Whisky barrel wildlife pond

Hi my kids came home recently with some frogspawn and I thought I would make a little pond for them from a whisky barrel, put in some oxygenating plants, etc maybe some duckweed and a lilypad or two, so I got a barrel today but it stinks of whisky . Will it kill the tadpoles?

 

Not a good idea unless you line it with polythene or plastic sheeting.Tap water can kill tadpoles as it contains chlorine, this may dissipate if left for several days but pond or clean rainwater is best.
Oxygenating plants are a must and the water should be changed (with the same type) after two weeks. Hope this helps.

 

Hi and Welcome to the Forum,

Well they might die happy ! though no idea what concentration of the old whisky will leach out of the wood or how much it would affect the wildlife or plants ; expect it will take some time to soak / flush out the barrel with water.

Might be better to get a tempoary plastic container like one of these from The Range or elsewhere. Not as attractive but should be safe.

Just to add to @strongylodon comment, you can buy little bottles of chlorine removers that act almost instantly on tap water.
https://www.petsathome.com/shop/en/pets/aquasafe-250ml

 

Thank you i wasn't planning on using tapwater. Is the plastic sheeting specific to it smelling of whisky or for barrels generally? It is completely watertight

 

I might have to get one of those tuff tubs instead. I wasnt sure if the whisky smell is just par for the course. Other people seem to have made ponds from half barrels but maybe they werent quite the genuine article?

 

I've got a plastic half whisky barrel mini pond. I set it up around 2 and 1/2 years ago and it seems to be doing ok. It has plants and snails and the birds like it to drink from.

 

Here's a video on how to make a barrel pond.

 

I thought I would update on this I ended up using a kids outdoor water table to make a small shallow pond with varied levels (and a little slide for the tadpoles lol) The handful of plants i took from the wild established - the duckweed I bought from ebay didn't - and the numerous tadpoles (when they hatched) looked really happy UNTIL i noticed suddenly there were barely any left - and no dead ones that I could see. Then i found THIS and another one - diving beetle larvae - and they had been eating my poor tadpoles. Thankfully I still have about 8 left which is more than can be said for the pond where they came from- which should have had thousands - but we could not see a single tadpole - presumably all eaten by aforementionned diving beetle larvae....

 

as for the stinky whisky barrel...i left some water and pond plants in it thinking I would maybe use it next year when it's less stinky...but the water has gone rather slimy.....