Pond Boss Forums INTRO Questions & Observations Ducks/Geese in small pond.

We have a 1/2 acre or so pond and a few days ago 4 Canda geese and 2 Mallards (couples i assume) decided make our pond their home. Our water is very clear and I was worried if they decide to live at our pond permantly will this affect our water quailty? Also if they are couples and this spring we have a bunch of babies... Do big bass eat baby ducks? I've heard this somewhere and we have a 20" monster bass that lives in our pond. We also have a Monster snapping turtle(about 3' shell radius) Thanks in advance for sharing..

Mike

VAPond,
I think the answer to all is yes. Not sure how much the geese & ducks will affect water clairity but they will add nutrients which could cause a bloom darkening the water.
The bass may eat the very young goslings & ducklings.
A 3' snapper will weigh close to 100# & could eat anything it wanted.
Sounds like the waterfowl are wild & will leave if disturbed very much.
I would get rid of the snapper.

A 20" Bass will be able to take newly hatched Mallards. The Snapper can eat anything it can catch and would be effective against all baby waterfowl. The Canadas are your bigger worry, but they might be youngsters since they are fairly territorial as breeding adults. Since your pond is 1/2 acre, it would not normally be big enough for 2 pairs - don't take this as a guarantee! I would harass them whenever I could to encourage them to leave, but the Mallards are not a real issue.

i promise you the turtle will take baby ducks,they will do it ever time.i've had this problem several times with turtles half this size.we have ducks and geese come in all the time,it is rare that that stay more than 2-3 days if they are truely wild.

Geese come, geese go. Ducks come, ducks go.
If you want them to leave, don't feed them.
If they stay, and reproduce, predators will eat the babies.
Fish eat goslings and ducklings.
Big snapping turtles do, too. So do bobcats, and other natural predators.
If they stay, feed them away from the pond, and the birds are less likely to foul your water.