Small pond build?

[Scott85]

Thinking about making a small pond for wildlife. There is a huge mud hole on our property I would say 15'x30" it stays wet year round even during dry years and we have kinda made it into a mineral lick, but I was thinking about digging it out because it has to be spring fed and having a small pool of water or small pond. Is this a good idea or will me digging it up ruin it? I planned on renting a 10K excavator to dig rocks out of our food plot and the yard where our cabin is. Thanks in advance!!

 

[EddieWalker]

Sounds like a great idea. Be sure to get one with a blade on the front so you can grade around the edge of it and make it look nice.

Eddie

 

[dave1949]

There are things written about this if you Google "developing a spring", you will find some info.

You might get a better idea of how much water is there by digging a test hole with the excavator, deep but not wide. See what shows up. If the hole has water, good, if not you can refill and not have disturbed much.

 

[Scott85]

Thanks Eddie and Dave. Dave, how much water am I looking for to go ahead with building? Should a 5' hole fill up in a hour?

 

[EddieWalker]

If it fills up, it doesn't really matter how long it takes. My guess is that the soil around the area is saturated and the water will ooze in through the sides. You might open up a pocket and get some serious flow, but odds are that it will flow about the same as it does now and just slowly fill up. If it takes a week, I wouldn't be concerned at all. I also would be surprised if it filled to a point close to the edge, and then stopped.

Eddie

 

[dave1949]

Thanks Eddie and Dave. Dave, how much water am I looking for to go ahead with building? Should a 5' hole fill up in a hour?

If that happened, I'd think you have plenty of water and the ground is well-saturated, but I was thinking of observing the hole for a period of a couple weeks, ideally in your dry season if you want to know worst case.

It doesn't take a lot of water to sustain a small pond if it doesn't leak, you are just replacing evaporation losses. Ideally, you would have enough flow from a spring, or by collecting ground water, that you have a bit of out-flow from the pond. That would reduce the tendency toward stagnation and algae blooms in hot weather. Is there any run-off out of the mudhole now, or is it a low area that stays wet but doesn't overflow?

 

[dave1949]

If it fills up, it doesn't really matter how long it takes. My guess is that the soil around the area is saturated and the water will ooze in through the sides. You might open up a pocket and get some serious flow, but odds are that it will flow about the same as it does now and just slowly fill up. If it takes a week, I wouldn't be concerned at all. I also would be surprised if it filled to a point close to the edge, and then stopped.

Eddie

You beat me to it. :laughing:

 

[Scott85]

Its a low area and I think at one point many many many moons ago it was a small pond for sheep to drink out of. the seep looks it has a man made dam on the one side and is just shy of the surrounding ground on the other. Wish I had a picture to post.

 

[dave1949]

Its a low area and I think at one point many many many moons ago it was a small pond for sheep to drink out of. the seep looks it has a man made dam on the one side and is just shy of the surrounding ground on the other. Wish I had a picture to post.

I have something very similar. I think it was hand dug many years ago to water sheep or cattle. They found a spot that was always wet and dug it out, banking dirt on the low side. The dirt bank has trees growing on it that are 50-60 years old, so I knew it had been there and always wet for a long time.

It was a small water hole, maybe 30' across and had mostly filled with branches and leaves over the years. I don't think it has a spring feeding it, but ground water is constantly seeping into it, enough to make a trickle of out flow.

I routed the drainage along my driveway into it and had it dug out to 13' deep in the center by an excavator, and enlarged it a bit to maybe 50' across. The slope of the ground and DNR rules prevented making it a lot bigger. Any who, it is always full and usually has some overflow, even when my rain-filled pond is losing water.

Since it sits in a "wooded wetland", without a lot of permit hassles the size is limited to 1/10 acre and no more than 1/4 acre disturbance. Since it already existed, it was grandfathered in that I can maintain it. So I did. :laughing:

If you have the right spot, even with just ground water supplying the pond, and don't ask for too much water by making it too big, you should do okay.

 

[Scott85]

So I should just clean it out maybe a foot to see and leave it one foot deep. I'm just trying to give wildlife a source of water that is on our property.