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feeding a flight pond


misser
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Out of interest was wondering how much feed ie barley do the PW massive generally put down in their flight ponds...I feed a full white bucket (an old white 10l paint bucket) of barley daily and this has always gone the following day, am intrigued how this compares with other peoples feeding regimes.....also out of interest would anyone know an approx. number of duck that such a bucket of barley would feed...thanks...atb….misser 

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Do you know how many duck are coming in? I have an auto feeder going once a day and hand feed alot more than ten ltr. but then the pond is normally getting 40+ duck a night on it when the weather goes cold. 

You could always up it to 1.5 bucket a day and see if its all gone. Its hard to know how much individual ponds would need. More trial and error i think. 

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Used to feed one pond 25kg 2-3 times per week for  20-30 duck and the colder weather would see the feed go quicker.  I was around mostly on a a daily basis so could check amount that was getting eaten and increase or decrease as needed.

The keeper and myself dug and hand sawed out a good 15 foot strip of overgrown and semi submerged willow as the pit had quite a steep water depth the other sides. This created a adequate platform for the duck to feed in the shallow margins. 

Wonderful birds ducks, resourceful and they are not too picky , they are Greedy beggars and they will snaffle up plenty.

On the shoot we had access to some old spuds from time to time and these went down well with the duck.

Feed in the margins, if too deep you can do a pallet raft on a runner line which works similar to an island.

🦆

atb

7diaw

 

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How big is your pond? My old pond was more or less circular and about 20 - 30  yards across. I used to feed 15-20 lbs of old barley daily or every second or third day depending on the number of duck coming in. I'd wander down daily to check what had been eaten and they had to eat it all before I'd give them more. Mostly there'd be 40-60+ duck (at a guess) on average but quite honestly, I never hung around into the gloaming to do a proper count! There were always plenty whenever we shot it though, which was about once a fortnight. We'd shoot  10 or so and stop, and there would still be more coming in while we were picking up.

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I would increase the feed over the next few days until a little is left over the following day. Difficult to estimate numbers. I used to to sit out near to my flight pond and count them in and also to see what species were coming. It is quite something watching them and listening to them squabble with each other over the feed. In an ideal world you would feed shortly before they come in each day as rats, moorhens and all sorts of other creatures will also be taking advantage of the food. 

 

We we set a trail cam up on a pond a few weeks ago and got literally hundreds of images of rats taking the feed and very few duck.

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31 minutes ago, Clodhopper said:

We we set a trail cam up on a pond a few weeks ago and got literally hundreds of images of rats taking the feed and very few duck.

That's why I didn't use to add feed to leftovers. But where are you feeding? I always scattered the barley on the water. Are your rats swimming for it??

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I was lucky to be invited to shoot an evening flight on a pond in Denmark.....I repeat a pond...yes probably 30yrds long and 20 wide.  On one corner at the bottom of a track was a huge heap, probably the contents of a 10 ton farm grain trailer, of wheat.  I was amazed.  As the light began to fade the action came thick and fast and my hosts two labs where constantly retrieving and when

things went quiet I walked across and he was stood in the middle of a pile of duck his dogs had dropped at his feet and gone for another.  He said they never fed daily the load would be tipped a month before ducks started to come in and it would be all gone by the end of the season. 

On my return, I did the same with about 5cwt a time on a small pond that always had a few ducks coming in.  On shoot days this provided a serious drive and nothing but to see a hundred mallard and teal come off. Just tipped another load once the first became a muddy circle.  I have no doubt other creatures enjoyed the bounty but we had some superb shooting.

Edited by Walker570
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13 minutes ago, Retsdon said:

That's why I didn't use to add feed to leftovers. But where are you feeding? I always scattered the barley on the water. Are your rats swimming for it??

The rats were diving for it. Never seen it before, the grain was inmaybe 3 inches of water a it’s shallowest down to about 1 ft. We also filmed some recently under a pheasant feeder climbing on each other’s back to get to the spring! Smoker and terriers have now been put to good use and reduced the numbers somewhat.

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The saying is, there is always a rat within 10 yards of you.  Always thought that was a bit extreme but you have to admire them they are the most resourceful of creatures. I was stalking one day and froze against a tree as I thought a muntie was having a go at a spring feeder. A check through my binos revealed an untold number of rats piled ontop of each other and more scurrying in from the wood to join in. I just wondered how many I could have killed with a shotgun.  I estimate at least 50 to 60 no kidding.

NV with air rifle at seasons end should provide some extra sport.

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Thanks for the replies gents....the pond is about 70 by 35 yds shallow sides the deepest part being about 18 to 24 inch...usually feed about 3 pm each day and as I say the feed is gone the next day.....as has been mentioned might try one and a half buckets and see if it goes....thanks again much appreciated for the replies

Will try and get a pic tomorrow and upload it see what the pw massive opinions are....thanks atb...misser

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thanks gents for the replies and generous comments...its not stream fed, its in an area of low wetland meadows, it is pure peat and if it rains hard the water level can rise 12in the next day....its normally a lot more flooded...I built a bunding (its under the grass) to get to the hides..visible on the left side of picture......atb...misser    

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thanks gents for the comments and input...now got a 20% bigger bucket so will try that and see how things progress...will keep you posted.....if we get more water might offer a flight on it if anyone would be interested....hope you're all getting out and doing a bit...cheers...atb...misser

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