Frozen pond and ducks with salt water

[MARKY]

Hi guys, first post here. Pond is very frozen at the moment, over 4 inches thick in some places we do not have any fish in there but did have two ducks which we lost one last night to foxes. have been going at the ice with wood breaking it up in places this morning but afraid it will just re freeze over tonight. Doing some googling I found out salt water has a lot lower freezing point then normal water but would this hurt the ducks if I made it salt water?, I would of course provide a fresh water source but we have had the ducks for over a year and they have always drunk from the pond even when there was a fresh water source there.

I have thought about a foutain or pump with inlet and outlet inside the pond to get the water moving a bit but it is quite a distance from any place with electricity so not the best option for me.

Also as the male duck is now alone and I am gutted for him as he went everywhere with the female in tow, would bringing another female duck in be ok? or would he reject it (i.e is it in their nature to only have one mate)

Any help would be appericated dont want to lose this duck to foxes either, there is no way to stop the foxes as my land is too big to fence off securely and surrounded by farm land

 

[dorsetduckowner]

Hiya,

you are not the only one with this problem, so don't worry!

We have the same issue with our lake and the geese. If it freezes over they have no escape from the fox who is very very hungry tin this weather.

In answer to your questions:

Salt Water: most domestic ducks are not adapted to deal with drinking salt water and will tend not to drink it, it is likely it would not make a huge difference to the pond anyway as the amount of salt you would need to stop it freezing would be excessive.

Lone Duck: YES!!!! He will LOVE a companion, of any description, a lone duck is a terrified duck as they are flock species, especially in this weather.

Our geese are free range and we cannot get near them, so what we do is build a large makeshift fox proof pen and herd them in from dusk until dawn, is there anyway you can do this with your drake?

I would bring him in somewhere safe until the weather changes if you possibly can and get him a friend ASAP. You may do well getting him another drake. Where are you based?

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