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#543122 01/17/22 06:38 PM
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Would you try to keep ducks off your pond ? I know they eat fish but the ones on my pond are small - wood ducks, mallards,etc. Should someone worry about them eating your small bait fish?

tim k #543123 01/17/22 06:52 PM
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I encourage wild ducks on my ponds.

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tim k #543124 01/17/22 07:07 PM
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Thanks but do they hurt your pond and fish?

tim k #543126 01/17/22 09:18 PM
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Mallards and woodies will eat fish given the opportunity although they aren’t very efficient at catching them. Mergansers and a few other diving type ducks almost exclusively eat fish. I doubt that mallards and woodies would negatively impact your fish population from predation. Thanks.

Bryan

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tim k #543245 01/21/22 08:47 AM
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I don't like the idea of encouraging ducks or geese. Those things leave a mess everywhere they go.


It's not about the fish. It's about the pond. Take care of the pond and the fish will be fine. PB subscriber since before it was in color.

Without a sense of urgency, Nothing ever gets done.

Boy, if I say "sic em", you'd better look for something to bite. Sam Shelley Rancher and Farmer Muleshoe Texas 1892-1985 RIP
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Originally Posted by Dave Davidson1
I don't like the idea of encouraging ducks or geese. Those things leave a mess everywhere they go.


If not from one end, it's the other.


www.hoosierpondpros.com


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3/4 to 1 1/4 ac pond LMB, SMB, PS, BG, RES, CC, YP, Bardello BG, (RBT & Blue Tilapia - seasonal).
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Good answers! Migratory waterfowl are mostly okay because they don't stay. Diving ducks will eat fish. Learn the species and decide what to do. We encouraged wood ducks at LL,2 and tolerated others except cormorants and their ilk.


Teach a man to grow fish...
He can teach to catch fish...
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We also like woodies but haven’t seen any this year. No other ducks either , only a few cormorants which were encouraged to try to leave. We have a resident GBH which is ok to stay. Not sure why no woodies this year unless it’s the lack of standing timber left.

tim k #543282 01/21/22 05:55 PM
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I think we had strange weather in the Central Flyway this year.

I usually see them in Kansas around Thanksgiving when they have ridden down from the northern states on the winds of the early cold fronts. We didn't have much in the way of cold fronts until the start of December. I have not seen any at our place all winter. I suspect they travelled a little off their preferred routes this season.

Pat, hopefully your lack of woodies this year was a weather effect, and not due to habitat reduction at your place. Fingers crossed that they come see you next fall/winter!

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tim k #543289 01/21/22 09:09 PM
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I determined my ducks are Pintails - I watch them closely - they do dive a lot but I see no fish brought up - according to what I am reading they are diving for the plant life in the pond and not the fish - if that is the case then I will let them roll - we enjoy watching them

tim k #543290 01/22/22 02:52 AM
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These?

[Linked Image from duazurecdn.azureedge.net]


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3/4 to 1 1/4 ac pond LMB, SMB, PS, BG, RES, CC, YP, Bardello BG, (RBT & Blue Tilapia - seasonal).
tim k #543293 01/22/22 08:26 AM
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Yes Sir -Northern pintail according to my Birds of Texas book

Last edited by tim k; 01/22/22 08:27 AM.
tim k #543295 01/22/22 09:52 AM
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I don't mind ducks especially during duck season but pulling up to pond and seeing 60 + canada geese is another thing. The last time it happened the water was nasty for a solid week.

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tim k #543301 01/22/22 12:41 PM
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My pond is leaking, and I've heard that duck poop is a good sealant. We get the occasional migrating pair, but the pond is small, so they're not comfortable to stay with dogs around. I have noticed that they eat more eggs than anything. I can have a good deposit of tadpole eggs in the shallows, but just one evening visit by a pair of Mallards will decimate the egg beds. Good cover will protect your fishery, IMO.

Geese are another issue - they poop on land and are not allowed in any way! They get shooed away by lead rain, and I do not mow the pond banks.

Cheers, -Hirsch


"Live your life so that when you sing your death song, you will die like a hero who is going home with no shame to meet the Creator and your family." - Tecumseh; April 9, 1809

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