Attracting Ducks to a new flight pond....

[Mac78]

I've just taken on a new hill pond. There's no history of shooting on it, so Ducks won't necessarily be acquainted with it.
In my experience locally it normally takes a few weeks for Mallard to find feed on a pond.
New pond has been fed for almost a month now with still no signs of life on the trail cams.

They will eventually find the place and establish a feeding regime.........
I usually chuck a few decoys out till I see evidence of night time visitors, then they get pulled.

What's the longest you guys have waited for birds to find a pond?

 

[Tim.243]

I've just taken on a new hill pond. There's no history of shooting on it, so Ducks won't necessarily be acquainted with it.
In my experience locally it normally takes a few weeks for Mallard to find feed on a pond.
New pond has been fed for almost a month now with still no signs of life on the trail cams.

They will eventually find the place and establish a feeding regime.........
I usually chuck a few decoys out till I see evidence of night time visitors, then they get pulled.

What's the longest you guys have waited for birds to find a pond?

Look for feathers on the water....good sign

 

[Smellydog]

I use one of these. Well I did until I got shot at!

 

[Mac78]

Look for feathers on the water....good sign

Did you read my post!

 

[potshotpat]

I use one of these. Well I did until I got shot at!
View attachment 325112

 

[neilrobbins19]

I've just taken on a new hill pond. There's no history of shooting on it, so Ducks won't necessarily be acquainted with it.
In my experience locally it normally takes a few weeks for Mallard to find feed on a pond.
New pond has been fed for almost a month now with still no signs of life on the trail cams.

They will eventually find the place and establish a feeding regime.........
I usually chuck a few decoys out till I see evidence of night time visitors, then they get pulled.

What's the longest you guys have waited for birds to find a pond?

What are you feeding with

 

[old 30-06]

Ponds are lovely, but can be tricky. If there are other ponds in the area, then yours has to be better than those around you to get them to come to yours. Duck like clear water to land on, not obstructive branches, etc. Have they got a clear flight path in and out through the surrounding trees ? Are the banks clear of vegetation, so when upending to feed they feel safe ? Are you putting your feed into the shallows, i.e. no deeper than dabbling depth ? All these sorts of things will make your pond more attractive. Have patience and I am sure it will be rewarded.

 

[jall55]

I've just taken on a new hill pond. There's no history of shooting on it, so Ducks won't necessarily be acquainted with it.
In my experience locally it normally takes a few weeks for Mallard to find feed on a pond.
New pond has been fed for almost a month now with still no signs of life on the trail cams.

They will eventually find the place and establish a feeding regime.........
I usually chuck a few decoys out till I see evidence of night time visitors, then they get pulled.

What's the longest you guys have waited for birds to find a pond?

Down here they usually are on it the next day
At the moment however there is so much food about maybe they dont need to look at yours just yet

 

[BenBhoy]

Call Ducks - British Waterfowl Association

Magpie Calls - Kate Elkington The Call Duck is the smallest breed of domestic duck, weighing less than a kilo. Small and easily transported, they were developed as calling ducks, to call down the wild Mallard to the great traps or decoys in the Fenlands of the UK and the marshes of Holland. They...

www.waterfowl.org.uk

 

[Heym SR20]

Put down a few decoy ducks on the water. Ducks are in many ways creatures of habit. They are also very good to eat - and they know it.

They thus don’t like to be the first to join the party. Some deeks will give any passing ducks the confidence to drop in and feed.

 

[Mac78]

Is this legal?

Call Ducks - British Waterfowl Association

Magpie Calls - Kate Elkington The Call Duck is the smallest breed of domestic duck, weighing less than a kilo. Small and easily transported, they were developed as calling ducks, to call down the wild Mallard to the great traps or decoys in the Fenlands of the UK and the marshes of Holland. They...

www.waterfowl.org.uk

 

[Mac78]

Did you read my post?

Put down a few decoy ducks on the water. Ducks are in many ways creatures of habit. They are also very good to eat - and they know it.

They thus don’t like to be the first to join the party. Some deeks will give any passing ducks the confidence to drop in and feed

 

[Mac78]

It's an open pond fed with Barley in a nice shallow dabbling depth bay.
There's decoys on the pond, these get removed once there's signs of activity.

My question was how long have you waited till birds find a new bit of fed water?

I suspect they will be busy elsewhere as there's a few flattened fields of Barley around near water.

 

[Overlay]

i’ve just started feeding lightly, to be honest I may be a tad early still wheat to be cut and plenty of gratton about - keep at it, it will change as the easy food dries up

 

[BenBhoy]

Is this legal?

I can't see why not- my uncle kept ornamental wildfowl, including call ducks, for years as a hobby and it inadvertently drew in lots of wild birds.

 

[sir-lamp-alot]

My question was how long have you waited till birds find a new bit of fed water?

Lang and short of it no one knows ive cleared out ponds spending hours doing so feeding to absolutly no avail not even a single duck ever showing any intrest and I was certain in would have been a teal hotspot and on the flipside ive had ducks find little spots of water that I would bet my house on you never seeing a duck in there in your life all you can do is what youve done and have it set for when they turn up and cross your fingers that they do so

 

[Heym SR20]

Did you read my post?

By decoys I was meaning the plastic ones that are anchored and bob around like ducks. Not going to the trouble of putting down alive ducks.

 

[Camdig]

I feed a couple of ponds I took over last year with reasonable success, fed from about now and took until end of September to get decent numbers flighting in.
Not started feeding this year yet as the barly is still in the field

 

[Tim.243]

Did you read my post!

Yes and I still look for feathers when feeding along the edges

Had ducks in crates and fed flt ponds

 

[Heym SR20]

Also bear in mind its August. Most ducks will have found their happy place, raised a brood or two of ducklings and are quite happy where they are. And most adults will be moulting which pretty much means they are drab coloured and flightless.

Ducks will be thinking about migration and with the first cold snap ducks start moving southwards. Your local ones probably won’t hang around over winter - they will move a few hundred miles southwards, meanwhile they will be replaced with lots of incoming ducks from further north, and in October time we will get big waves of ducks of all species from Scandinavia and Russia.

And it will be these ducks that are on the move that will find your pond.

And its these ducks that will end up on your table as Roast Duck.

Meanwhile those that bred near you will end up as Confit de Canard.

The exception will be the reared tame ducks released for driven duck, mind you I expect many of those will also head off, only to be replaced by those from further north.