Feeding duck pond

We started feeding the ponds as the dryerman started to clear the sheds for harvest but we did have reared ducks on the pond
 
We normally start in the middle of August, feed small till the duck find it then up the amount as they pile in then have the first shoot mid October .
 
Bit of a first for me, but how much and often to start with would you say its not that big the pond.
 
I'll be honest and say that after a few bucket fulls I used to have a fore-end loaders full dumped at a time just so I didn't disturb the wild ducks by going to the pond too often.
​the keepers with more than the few I got worked on a similar idea but had it tipped by the trailer load!
 
if you can not dump large quantitys what is the best time to feed so you dont disturb
 
When the ducks have gone out to feed toad (usually near dark) and as quickly as you can to minimise disturbance
 
Ah,I was talking driven duck for shooting during the day toad.Completely different.
​Wouldn't have a scooby about feeding for evening flighting I'm afraid
 
I personally like feeding the ducks at 13:00 approx. they the have a habit of talking off and coming back in the evening without spending the night elsewhere...
 
Depends the type off pond and the scale.

Half a bucket to a bucket is all u need on a small pond with not a lot off duck, esp to start off with and can increase as it disappears faster, ideally there will be just a tiny bit left when u next go to feed it. U don't really want large ammounts of barley going off and stinky if u can help it, can be a problem early on with any heat but later on not so much of a problem, but ducks don't really bother that much anyway. Wether that is part of a bucket every night or a bag or 2 a week all depends on numbers. We generally start with half a bag a week aug time going up to 2 bags a week later on in season.
There is shoots that are putting vast ammounts every day but that is for reared ducks to be driven

I also think perdix is talking about a driving pond rather than a flight pond. Flight pond u can feed anytime throu the day as duck should be else where sitting on a big water and should come back to feed at dusk so u want to be leaving it quiet around dusk time
 
potatoes are also good, boiled of course...try to pick up loads of old/gone off potatoes for free, boil and dump in low water, keeps the ducks interested for much longer than barley, and is free (if procured right of course!).

​sorry, nothign to do with times for lifthing them off
 
yes i have used this type of feeding on small ponds for us to shoot . i have 3 ponds to feed with limited budget so was wondering best method thanks for the advice guys poults arriving sunday great weather forcast thank god its my first year as a part time keeper .
 
I see a few folk have added comments while my fat finger was typing

Makes no odd's wot time off day u feed a flight pond, some folk like to feed it every nite 1-2hr's before dusk so barley is still floating on top, some say that brings them in quicker so u get a short sharp flight? Dunno if that realy works
I have always put either 1 or 2 weeks worth in at a time, even when i was on a large duck shoot that used to have a lot off flight pond's that's how we done it and had some tremedous flights.

Ideally u don't want duck sitting on ur pond all day if it's a flight pond which feeding in bulk can encourage, but if u flush them when going in and don't shoot at them they usually come back or go to 1 of other ponds on shoot nearby

Must admit we feed our driving ponds at any time off day as well, wot perdix says makes sense but we just never had the time so they got feed whenever we could get time, this is going back 20 odd years before quads, most of the ponds where a couple of hundered yard+ carry's some a lot further, with old fashioned hunner weight bags. Putting out 1/2 T to 11/2T at a time, now he has tracks and drives kubota and tipping trailer up to edge. Cheating really
 
yes i have used this type of feeding on small ponds for us to shoot . i have 3 ponds to feed with limited budget so was wondering best method thanks for the advice guys poults arriving sunday great weather forcast thank god its my first year as a part time keeper .

I'm no duck expert, but I found that I lost a lot of young ducklings to foxes in the night-time. I since started putting out a few wee 'rafts'/pallets on half 10L floatations jars/other/what works/etc. with a rock tied to a rope as anchor a few yards out, I found the ducks would hop up there and spend the night instead of on the shore/bank and the survival rates rocketed..

just a thought.
 
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