How to get ducks to start using pond?

Duckbuster82 said:

Invertebrates make up a huge portion of a ducks diet. They can out perform some vegetation at time. It takes the right ph level and oxygen content to house them. You can buy scuds to put into your pond.

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Scuds need clean cold water, and most farms ponds don't qualify. Even if you have a clear pond and buy some to put in there, the fish will et thump if you have any in there. Like I said before, it is almost impossible to have a small pond you can use for fishing and kill ducks on.

All I have read and taught in college was that 6.5-8.5 was good for aquatic ecosystems. Acidic water is harder on them. If there is a bunch of hardwoods and the water gets that red tint it's usually acidic and not good for them. But you will have acorns then so it's a trade off.

across the river said:

Scuds need clean cold water, and most farms ponds don't qualify. Even if you have a clear pond and buy some to put in there, the fish will et thump if you have any in there. Like I said before, it is almost impossible to have a small pond you can use for fishing and kill ducks on.

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You can put some thing like naiads into your pond they won't grow in deep water and can still allow fishing and the more vegetation there is the more there is to house inverts. Now granite not all ponds will be able to grow certain plants and be a good duck pond but you can always improve what you have. If it brings 10 more birds there, then that is more than you started with. As far as scuds I wa just using that as a reference to the previous post. He may have scuds, mayfly nymphs, dragonfly nymphs, or anything else. I have found scuds on my decoys in variety of waters.

Move your pond West

In all seriousness start with some wood duck boxes and plant with ducks in mind. Look into Arrow Arrum, Duck Potato, Sago Pondweed etc.. Give a good look onto a website such as kesters nursery and find a plant that fits your criteria. Not ALL plants need a dry down, if you can get some decent year-round food going that will surely bring some in.

That's a good start without having to do some serious excavation/cash shelling.

Duckbuster82 said:

All I have read and taught in college was that 6.5-8.5 was good for aquatic ecosystems. Acidic water is harder on them. If there is a bunch of hardwoods and the water gets that red tint it's usually acidic and not good for them. But you will have acorns then so it's a trade off.

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We are testing our surface water at our plant all the time checking for Salt water intrusion and that is the range we look for. Salt water would be on the high side and thats what we look for is higher that 8.

Same as what all the impoundments on the coast look at when they flood. They check ph and salinity levels when they flood their fields. High salinity or ph will kill off vegetation and inverts. Florida lost a lot of habitat along the coast last year from hurricane surge.

We test our well water for the same. The Salt water Intrusion around Savannah and Hilton head is becoming a real problem and has cost a great deal of damage to the habitat around here.