Installed Homemade Beaver deceiver

[oosik]

You could be fortunate and the beavers might not plug those pipes. A small "band" of beavers plugged a four foot diameter culvert under the county road, here. Nobody was too concerned until the creek began washing over the paved county road. It took a large tracked backhoe to unplug the culvert.

It took the beavers exactly three days to plug the culvert a second time. Fish & Game was called - they trapped and relocated the beavers.

 

[HawkinsHollow]

You could be fortunate and the beavers might not plug those pipes. A small "band" of beavers plugged a four foot diameter culvert under the county road, here. Nobody was too concerned until the creek began washing over the paved county road. It took a large tracked backhoe to unplug the culvert.

It took the beavers exactly three days to plug the culvert a second time. Fish & Game was called - they trapped and relocated the beavers.

It's hard to see in the picture but there is a cage built around the inlet pipes. "They" say that the beavers will not go in the cage to plug the inlet. If they do I'll wrap it with barbed wire. We'll see about the outlet

 

[Jstpssng]

It will be interesting to see how it works out, they really are pernicious little buggers. You have the right idea though, hopefully it will work. (Although I am curious what they are eating, if they aren't bothering your trees.)

 

[HawkinsHollow]

It will be interesting to see how it works out, they really are pernicious little buggers. You have the right idea though, hopefully it will work. (Although I am curious what they are eating, if they aren't bothering your trees.)

I know! I have done a lot of research on this forum and other websites. Most people's biggest complaint is they eat up the trees. I have seen a few with bark damage but only one with the trademark beaver tree gnawing. I am surrounded by bottomland linked by creek and beaver ponds, maybe there are more palatable trees elsewhere. Time will tell!

 

[buck12]

Please update this thread as to how your approach works. We have battled the demons for years. We take out about five a year but more move in. They can plug an 18 inch culvert overnight. My problem is they plug the culvert then water washes the road. It is a battle that I know goes back to my grandfather when I was a kid and maybe even my great grandfather.

 

[HawkinsHollow]

Please update this thread as to how your approach works. We have battled the demons for years. We take out about five a year but more move in. They can plug an 18 inch culvert overnight. My problem is they plug the culvert then water washes the road. It is a battle that I know goes back to my grandfather when I was a kid and maybe even my great grandfather.

Check out the clemson leveler or a beaver pond leveler. Done right, they are supposed to really work. It can also be used with culverts. Mine is not a very elegant one, but it is what I had on hand. We'll see if it works, might need to lengthen pipes some. I think it will slow them down enough to where I can add other defensive mechanisms. My goal is to just dewater these couple acres. Luckily right now it is bone dry, so maybe they will accept the new state of affairs rather than the drastic change that comes with knocking out their dam.

 

[buck12]

I am not sure the Clemson leveler will work in my situation as the beavers are simply damming a culvert. However the trapezoidal fence I saw in one of the videos on the Clemson leveler may work. I am going to give it a try as soon as it is cold enough that the Water Moccasins are less active. Thanks for the information.

 

[Gary Fowler]

I would be more concerned with the pipes washing out from heavy rains than from beavers plugging them. I put in a 12" culvert in a creek bypass drain and covered it with gravel and it still washed out in heavy rains. I have an earthen dam in a creek and nature made a bypass cut that left an island, hence the culvert. It didn't work. I think your pipes will do the same thing with the first heavy rain.

 

[HawkinsHollow]

I would be more concerned with the pipes washing out from heavy rains than from beavers plugging them. I put in a 12" culvert in a creek bypass drain and covered it with gravel and it still washed out in heavy rains. I have an earthen dam in a creek and nature made a bypass cut that left an island, hence the culvert. It didn't work. I think your pipes will do the same thing with the first heavy rain.

That is very possible. However, they are in a very low gradient drainage, not much velocity to the water coming in. Also, I dug a bit of a pool above the pipes to allow some water to collect there, slowing the velocity of the water down even more. This whole thing is one big experiment and I am excited to see how it turns out. Ya see I like solving problems and making progress developing my land into a usable viable space from the neglected overgrown jungle it has been for 10 years, this is just one small step in that direction. If this doesn't work, we'll figure out something that does.