So I'm currently trapping an area with kinda joining beaver ponds. The kinda joining is because one is above the other about 15 yards apart. The top one feeds the bottom one. The owner of the top pond wanted all beavers gone. I think they are now.
In the middle of the dam (unreachable by foot) there seems to be good sized break in it to where I can hear water flowing, top pond is about 16 inches lower than 2 days ago.
If all the beaver are gone from the top pond would the bottom pond beavers make a hole in the dam to fill there's?
Just seems that I heard if a beaver hears flowing water they're usually on top of it to make it stop.

Why cant u get to the break in the dam? How far apart are the two ponds? Likely same beavers using both ponds.

I've never known beaver to make a dam breach.

Just because of how swampy it is. I'm not a small guy, its a pretty skinny dam, and all the ways I tried to get to it i end up not finding bottom and the deepest I've gotten is about 6 inches under the top of my chest waders. Don't have a canoe to take there.

Time will tell. Give it a week.

Nothing changed with the dam, the water went down to the level of the break with nobody plugging it. Been trying to get one for the last month and nothing.
On the other side of the street in a different pond there is suspended bright green algae growing with no disturbance.
Maybe they're all gone.

If the ponds are 15 yards apart, what makes you think there is a separate colony of beavers in the lower pond? 15 yards is awfully close to have two separate colonies. You're talking ponds and not lakes, right?

one colony of beaver can easily be responsible for over a dozen dams. If you actually had multiple colonies, the beaver you caught are probably pretty scarred

Yes ponds, I guess I'm assuming that there is more than one colonies as there's a house and feed pile in each pond.

I know there's more colonies above the ponds that I have permission for, if they are all gone what are the chances of others moving in before this fall?
There were a few scars & a couple chunks out of the tails of the bigger ones.

I have seen colonies that close together down here on two occasions, but it's very rare.

Has a trapper been there b4 you?

are the houses and feed piles active?

Just me last fall, only got 3. Went out during the winter to try under ice but ice was to thin for me (January) . Lots of air bubbles under the ice. 2-3 new trees down since I was there looking at the ice.
Not sure how else to tell if they're active or not. Some of the slides seem to in use but nothing in the 330's I put in the slides.

It is too late now, but on those cold winter days you will see frost near the top of the lodge if they are using it. The heat and moisture from them living inside the lodge will create a frosty spot on the sticks at the top of the lodge.

Thanks I'll remember that for sure

4 live beaver houses (one in foreground not in pic) -1 colony.

You can look at the state of repair on most lodges to see if theyre active. Active lodges usually have fresh mud somewhere on the lodges if ice is out and it hasnt gotten too warm yet. Summertime, inactive or lodges with only one beaver dont get a lot of work. If you can see the runs coming out of the lodges, if theres trash in the runs, theyre definitely not active.