Wood Duck Nest Boxes

[HawkinsHollow]

Me and my right hand man installed 2 wood duck nest boxes yesterday down by the pond. It was fun! He is very excited to monitor them to see if we get any hatchlings. He wants me to put my cellular game camera on one to monitor them from home.

 

[murphy1244]

Have Fun HH!

 

[Citydude]

Great project!

 

[big bubba]

good project. installed 2 in my wetland pond area a while back. waders are essential
what material did you use to build houses? what species of duck do you have? this is the time of year for them to nest. did you provide some kind of expanded metal, etc for the hatch lings to crawl up to the exit hole? get some photos

 

[HawkinsHollow]

good project. installed 2 in my wetland pond area a while back. waders are essential
what material did you use to build houses? what species of duck do you have? this is the time of year for them to nest. did you provide some kind of expanded metal, etc for the hatch lings to crawl up to the exit hole? get some photos

I used pine I got from my buddies sawmill. I wanted to get cedar, but we didn't have time to dig it out and mill it. This was free. I'll throw a coat of Thompsons water seal on it and see how many years I get out of it. I am hoping to get a couple hatches of wood ducks per year out of these. Yeah, the woods ducks should be looking for nests any time here in North GA. Yes I did put hardware cloth on the inside for ducklings. Best part was the time I spent with my son. He loved it.

 

[big bubba]

great. you may consider holding off on Thompsons till after nesting season as the fumes may ward them off i had some heartwood eastern cedar that i used for mine, pine should be fine. good project for the pleasure of your son & the hens.
installing the 2 boxes on posts in the pond was a challenge for me, but worth it. good luck

 

[ovrszd]

Look forward to a nesting report.

This thread motivated me to go take a look at my Canada Goose Nest Box. Gotta get the tractor down there tomorrow and clean it out. They'll start checking it out in another 3 weeks.

Also gotta get my Purple Martin nests cleaned and rehung. They'll be shopping for homes in another month.

 

[Thomas]

Looking forward to updates. :thumbsup:

 

[oosik]

I get two or three pair of wood ducks every spring. They don't nest on my lake. One of the disadvantages of having bass in my lake. I do have one pair of Greater Canadian geese that nest and raise their young on the lake. They keep the young well sheltered down in the cattail area until they are pretty big.

 

[EddieWalker]

Pure awesomeness!!! Please keep us updated.

 

[HawkinsHollow]

Here is a close up of one of our nest boxes (the other I would haver to be floating to get a better pic) No action yet, but it is still early.

 

[ovrszd]

Maybe I missed it, can you post detail specs to build one?

 

[the old grind]

Richard, the tall/duck version of this is one I've been thanked for linking. (among the several hundred online not on pinterest)

The side door makes off-season service easy.

State Parks Getaways - Texas Parks and Wildlife E-newsletter

 

[ovrszd]

Richard, the tall/duck version of this is one I've been thanked for linking. (among the several hundred online not on pinterest)

The side door makes off-season service easy.

State Parks Getaways - Texas Parks and Wildlife E-newsletter

Thanks for the link. I don't know if I have Wood Ducks around? I'll fab up a box and put it on the shoreline of one of my ponds and find out!!! Thanks again!!!

 

[HawkinsHollow]

Maybe I missed it, can you post detail specs to build one?

This is what I used.
Info:
How to Build a Wood Duck Nest Box | Audubon

Detailed Plans:
https://www.audubon.org/sites/default/files/wood-duck-nest-box.pdf

 

[japody]

What keeps out unwanted visitors?

 

[HawkinsHollow]

What keeps out unwanted visitors?

I have a 4 inch metal flue pipe hanging around the pipe. I did not have 4" pvc so I subbed metal. This hangs so it swings in hopes that coons cannot climb up. There is hardware cloth stuffed in top of pipe to keep snakes and mice out. I also have some grease smeared on bottom 1' of pipe to keep ants out and maybe for a bit more raccoon deterrent. I need to get some of those strips so muddaubers and wasps won't make nests.

 

[heavy hammer]

Nice looking boxes let us know if you get any nests. Nothing better than spending some time outside with the kids. I'm sure your son will love to see the ducklings on the pond.

 

[Mauser12]

Me and my right hand man installed 2 wood duck nest boxes yesterday down by the pond. It was fun! He is very excited to monitor them to see if we get any hatchlings. He wants me to put my cellular game camera on one to monitor them from home. View attachment 641016View attachment 641017View attachment 641018

How do you keep the racoons from tearing them apart. I put the boxes on a stream on my property but they are generally torn apart within a couple of years.

 

[Ford850]

How do you keep the racoons from tearing them apart. I put the boxes on a stream on my property but they are generally torn apart within a couple of years.

He put a 4" flue pipe over the post. I use aluminum downspouts on the posts, and on bluebird box posts too. I cut them so they fit to within an inch of the bottom on the box, and I leave them loose to they wobble if something tries to climb. I've never had a coon get to a box with the downspout on there.