Others need a quality purebred drake for breeding, while others want drakes as pond ornaments or a means to control garden pests. Just keep that ideal drake-to-hen ratio when adding more waterfowl, and you’re good to go. What happens if you have too many drakes?

If it’s not possible, here’s another tip on how to deal with extra drakes. 6. Put them in a separate bachelor group They are excellent foragers and will supplement their feed with juicy pests they find around the garden.

a b Maher, M. T.; Braithwaite, L. W. (1992). "Patterns of waterbird use in wetlands of the Paroo, A river system of inland Australia". The Rangeland Journal. 14 (2): 128–142. doi: 10.1071/rj9920128. Distribution: Widespread across England, parts of Scotland and Northern Ireland. Less common in Wales and south-west England but they can be seen here as their range expands during the winter. Why It Made the Cut: When I opened the box and saw them for the first time, I said D..A..M..N! Yeah, they look that good. Norman, F. I.; Brown, R. S. (1985). "Gizzard grit in some Australian waterfowl". Wildfowl. 36: 77–80. The 750 gallon-per-hour bilge pump at the heart of the Pulsator is powered by a 12V lithium ion battery, which, says Higdon, will provide up to seven hours of service, and, what’s better, will recharge in 180 minutes. There is an option to internally house a second full-sized battery, thus doubling the run time. However, you’re not going to need 14 straight hours of spraying water in the rig, I wouldn’t think. Nice to know, though.

At Kidadl we pride ourselves on offering families original ideas to make the most of time spent together at home or out and about, wherever you are in the world. We strive to recommend the very best things that are suggested by our community and are things we would do ourselves - our aim is to be the trusted friend to parents. When I'm hunting geese, I like my spread to include decoys with a good mix of body positions, including feeders, resters, and sentries," Powers says. "The posture of a goose says a lot about its attitude. If the majority of your decoys are feeders, you're telling incoming geese that there is plenty of food and that the birds on the ground are relaxed." Crushed eggshells – during the winter the calcium boost can help increase egg production and harden shellsYou can also be more self-sufficient since you’re producing your food. On top of that, you can reduce the drake problems and overpopulation. Instead of using a heavy weight and a 15-foot line on each decoy, I set my spread on lines up to 100 yards long with an anchor on each end. Each decoy clips onto the main line. It's a fast and efficient system, and it works very well in areas with current or rough water," Cagle says. "The only downside is that your decoys are set in a straight line. To give my spread a more realistic look, I add a few individually rigged decoys between the longline rigs to fill in the gaps." [8] Mix and Match In the meantime, the remaining eggs. Are they still warm? If yes, and you have an incubator, put them in there if you wish to try to keep them alive. If you do not have an incubator there is not really anything you can do for them. Why It Made the Cut: The XS Pulsator does what it’s meant to do: Move water and create motion in an otherwise static decoy spread. Plus, I like the name. Sleepers and resters send a more confident message, but Powers prefers to use them later in the day. "It's not realistic for a goose to sleep first thing in the morning when the birds are actively feeding, but they will rest in the middle of the day in fields and around water. I especially like resting decoys on loafing ponds and on ice, but again, I like to use them later in the morning or in the afternoon after the geese feed," he says. [9] Try Something Different