Just wanted to share with you the biggest mistake i have made so far in this pond building process. Probably will not be my only mistake but it has been a huge pain in the rear. I fell for the puppy dog eyes from my youngest daughter when she asked for cute little fluffy ducklings for our new pond. In my defense I never thought they would survive the bobcats, hawks and owls. But so far we have only lost one of the twelve we started with. They eat everything you try to put in the pond from beneficial plants to FHM to sunfish, tadpoles, frogs Everything!!!!. They eat all the time. I thought they also might be helpful in fertilizing the pond, but I can not get anything to grow. Last night I seen them hunting the FHM I had just stocked. They are voracious predators that never stop eating....... Don't do it......At least until your pond is established and then only put in a few. I had not remembered seeing anything on the duck subject (probably cause I hadn't looked hard enough...Everything else you ever wanted to know can be found on this sight) so I just wanted to share..

HaHa! my dad did the same thing last year. The feed store had 40 duckings left over after easter and said they would take a 1.00 each for them so dad got all of them thinking most would get ate by predators. All of them survived! he ended up telling giving about half away and then finally a owl started eating them. Theres only 5 malards left now and they are still aggervating.

What kind of ducks are they?

Most ducks do not eat fish

Many think only mergansers eat fish, however many diver and puddle ducks will gladly eat a slow moving FHM if they can catch it...

Yeah, their appetite is only half the problem. Their manure can cause a serious bloom in the water. You guys need a visit from your friendly local coyote.

My neighbor thought it's be cute to have 2 white ducks on his 1/4 ac pond. It's unbelieveable what they did. The water was muddy all the time, and the banks where the plants met the water was chewed away by the ducks constantly moving the dirt to get at the plant roots and look for insects. His water quality and "erosion" problems stopped when the ducks were sold at the local auction.

Hi guys.

I'll jump in here and offer a differing point of view. I've actually got 5 peeking ducks (white ones) on my pond and I have had none of the issues you described - none. They actually seem to be eating any algea which grows near the rip rap and keeping it in check. I can't say that I have seen any increased turbidity in the water, etc... They spend some time swimming in it, but also spend a lot of time out in the yard wandering around and eating bugs, etc...

I was pretty unsure about them at first, but they have been here since last July and don't seem to be causing us any issues at all.

Maybe, I'm just lucky.

How about wild ducks and geese. Do they present any problems?

Ask Todd. He's a real devotee.

Forgive me in advance. But who is Todd?

Big problem is catching out unwanted fish. You even don't see how much of them are left...

But ducks - that's not the biggest problem actually. You can shoot them or catch in other way (probably the only problem is how your daughter would react). By the way, duck is quite tasty.

Todd is a ne'er do well that posts here.

Grundulis, welcome to Pond Boss. You are our first poster from Latvia. Please go to the Newcomers area and tell us about ponds and fish in Latvia. We like to hear about new areas and especially see pictures.

Yes, welcome to Pond Boss Grundulis. My dad used to travel to Latvia quite a bit before he retired. He still has some friends from Latvia come to visit him every now and then. From what I have heard, it is a gorgeous country!

Besides being a avid pondmeister and raconteur, he loves geese.

These ducks are ruens and snowy mallards. And I guarantee they eat fish. I was putting more riprap on the pond and I watched them take out one of my sunfish as well as a couple frogs. One nearly choked on the frog. I think it is time to start giving them lead poisoning one by one so its not to obvious. My daughter is on to my resentment of the ducks and has been getting home from school and counting them. You should have seen her face when she came home two nights ago and I was grilling chicken breast. she almost shot first and asked second.....

Your bass get big enough the ducklings might make some good food. Kidding, wild ducks are a nice treat if they stop once and awhile... pet ducks make a mess.

We actually used ducklings and kittens for musky fishing up north in my younger years. Had to give all that up when I had compassionate daughters... Too bad cause it was killer when they were in the shallows.

Theres a wood duck down at the pond that has 5 duckings with her. They must be the luckiest ducklings ive ever seen. They hatched about 3 weeks ago and she takes them all over the pond. She even brings them to the feeder when the HSB and on 25 lbs catfish are eating. So far all 5 are still alive.

I honestly think it takes a REALLY hungry bass to go after a duckling, then size comes into effect. I know it happens just think it is pretty rare. I have been setting a trap in a really small pond that loaded with stunted BG. Catching about 30-50 a day and my bass sit there like dogs when I feed them to them. The CC always come looking but hey are never fast enough to beat the big guys to the punch. Ducklings would be much easier feed

Ducks and geese are annoying to us. We have that is not stocked and there are 8 geese on it. The geese cause other problems in the winter eating acres and acres of wheat. A few years ago, there were not any ducks around. Now there are at least a pair on every pond and the better ponds have up to 20 ducks on them.

I have heard of muskie and pike going after ducklings but never bass.

Our pond has mostly a natural edge (not mowed like a subdivision pond). This seems to keep the ducks and geese under control, although we had one clutch of geese hatch and leave after the number of babies went from 8 to 3 in a couple days. Also still have a wood duck with 7 babies. Our floating dock provides access for people.

Geese don't like walking out of the water thru tall grass (or other plants) to get to the grass that they can eat. Too easy for a predator to hide in the tall grass. They avoid ponds that are kept that way.

R&R, let's just say I've had a number of run-ins with geese at my property. And let's just further say that of the two sides to these encounters, I'm the one still able to post to Pond Boss!

Geese and ducks are a potential disaster at a small pond. In my case, they are no longer just potential, but realized potential, as they have over many years prior to our ownership fertilized the pond to such a level that we have a massive nutrient problem that produces lots of complications with unwanted vegetation.

Todd,
Thanks, I have always tried to keep the geese run off just because of the mess they leave. Not to hard on the 1 ac. behind the house but the 10 ac. pond 45 min. away its a little more difficult. sometime's there's upwards of 30 on that one.I will definatley be putting the fed. duck stamp to use this year.

Well the nice thing about the 10 acre pond is that it's a lot of water and can probably process the nutrients more effectively than a small pond, but still, I wouldn't do anything to make them feel welcome!

In my pond I always have about 30 canada geese that come in and make it their home for a couple weeks. They wreak havoc on the clarity of the water. It will turn from crystal clear to a mud puddle in about a day.

I used to not mind them just because it was sort of neat to watch them do their thing. Then I joined Pond Boss and learned what a mess they make and how much bad stuff they do to a pond, particularly a small one. We've had several times that I've seen a massive flock that has spent the night on our pond. I shudder to think of all the times they've been there that I haven't been around to see it.

We had about 8 on our half acre pond tonight. Only 6 left. With just 8, there was still poop everywhere. I hate geese. I believe I may hate geese now more than I hate snakes. And for some of you here, you know that's really saying something!

Bill Cody aptly named them as flying toilets.

No doubt that's a well suited nickname!

My buddy Mike counted 42 on his 2 ac pond yesterday. They didn't stick around long........

We have about 28 and about 14 little babies and we hate them. We put fake coyotes on our ponds and rit seemed to help for alil bit, but they just get more and more comfortable with them.

Get a paintball gun

Personally I don't think golf course geese, ie non migratory Canada geese should be protected at all. Should be open season on them when ever a property owners chooses.

I second the motion!!!

If you want to scare the hell out of the critters and have fun too, get one of these.
http://www.bananahobby.com/1686.html

IT'S NOT???

SSS