Duck decoy

I'm about to buy a big bag of used decoys and have a couple questions.
There are mallards, pintails and a couple geese in the bag - do you put them out in mixed groups, two seperate groups, or simply just put out the species you are hoping to draw in?
How rough looking do they have to get before you feel like they are ineffective?
Can you easily touch up the paint? or will ducks easily pick up on discrepancies in coloring/appearance? (I'm not much of an artist)
They are all floaters, what do you use to anchor them? And how to do get them to stay in formation in a moving tide.
And any other duck hunting pro tips you might have is greatly appreciated!

I like to group them by species, geese off to the side if i'm hunting ducks or vise versa. Google decoy spread patterns to get an idea on how you should set them up, making sure you leave a good area in front of your shooting lane clear so they have a place to land.

I touch up my decoys every year, I just mask off sections and hit them with a light dusting of spray paint then touch up the accents with white paint on a brush. You can get the iridescent green paint from Michaels for the mallards or just get a good green colour and add some pigment dust to it (also available at Michaels). Paint doesn't have to be perfect, just consistent.

I usually haul out 30 duck decoys if I'm hiking in or 60 ducks plus 12 floater geese if I have the boat. Hiking in I have 24 ducks rigged with "rig em right" egg weight decoy anchors on 36" leaders and 6 on a jerk rig. If on the boat, the rest of the ducks are on the same "rig em right" anchors but the geese are set up with keel grabber weights and 8' leaders.

Tons of internet articles on duck decoy patterns. The best way I found is to scout the area you want to hunt and observe real birds.

Try to replicate and set up where the birds want to be. Dont need many decoys if you nailed the spot. Stay well hidden and replicate what you see live birds do. Change something if birds are coming in and flaring.

Use the wind to your advantage. A small set up in a spot the birds like to go to on a windy day is a anwesome hunt. Shitty painted decoys bouncing on a nice windy day are better than perfectly painted decoys on a dead calm sunny blue bird day with no motion.

You can use anything from big nuts found around home to homemade made to lead fishing weights. The deeper you go and add current or tide means more weight is required.

By the seasons end, birds get weiry and the small details like seeing the decoy line or decoy spacing may flare birds that would have decoyed in the early season. Typically as the season progresses and birds get educated, your own movement, calling and how well you brush in also becomes more imortant.

Thanks for the detailed response from both of you! I'll start working on touching up some of the real bashed up decoys, will have around 40 that are still in good shape to use until then.
The 'rig em right's system looks convenient, will probably order those to start with before I start experimenting with making my own. They only come with up to a 6oz weight though. Of course that's more than fine for lake/pond hunts, but will that hold them steady on the coast? Especially on a windy day with changing tides should I be worried about them drifting?

I use 4 oz weights for my teal and 6 oz for the rest of my duck decoys. I hunt on tidal flats and they work fine for me.

Okay that's great to know, thanks!

This is all good information and I don't have much to add. If you are hunting coastal I would definitely go with heavier weights. Smaller weights are okay when your birds are in the muck but higher tides will lift them and you will start seeing them escape with wind and tide. I've had to chase them myself and then had to bring the dekes in closer for fear they would all go.

For general advice I would say, #1 scouting - nothing to add, #2 stay hidden. Duck hunting will forgive a lot of mistakes but not being hidden is a big sin. If you don't have camo, at least wear drab colors, hide your face, or find a big patch of grass or log to get behind. Learn to see without moving, without craning your neck. #3 don't shoot until you can make out their details, some say when you can make out their feet. Basically under 25 yards. You can mark the furthest extent of your shooting range by not putting down any decoys beyond that. Any other shot is for the experienced or desperate. A duck that has been shot at and escapes is an educated duck. You've just told the duck not to come back and they will be extra wary for other hunters. Also make sure you can retrieve it. An injured duck can flutter down a fair ways. Even one that you kill in the air can sometimes sail off another 25 yards. So kill them coming in, not going away. I've made all those mistakes.

I'm so glad you will be starting out with decoys. It really is such a game changer to be able to have ducks actually have a reason to land. When they come in wings up and slow even the worst shots will have a good chance to put it down.

Don't hesitate to go out at any time. You learn most of what you actually need for your situation by going out. You don't know what you don't know. Don't hold off if you think you need that extra gadget or the weather to be just right (bad weather is good to us). Get the experience.

When you say heavier weights, how many Oz's you talking? I feel like I might as well go heavy unless there's a benefit to having lighter weights in certain situations

And I did already learn the hard way how far ducks can go. I bagged two off a lake side last season, one was a bad hit so I ended up stripping down to my undies to swim out 100 yards and get it. Will also have a boat from here on out.

Another question I just thought of, are there certain tide levels to watch for? Or is it completely specific to the spot your setting up at. I keep up with tide charts already for skimboarding so just curious if theres benefits of hunting different depths for ducks.

What Ron C. said. I have a few that are 4.oz but the majority are 6.

When I think of tides I think of how the tides will bring in the shoreline so I either have to pull back or it means the ducks that were floating way out there are now coming in closer to where I'm hiding more.

In low tide some areas are just flat with no cover. So how do you get the ducks if the water is way out there and there is no way you can sneak up on them.

Definitely you have to know your area. In certain tide you may know that this nice little island is reachable. When conditions change that island may go below water.

Hunting in King Tide is 'interesting'. And I mean ranging from scary to I should GTFO before I end up losing everything.