Please do not criticize people who hunt game, because these very people are the only people who care enough about game and the environment enough to buy land for habitat purposes for the very game they hunt. These very hunters are the only human beings who care sufficiently to understand the ways of nature, perpetuate the species.
This is the 4th set of boxes I've made in 38 years of living on this my home place. It is my opinion this is the best method to build them. To be successful you must see hatched shells in the boxes at the end of summer, even though you may never see the hen leave the nest with her brood. Evolution has made her the perfect creator of ducks. What human beings have forgotten is fresh on her mind, how to conceal and protect her young.
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| A screw in every point is necessary for wind resistance |
I have built boxes of old growth red heart cypress 1 x 12 lumber which will absolutely last longer than any other wood. I know after so many years of watching these nest boxes deteriorate, that a good roof on the box will allow it to withstand the elements far longer. That's why I made the roof on these boxes much bigger. It's a good rainy weather project, and here is good advice free from an old man who has built and still maintains 30 or so give or take a tree falling in the night, in a storm.
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| Nest at eye level for ease of maintenance |
This ultimate box location will be easily maintainable, a grown man's eye level from the ground, close to trees and cover for wood ducks ( a creature that loves clutter ) but not so close as to be easily jumped on from above or below. Do not place boxes where hawks can swoop from above at high rates of velocity, with ease to attack ducks perched attop boxes which they love to do. Hawks love duck meat, live in twos and threes, some times fours in successful years when they rear 2 chicks. This makes 4 big hungry mouths to feed. A family of hawks will decimate a whole neighborhood of peace loving ducks without remorse. The dozing ducks will never know what hit them. Hawks will wipe you out brother, the self defense mechanism of a duck is no match for the speed and skill of the hawk, and don't get caught taking revenge on those hawks... Huh......So here's what you do see,,,
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| Black Bellied Tree Ducks also nest in these boxes |
2. Almost forget about finding old growth cypress, it's almost impossible to find, and will cost you an arm and a leg.
3. Go to the .5 inch thick x 5.5 inch wide cedar board fencing. Cull all but the clear grained boards (boards without knots). It takes about 3 boards ($3.50 each) to make a box, gluing 2 together to make an 11 inch wide board, 3 boards wide for the roof. Make sure to let the boards dry before gluing them. Set them apart leaned vertically in your living room central air or on the porch in sunny weather for 2 or 3 days. Use a pair of clamps and wood glue to glue the boards together, or improvise to keep boards squeezed together over night till glue dries using plywood backing long nails and string contraption. It's not rocket science but do a civilized job.
4. The hole is 3 inches high and 4 inches wide, 18 inches from bottom of box. 1/4 inch mesh hardware cloth may be tacked from nest to hole to aid ducklings out of the box but you can also cut grooves with a skill saw to accomplish the same thing.
5. Make a hinged door with nails as in the photo cutting the door side board on an angle as pictured to keep elements from the nest.6. What is apparently holding the box up is a 2 inch schedule 40 PVC pipe 7 or 8 feet long painted brown with rustoleum spray paint, $3.50 a can (does about 3.5 pipes/boxes).
7. 2 inch u clamp thingamajigs fit perfectly around PVC pipe bolted though box with 1/4 inch x 1 inch long bolts with wide washers inside the box to prevent bolt head from pulling through the soft cedar wood. I used 1 inch glue coated nails that were not galvanized because a I could not find any that were. A simple latch.
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| There are freshly laid eggs in this box buried in the shavings |
9. My biggest failure for 30 years was a dinky shield. This one is not dinky.
10. Drive a 6.5 inch steel t post where you want the box to temporarily be. Place pipe over t post. As trees grow, move box to prevent ambushes by predators.
11. Use medium pine shavings for nest. Wood duck nesting cavities are in short supply due to human population growth/deforestation. In late February, early March here in the South wood ducks are looking for nesting sites. When I put up a new box, usually in 2 or 3 days, ducks have found it.
In the far North of Canada, the Northwest Territory and Yukon, the Gate of Heaven opens to set free many sky's laden with ducks_ to hunt men.
