Home Forums Birds & Dogs Waterfowl Our wood duck houses are finally up!

We placed a box on a little pond in front of my cabin in 1997 and that location has only failed once to attract a nesting woody.

On occasion we have witnessed the box empty out and watch the mother gather the family for a few minutes in the pond then strike out for the creek near the trees.

I have some boxes placed on some trees along the creek, but Screech owls, squirrels and Starlings nest in them more frequently than the woodys.

I'm in North western Pa. Woodies are our #1 duck.

Battue's neighbor.

The angle of the photo is looking away from the forest and the river. Had I taken it from the other side you would see the trees and water.

Woodies have been known to nest on building ledges in downtown Vicksburg, MS I was told by a former boss. They used to watch the babies jump 40 ft to the pavement, bounce a few feet into the air, and then follow mama to the nearest water. I have only seen them exit one time in central La., onto water. It was cool to watch!

Well, one of my houses is occupied by a pair of kestrels now. Not wood ducks but kestrels are cool too. As long as it's not starlings!

If you keep checking them, you can kick out the un invited guests as Woodies will renest if their first clutch gets destroyed. They may choose your box if it is clean. I always had a problem with flickers just going in and poking holes in the eggs before the hen went to setting. rough cut lumber works great and the ducklings do not even need a ladder to get out. I used pl 400 or liquid nails as well as screws. Make them as strong as you can!!!!

I used gorilla exterior glue and deck screws. These are astonishing strong with that adhesive. I learned quick, don't get it on your fingers and hands.

You're absolutely right, glued and screwed makes them like one solid piece

Good advice. We evicted a couple of mergansers from a box last year and the woodies used it.

This is my modest housing development for the wood ducks.
The grey under the box is a flat predator guard.

Are any plans better than others? I built a huge box specifically for pileated woodpeckers this spring. No takers. Here them and see them on my property.

But I've got at least $50+ in materials on this box. I'd like to put up some boxes but not for $150.

Cheaper way?

And is it too late?

I've seen some made from 8" PVC pipe. Maybe some scrap sections and cutoffs would work? If you can visit a Pipe yard or a construction site they would likely give you the 2' sections they cut off?

I know I had a need for some 5' sections, for another project. It took a while but I had the irrigation company here give me two pieces and I paid like 25 bucks for the third one. They would be far more weatherproof too!

I got the plans from Ducks Unlimited website.

How would one get in the PVC pipe boxes?
A removable roof?

Put a clean-out either on the top or bottom.

A clean-out is a threaded cap that screws into the glued in fitting.

Hen hatching out. Nest initiation, they do not pull feathers until they start to set. Banding a hen.

I've banded a few hundred nesting hens, and a few thousand summer trapped birds in NWT and AB. Some of my most fun duty with USFWS years ago.

Me and a buddy got to do it for 5 years. Of course we had to file all the paper work with USFWS and had the Professor take care of most of that. But, all the field work we were alone and made many boxes over those years and learned just about everything from Woodies. We had the first Double clutch this far North that we knew about. She had 2 successful clutches. She began laying again about 4-5 weeks after her first brood left the nest. Which Woody ducklings get independent quickly and Mom is no longer needed . She was an older bird and started laying a week before we had any other egg initiation in any other box. Her second clutch was 12 instead of 14 the first time. We had 2 hens setting in the same box next to one another, which is unheard off. They do not tolerate any intrusions. Found a decapitated Robin in one box with a setting hen. Robin must of decided to stick her nose in and found mom none to happy about it. Learned a lot about raccoons. They would try and naw their way in the hole. This is why I double faced around the hole with another 1 inch piece of wood and why your boxes should be at least 24 inches deep. Coons tactics were to try and flush then hen by sticking their head in. That is as far as they could get, but if she flushed, he would grab her. Water or land boxes got 4 inch pvc pipe around the poles so no coons could climb. We have big Cottonwood trees here, so hard to stop coons from getting up the trees. But if your hole is 4" Long and 3" wide, like a football shape, they did not do much harm. Screech Owls like to play hurt or possum until you grab them. Then all bets are off. We had one in the red phase and one in the blue phase that liked to winter in the boxes. Clean them every Feb. Squirrels love to nest early. Kick them out. Keep checking them until you know it is a woody using it. Like I said before, they will renest if something happens, so keep your boxes strong and clean and you will be rewarded. I used 4" of animal bedding wood chips for the bottoms. Good luck!

In central Louisiana, it was common for several hens to dump eggs, sometimes one hen would try to brood 30 + eggs. Usually about 8 or 10 would hatch, then time permitting we would clean the boxes out and get more nesting activity.

The 2 hens at one time is bizarre, I had not heard of that before. Our biggest nuisances were red wasps and rat snakes.

Bobcat predation was documentd on boxes over land in some areas, but we usually put ours over water.

We would get dump nests as well, but they never tried to set on them. It is mostly first year hens not knowing what quite to do. Then they figured it out and secured a nest site and raised a brood. With all our data, it was older hens the first to secure nest sites and the first to start egg initiation. I did something I really was not suppose to do, but when you are trying to study these birds you get crazy ideas. I had a dump nest of 30+ eggs. I put them in my incubator at home and got 8 to hatch and banded and released. The next year pulled a hen that was nesting to band her and it had a band already and low and behold it was one I raised and released. The hen was in the box that I had released them all under. Which I thought was pretty cool and valuable info. Hens will bring back Drakes in the Spring from their Wintering grounds. So if a drake from Texas meets a hen from North Dakota, the drake will come up with her to North Dakota to breed. Hard to get the same bloodlines that way I guess. I miss it, but just a little to much work climbing trees and such at my age.