Ducks and algae in ponds

Does anyone know if ducks are an effective way to help keep algae at bay in a pond? We know other steps we need to take to help eliminate or beat it back but in regards to waterfowl, I was wondering if they are known for being serious algae eaters and great for ponds for that reason.

Thanks so much!

I know nothing but here is an educated guess.

Any advantage you will have from algae-eating ducks will be countered by nitrogen rich, algae enhancing duck poop in the water.

No one else?

I hear oxygenation may be your best non-chemical bet.

I think it would depend on the size of pond?
We have a couple families of wild ducks that nest on our pond, they seem to do a pretty good job of keeping the algae at bay, it is good to have a little but not over run your pond with it.
We get duckweed on our pond in the summer and my ducks love it, but Sue is right if you have a smaller pond you might cause more issues with the duck poo problem in there than the algae is causing.

I have heard Koi are good for algae in ponds, but we get a lot of blue herring and pelicans on our pond so I would be stocking it up to feed them.

My neighbours swear by barley straw. They put a small bale in their pond and no algae.

Thanks so much Schipper, Hidden and bckev. This is good info. The pond is 150x50 but shallow for the most part and we haven't had time to do anything to it since we put it in 2.5 years ago other than a little aeration system called a flow form and we did try fish but the osprey and herons got them all. We've gotten away with doing little to it until now. The algae is taking off so the pond has moved closer to the top of the list of things to do.

I think we're going to go for one of those fountain things you put in the centre to give it more oxygen.

I know some plants would help as well but again, all this takes time and there is so much to do. Must get some WOOF'ers.

Eventually I so want to do ducks but if they aren't the immediate answer I will wait.

And bckev........a bale of barley straw? Radical. That would be so cool if it really worked. Must google it and if there is hope for it I'm guessing it won't be easy finding a bale of barley straw here in the West Kootenays of BC.

bckev wrote:My neighbours swear by barley straw. They put a small bale in their pond and no algae.

Ha, ha! I love it! The things we learn on this forum. Who'd a thunk? http://www.google.ca/search?client=safari&rls=en&q=barley+straw+in+ponds&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&redir_esc=&ei=W3uEUZeNK-GrigKCnYDQAQ