Thread: Keeping ducks off a boat!

We have recently purchased a boat and currently have it in a berth at the Te Anau marina. Bloody ducks drive me up the wall everytime go down there spend the first half hour cleaning all the shit off the swim platform. Any bright ideas to dissuade them? I was thinking of just leaving loaves of bread on all the neighbouring boats

Originally Posted by Ryan_Songhurst

We have recently purchased a boat and currently have it in a berth at the Te Anau marina. Bloody ducks drive me up the wall everytime go down there spend the first half hour cleaning all the shit off the swim platform. Any bright ideas to dissuade them? I was thinking of just leaving loaves of bread on all the neighbouring boats

You wont like my method

Seriously though what about some removeable spike strips like the sort they use to stop seagulls and pidgeons roosting and shitting in public places buildings and some street lights

Lots and lots of bits of string going all over the show to tangle them up? Seems to work to keep gulls off boats over here

Use piano wire on little 4-6" stands to keep pigeons off wall etc.


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Effigy of a hawk on the cabin roof

There were yachts moored at Taupo (eastern side on edge of town) that used to be piled high in poo from ducks, shags, geese etc. I see they now sport little spinners like tiny radar units (think a metre dia). About 3-4 per boat. Wind powered. Clean looking boats now.
Others use comercial bird netting from orchards. But would be a bugger deploying and retracting. Depends how often the boat gets used?

Run a couple of lines around the boat Ryan about a foot to a foot and a half off the deck. Then attach some small coloured streamers to this.
Like the ones you get in party poppers.
Works on seagulls so should work with ducks.

have you tried a simple hawk decoy?

one that flailed in the wind might help

mite be too late if they are already too comfortable

I use a magpie decoy on a piece of string and it has almost completely kept the sparrows out of my shed
the string just gives it a bit of movement

In adddition to a hawk effigy or large painting of one on the roof, string up a few shiny cd disks that can move in the breeze. Birds a scared by these and I see them in vinyards and orchards about the place.

Originally Posted by Woody

In adddition to a hawk effigy or large painting of one on the roof, string up a few shiny cd disks that can move in the breeze. Birds a scared by these and I see them in vinyards and orchards about the place.

Used CDs in my 4 bay shed. Never worked. Or might have worked a bit initially. Shed is home to swallows and f....n starlings. (Filthy bastards.)
Likewise the hawk effigy I bought off the local pest controller to scare the starlings. He guaranteed me it would work. Strung up using fishing nylon and it moved about nicely in the wind. Starlings sussed it out in no time.

Have to check tractor engine for nests every time I use it. Most common cause of tractor fires. Also have to cover my tractor, trailer, mower when not in use. The bastards even roost on the safety frame and crap away.

Feel for Ryan. Had a fleet of Muscovy ducks several years ago. Started with a pair and soon had a tribe. Nowhere to be seen during the day. Get up in the morning and they'd all be sitting on the back porch, amongst all their new shit. They all went to a "good" home ah mmmm, duck heaven.

Originally Posted by zimmer

Had a fleet of Muscovy ducks several years ago. Started with a pair and soon had a tribe. Nowhere to be seen during the day. Get up in the morning and they'd all be sitting on the back porch, amongst all their new shit. They all went to a "good" home ah mmmm, duck heaven.

I've a bunch of them, they are quite social and tend to hang about. But yes, their insistence on food is indeed as you described. My kids enjoy making the big drakes take off down to the ponds, as their flapping makes a big "wup wup wup" noise and kick up dust and leaves in a somewhat impressive manner.

Originally Posted by zimmer

Used CDs in my 4 bay shed. Never worked. Or might have worked a bit initially. Shed is home to swallows and f....n starlings. (Filthy bastards.)
Likewise the hawk effigy I bought off the local pest controller to scare the starlings. He guaranteed me it would work. Strung up using fishing nylon and it moved about nicely in the wind. Starlings sussed it out in no time.

Have to check tractor engine for nests every time I use it. Most common cause of tractor fires. Also have to cover my tractor, trailer, mower when not in use. The bastards even roost on the safety frame and crap away.

Feel for Ryan. Had a fleet of Muscovy ducks several years ago. Started with a pair and soon had a tribe. Nowhere to be seen during the day. Get up in the morning and they'd all be sitting on the back porch, amongst all their new shit. They all went to a "good" home ah mmmm, duck heaven.

I had to kill the sparrows that had nests in my shed to keep them out the hawk alone wasnt effective enough

once the nest is there they will do almost anything to get in

new ones will just find somewhere else

Elec fence unit and run a few 'pairs' of fuse wire where they roost.
So long as it is insulated from the boat it shouldnt do the old electrolosis thing to your boat.

An old Island trick. Hang a wing on a piece of string in the area of where they sit. So it blows around etc. Works with sea gulls.