patrickstar Posted January 17, 2022 Report Share Posted January 17, 2022 any advice welcome on when to put them up on small inland flight pond and any advice on making them please Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
holloway Posted January 17, 2022 Report Share Posted January 17, 2022 49 minutes ago, patrickstar said: any advice welcome on when to put them up on small inland flight pond and any advice on making them please Basc has good info on there website,construction advice and situation placement etc .search Basc duck nest tube, Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
patrickstar Posted January 17, 2022 Author Report Share Posted January 17, 2022 2 hours ago, holloway said: Basc has good info on there website,construction advice and situation placement etc .search Basc duck nest tube, cheers mate will have a look Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jall25 Posted January 17, 2022 Report Share Posted January 17, 2022 Evening We put ours up March ' Ducks start nesting April We use fresh straw - Make sure they are wide / open enough for the ducks to get in and place them across the prevailing wind We put circa 25 up - on various ponds and perhaps half were used this year - dont worry if they are not as they will be used as look out posts later in the year I would suggest you dont put them too close as mallard are very territorial and will kill each other broods Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lloyd90 Posted January 17, 2022 Report Share Posted January 17, 2022 16 minutes ago, jall25 said: Evening We put ours up March ' Ducks start nesting April We use fresh straw - Make sure they are wide / open enough for the ducks to get in and place them across the prevailing wind We put circa 25 up - on various ponds and perhaps half were used this year - dont worry if they are not as they will be used as look out posts later in the year I would suggest you dont put them too close as mallard are very territorial and will kill each other broods We put up 3 on our shoot last year and none were used first year. Mallards laid but looked like magpies raised their nests and got the eggs. Will top up the straw and hopefully they get used this year. The corvids need a serious bashing!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gas seal Posted January 17, 2022 Report Share Posted January 17, 2022 Hi we use hay it doesn’t fall apart like straw. They look a bit rough after a while, but the duck nest in them . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jall25 Posted January 21, 2022 Report Share Posted January 21, 2022 On 17/01/2022 at 22:35, Gas seal said: Hi we use hay it doesn’t fall apart like straw. They look a bit rough after a while, but the duck nest in them . Yes we have used hay too - but tend to find it gets wetter than straw and can harbour more disease Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jim Neal Posted February 19, 2022 Report Share Posted February 19, 2022 Wheat straw is pants for this job, barley straw is the kiddie Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Walker570 Posted February 21, 2022 Report Share Posted February 21, 2022 I have some big plastic drums, how big is too big for this job? They are about20 to 22 inches across. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jim Neal Posted February 23, 2022 Report Share Posted February 23, 2022 On 21/02/2022 at 15:18, Walker570 said: I have some big plastic drums, how big is too big for this job? They are about20 to 22 inches across. That's more of an elephant tunnel than a duck tube 😄 I think your trouble would be making it so the nesting material stayed in place, the wind will just blow it out. Plus it won't look too pretty.... I used the available material I had to hand, which was 1" gauge chicken wire. It's not the best because it's too squashy - the tubes end up flattening so I'd definitely recommend going for weldmesh as per the way they do it on the video. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Walker570 Posted February 23, 2022 Report Share Posted February 23, 2022 Hah! I thought they would be too big BUT I do have plenty of wire. I will have a go. I only have one or two pairs come in to my two ponds but they do so annually and have raised broods succesfully just thought this might give them a bit more protection. Whacking the carrion crows is the main thing as they will clear a brood in an hour. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jim Neal Posted February 23, 2022 Report Share Posted February 23, 2022 Good job 👍 Post some pics! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blankfirer Posted April 21, 2022 Report Share Posted April 21, 2022 On 17/01/2022 at 17:34, patrickstar said: any advice welcome on when to put them up on small inland flight pond and any advice on making them please Hello mate the tubes only work after 2 _3 years however we bought some ducklings and put a few tubes on the floor in the pen the following season we had them around the pond and we found egg shells in a few off them also ducks unlimited website has a few vids Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jall25 Posted April 21, 2022 Report Share Posted April 21, 2022 5 hours ago, blankfirer said: Hello mate the tubes only work after 2 _3 years however we bought some ducklings and put a few tubes on the floor in the pen the following season we had them around the pond and we found egg shells in a few off them also ducks unlimited website has a few vids Ours are working the first year Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blankfirer Posted April 21, 2022 Report Share Posted April 21, 2022 7 hours ago, jall25 said: Ours are working the first year That's really good a lot of wild birds are wary of the structures well done Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jall25 Posted April 21, 2022 Report Share Posted April 21, 2022 3 minutes ago, blankfirer said: That's really good a lot of wild birds are wary of the structures well done Yes we have had mallard mandarin Moorhen Robin Blackbird A few are unused but maybe later in the year Just now, jall25 said: Yes we have had mallard mandarin Moorhen Robin Blackbird A few are unused but maybe later in the year The one thing they do like is sitting on top of them as lookout Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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