5 Tricks to Keep Ducks and Other Birds Out of Your Pool
Ducks are beautiful to watch swimming in a pond but you don’t want to see them in your pool. They are a headache when they stop by for a pool party. They force your pool chemicals to work overtime to fight the germs they carry and also leave behind duck droppings. Since ducks are protected birds, you should not shoot at them or use traps or poison to get rid of them like mice or rats. There are many safe tricks you can use to keep ducks out of your pool.
- Leave Animal Pool Toys or Scare Eye Balloons in Your Pool
Wild ducks are scared of predators like alligators, snakes, sharks and dolphins. A simple way to keep ducks out of your pool is to leave inflatable pool toys that look like their predators or eye balloons in your pool when you aren’t using it. Unfortunately, this solution isn’t full proof. If the ducks realize that these pool ornaments will not attack them, they may return.
- Use an Automatic Pool Cleaner
Leaving an automatic pool cleaner in your pool can also trick ducks into staying away because it looks like a predator to them. Most ducks will be scared away when they see it moving under the water. Similar to using pool toys, this does not always a foolproof plan.
- Cover Your Pool with a Solar Cover or Bird Netting
Covering your pool with either a solar cover or bird netting is one of the best ways to keep ducks out of the water. Bird netting makes it hard for ducks to land in the water. An additional benefit is that it will catch any leaves or twigs that fall into your pool. Ducks can easily land on a solar cover but they should quickly fly away once they realize it is not water. A solar cover is a great investment for more than repelling ducks since it traps heat from the sun in the pool naturally heating the water for you.
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Train Your Dog to Chase or Bark at Ducks
Dogs are also a natural predator of ducks. Many ducks will stay away if they even notice a dog in your yard. If the ducks that are attracted to your pool aren’t easily scared off by your dog, you can train your dog to bark at intruding water fowl to help keep them moving along.
- Add Duck Off to the Pool Water
As a last resort, you can add Duck Off to the water. Duck Off is a chemical produced by Lo-Chlor that breaks the surface tension of the water. It prevents ducks from being able to float in the water. It is safe to use but it should be a last option since it’s never desirable to add an extra chemical to pool water.
We hope these tricks help you keep ducks away. If you have any additional questions, give us a call! Our pool experts love to lend their advice.
