My son and I just finished putting up our 5 wood duck houses this weekend. We cemented in 2" EMT conduit. We chose this to reduce or eliminate the potential for predators like mink and raccoons from climbing up and getting into the house.

We also made hinged sides to clean them out easy every winter to start fresh in spring. If you have ever seen inside an old wood duck house they are filled with moldy junk that makes them rather disgusting inside.

Nice work.

Great job. I assume that you put grooves below the hole on the inside of the box too similar to what is on the outside so that the young can climb out. You may still find that you need a predator guard below the box because snakes are amazing climbers even on metal surfaces like a metal post. Congrats to you any your son on a fine project.

Yes the interior is fixed for the ducklings to climb out.

I'm concerned about predators too, but mostly starlings nesting in them.

How does the photo get sideways all by itself? It was correct for the last two days?

Nice hobby, I remember raising 5 broods from 2 boxes in central Louisiana one year. Snakes down in that country would climb the conduit like it was nothing, if you have any snakes around I would agree with the previous poster from Pa.
You are putting wood shavings (not sawdust) in the box? We would fill to within a foot of the bottom of the hole...

Yes hardwood shavings inside.

We have snakes but they are not plentiful, and typically feed on rodents nod gophers. They are constrictors called bull snakes.

Our Woodies here wouldn't even come into that spot you have in the photo. No water, no trees, and no heavy brush around the edges. It is amazing how the same species adapts to different topography.

Nice looking boxes and glad to see your effort in putting them out.

JJHACK here is a small pond that gets a few Woodies, but isn't really holding what it could. So we put in 8 new boxes. The problem with this pond is just not enough timber or cover around the pond. But hopefully we'll get more to nest here this season.

What are the sizes of those boxes, and are they nailed, screwed, or other?

Screws on the few I built but I think my buddy may have used both nails and screws.

14" X 8" X 6" if I remember right. I will check to see, I have it down at the shop.

This is what it looks like when they use them.

A couple eggs that didn't hatch, and and hard wood chips.

We have woodies in our back yard.

Ours look worst then that. I put boxes up at another place that holds thousands of woodies. We tried to count one summer but there were so many. You lost count of which you counted and which you didn't. In the last 4 years we have put up over 150 boxes. Some to replace old broken ones and the rest to fill in areas.

Here is a Woodie from that place.

This is not really fair, but here is a wood duck, at "home".

I call him "Woody".

Jimy you in OK? If so my daughters live south of you close to the AR border near Ft. Smith.

That is a really nice mount.

Thank you, "Woody", resides in Wabigoon, Ontario.

I keep reminding the wife, the duck is foam, and feathers, don't let it get too close to the wood stove chimney.

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.

Yes, we often found banded hens using the same box in subsequent years. I don't recall any double-nesters we had, unless the early clutch was destroyed but interesting that it can happen by your findings.

Four baby kestrel in the wood duck house!

The mom is an angry aggressive dive bomber !

Cool! neat little raptors, with huge attitude

Watching the parents feed them nonstop makes me wonder if the mice are going to become extinct here! They are constantly in and out with mice.

how do the babies look now?

They are gone! I can hear then calling from the trees around the house. Mice beware!

I wonder if they will have a second clutch?

Went out to the pond a week or so ago. One of the babies was clinging to a cattail in about 10 feet of water.

Crap......that's gonna be cold. Swam out grabbed it after a short struggle and made my way back to shore to get it back in the house.

My wife was with me cheering me on( coaxing me) to save the poor thing.

Anyway, she snapped a few pics here is one of the scared and PO'd baby's freaked out.

Super Cool

I thought mice were too large for Kestrels? But my intel is only from reading, not seeing.

Nice looking houses! Good work

welcome to the 'fire, James E..!

Hey thanks. Really appreciate the warm welcome.