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gardnpondr

Someone please help me with an idea that

gardnpondr
19 years ago

I have to save my ducks. I had no idea what forum to post this on and was hoping someone on here could help me. I have this idea that I am TRYING to figure out completely. You see, we have some ducks that we have raised from babies since Easter weekend. We have a bass pond in front of our house and the last time we had ducks which was a few years back, something kept getting them one at a time and they didn't come every night to get them. We never did find out what it was. We do have coyotes and we do have 2 labs across the road that the master lets run free ever so often but he wasn't here when we had the ducks a few years ago. What I am trying to figure out is this..... I want to make something that floats to put an anker sp? on to hold it in place. I could use a piece of plyboard but WHAT could I use to float it that wont stick out like a sore thumb? I thought about drums but that would be ugly and up way too high. I need something that is much smaller so the ducks can just walk right up on the floating device. ANY suggestions or ideas? With the floating device being out in the middle of the pond I am HOPING that the ducks will roost on that at night time and maybe it will be harder for what ever was getting them before to get them.

Comments (8)

  • tamivileine
    19 years ago

    How big are your bass? It's not out of the question for a big bass to snatch a baby right from the surface.

    Snakes, coons... they swim...

    I would imagine it's a critter like I mention above rather than a dog or coyote.

    That said, just get some styrofoam or wallboard foam and carve it to your liking...

    sea ya
    tami
    You can bring a horticulture,
    but you can't make her think.

  • _sophiewheeler
    19 years ago

    They make floating docks for ponds all the time out of styrofoam under pressure treated boards. What you want is the same thing but without the connection to land. But, a better option might be to put a simple electric wire around a portion of your property to keep the predators out.

  • live_oak_lady
    19 years ago

    You're a person after my own heart! I had two ducks, Prim and Proper, hatched from eggs in my brother's yard two days after his death, which made them very special to me. Something got Proper when she was about 4 years old. In February a racoon got Prim and skinned him from the top of his head to where his neck joined his body. He escaped into his pond and I rushed him to the vet when I found him in the morning. He stayed in ICU for two weeks and gradually grew skin, then most of his feathers--a valiant duck. On July 13 he suddenly got weak and died shortly after I got him in the vet's office. I guess all the trauma was too much for a 9 year old Pekin. I miss him dearly.
    It is a shame you could not have a double chicken wire enclosure, including the top, that the ducks could go into at night. Of course, you would have to train them by feeding them at 5 p.m. every day to get them in the pen.
    Look up on the internet--there are lots of duck people out there; surely you can find a solution. Best of luck.

  • gardnpondr
    Original Author
    19 years ago

    Thank you all! Live oak lady you had me rolling with your story! NOT that they got hurt but their names! I LOVE IT!

    Ya'll going to laugh at me now but I'm going to tell you another idea I had. I had told my daughter awhile back that if I could find me some baby monitors I could put the unit out there and we could hear them quacking if something tries to get them. She thinks the monitor wouldn't pick up from that distance. The pond is pretty close to the front of the house and I could sit the other one inside so I could hear them. I found me some monitors the other day at the thrift store and bought them. They are Fisher Price and they are old ones but I think I can fix something to put the one in that will be close to the ducks. I thought about a birdhouse with screen wire over the hole so the sound would enter........that way I could sit it in there and stick it up on a post at the middle of the pond on the side so I could hear them if something started trying to get one. I know you all are going to laugh at me but I have raised these things from tiny babies and am attached to them. We had one one time that we named Launch Pad after the cartoon duck. That thing was a mess! I raised that one as well. I found him dead in a wash out by the pond and he was my last one. That's been a few years ago and I am just now getting ducks again. SO I want to do all I can to keep them safe!!! They are spoiled rotten! lol We have 11, 6 males and 5 females.

    The ducks are big now, they're not little babies. They look full grown. There isn't a lot of bass in the pond so they should be fine in there as far as that goes.

  • live_oak_lady
    19 years ago

    By the time you hear your ducks on the monitor it will be too late---they will already be in someone's mouth and it will be no laughing matter.

  • jim2k
    19 years ago

    you do not need some thing that floats you will not have anything but problems. Get about 3 to 4 feet out in the water drive post as many as you need to build leanto type house with ramp so ducks climb up put feed in for a few days they will go there and roost, But nothing is for sure. be sure that you face it to the south that helps Oh! I mean 3 or 4 feet of water put in some hay or straw.hope this helps Good luck JIM

  • Pterostyrax
    19 years ago

    I'm sorry to say that your ducks are going to go to duck heaven fairly quickly. There is nothing you can effectively do, sans keeping them in a cage, that will prevent this. Nature, tooth and claw.

  • gardnpondr
    Original Author
    19 years ago

    not if I can help it they're not going to duck heaven. I've got a cage also that I was going to try and pen them up at night in but I'm sure sometimes they wont want to corperate with me so that's why the floating device.

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