Florida Pool Pro
sm
• April 2015
19
(accidental fecal release), with ducks it is no accident. It seems they save it up
and leave it behind. It must be treated the same, as duck poo has potentially the
same bad stuff as other poo. Pools should be closed and the CDC guidelines
should be followed for fecal clean-up when duck waste is discovered.
The best way to deal with ducks is to prevent them from getting into pools
in the first place. Not an easy task! Most likely the best way would be to have
the guys from “Duck Dynasty” set up a blind and shoot them as they try to
land in the pool, but that could get messy. And, if they are using a dog that
is swimming/retrieving them, well now you have to consider a dog using the
pool and creating other water balance issues.
Animals are not allowed in commercial pools (ref. 64E-9); if only the ducks
could read! I suppose teaching ducks to read is not an option. I asked Tim
Hagar from Tropiclear/LoChlor Chemicals if they had a chemical to keep ducks
out. They used to and still have one sold in Australia but that is a long way to
go to get some. Apparently it is not safe to use in America and was pulled. I
have also heard some enzyme companies declare that their enzymes are so
effective that when the ducks land in the water it removes the oil from their
feathers and they sink! Don’t we wish they worked that fast. People would
pay to see it and the money raised could offset the cost of the extra chlorine
needed to decontaminate the water.
We have spent countless dollars on blow-up toys from beach balls to the
special order, extra scary alligator, only to arrive to see the ducks riding the
blow up gator around. I am sure the ducks were thinking, “This is great, these
folks are providing toys for us to use!” One solution that seems to work is
putting up monofilament lines over the pool…a bird defense grid as we call
them. The ducks are excellent flyers, so you may need numerous lines. We
have used special order “scare tape” on the lines and wind socks in worst case
situations. I am not sure how scary the tape is, and the wind socks look cool
but sometimes I think help the ducks by showing the wind direction!
So, the battle continues. The lines help. And, when I see duck on any menu
(The Melting Pot duck is awesome!) I eat it. Heaven knows we need fewer
ducks around, at least using our pools!
