Jump to content

Flight ponds


ollie
 Share

Recommended Posts

I used to be the keeper on one of the largest waterfowl collections in the world where we had over a 100 of different types of ducks , geese and swans. We fed them all sorts of food , but wheat was their prefered corn.

Barley has the advantage in that it floats better than wheat for a short wile , but given the choice all types of duck ( mallards , wigeon , teal , tufted , pochard and even fish eating mergansers ) prefer wheat. If you doubt this give a pen of mallard an over filled dish of mixed barley , oats and wheat and any other seed you fancy. Look the next morning and you will find all the wheat has been eaten , and its the barley , ect thats left.

 

However mallard do seem to prefer to feed on barley fields , though I suspect that they find it easy to gather up the seeds compared to wheat when its still in the ear.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

what about crushed maize? i have loads of bags of the stuff from our dryer!?

 

Like I said in my original post I mix kibbled maize in with the rest. I always feed our pond in the shallows, though recently we've had a bit of trouble with grey crows at the feeding because they see the chopped crab apples floating. Have to agree with Anser, wheat seems to be the preference.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 weeks later...
  • 2 weeks later...

On my ponds i give them wheat or barley. I find there is no point in giving them all this cut up vegetable pelings and so on. I feel that basic barley or wheat do the trick just aswell. Another reason I use this is because I get it free off the farmer from his storage barns. All I have to do is bag some up and take the quad to the pond and feed in the shallows the opposite side of the pond from the hide :rolleyes:

 

Hope this helps,

 

T96

Link to comment
Share on other sites

On my ponds i give them wheat or barley. I find there is no point in giving them all this cut up vegetable pelings and so on. I feel that basic barley or wheat do the trick just aswell. Another reason I use this is because I get it free off the farmer from his storage barns. All I have to do is bag some up and take the quad to the pond and feed in the shallows the opposite side of the pond from the hide :rolleyes:

 

Hope this helps,

 

T96

 

I find the veg peelings are a good way of recyling the peelings rather than chucking them in the bin, also in our situation where the pond doesn't get fed every evening due to work it gives something for the ducks to feed on when they have scoffed all the grain. Also chopped up crab apples are good for this and they are free as there is an endless supply of them.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I suppose that is a good idea for recycling. The reason i dont like peelings is because on my pond i used it for a week or so but only had a few ducks come in to feed when i sat on the bank counting them in, only a few mallard. I have used barley and wheat on my pond from the very first time i fed it. Maybe that is why they dont like the peelings because they are so used to the food they have been eating(barley and wheat).

Great tip for recycling Ollie

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I suppose that is a good idea for recycling. The reason i dont like peelings is because on my pond i used it for a week or so but only had a few ducks come in to feed when i sat on the bank counting them in, only a few mallard. I have used barley and wheat on my pond from the very first time i fed it. Maybe that is why they dont like the peelings because they are so used to the food they have been eating(barley and wheat).

Great tip for recycling Ollie

 

I mix the peelings, crab apples with wheat and kibbled maize. Seems to work for me although all we have is mallard, get very few teal.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

We've got 3 small ponds on our litttle 'ol rough shoot . We put barley in around the edges and the odd bag of wheat. There are feeders close by all ponds and the ducks also use these. Just to put some scale on it we put 15 mallard off last Saturday and shot 3. Most leaked around the side where we decided not to put a gun :good: All the duck are "wild" in that we don't put any down, they add a nice bit of variety though and are worth the trouble.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 weeks later...

well now if anyone fancy's bit of diy.....get couple of pallets cut and fit light ply deck....4x1 rough sawn with edge just bout 1'' above ply...add some builders insulation shts inbetween runers to make it float and put it on pond with all the rotten choped spuds you can get,,either peg them in or use rope and make them retractable...and watch them spuds goe.....and i b very surprised if your duck numbers dont increase...works treat with me and also feed with wheat round edges...but its the floaters that really do the buisness....they feel safer feeding in the middle i guess..... :hmm:

Link to comment
Share on other sites

well now if anyone fancy's bit of diy.....get couple of pallets cut and fit light ply deck....4x1 rough sawn with edge just bout 1'' above ply...add some builders insulation shts inbetween runers to make it float and put it on pond with all the rotten choped spuds you can get,,either peg them in or use rope and make them retractable...and watch them spuds goe.....and i b very surprised if your duck numbers dont increase...works treat with me and also feed with wheat round edges...but its the floaters that really do the buisness....they feel safer feeding in the middle i guess..... :rolleyes:

 

I attract enough grey (hooded) crows to my pond already without giving them a floating piece of wood to feed on :lol: . Good tip though :good:

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

Loading...
 Share

  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
×
×
  • Create New...