avoid your pool.
Cats are incredible hunters – but we don’t want them eating the ducks now do we? Simply having a cat on the property will be enough to keep away even the dumbest duck!
Chemicals to Keep Ducks Out?
There are some chemical treatments that you can try to keep ducks out of your pool, but this should be the last resort since you do not want to pump your pool up with chemicals and other toxins. But if all else fails, you could give certain mild chemicals a shot.
For example, there are chemicals you can find at pool stores that reduce the surface tension of the water, therefore, making it difficult for the ducks to land.
What Not to Do
While the above suggestions are for what you can try when you have a duck problem in your pool, here is something that you should absolutely not do!
Fish Line or Bird Netting
Even if the ducks are causing a nuisance, you still want to be humane and solve the problem without causing any injuries or death. You may have heard of people putting fishing lines or bird netting in their pools to prevent ducks and other birds from coming in.
However, this can be harmful to ducks or any other kind of animal as the fishing line or bird net will not be visible. The animal may get caught and will be trapped in your pool. When they struggle to free themselves, they may end up getting injured or could even drown in the pool.
Not wanting to deal with the corpse is not the only reason you should avoid doing this. This is an unnecessarily inhumane practice and you should simply not want to cause harm.
It needs to be said – Please don’t shoot the ducks!
Conclusion
Ducks in your pool can be a very frustrating thing because they do leave behind a mess for you to clean up. But keep in mind that they are only birds trying to live their life, get some worms and crumbs and not get killed.
So, as much as you want them out of there, try not to cause them harm.
The tricks that have been mentioned above are some of the most effective ones to keep ducks out of your pool. Even if one of them does not work, you may want to try a few tricks together to make sure the pesky ducks don’t come searching for water in your backyard.
