One of the simple pleasures of life is having a pond on your place, and no pond is complete without visits from wild ducks and what ever else wild you fancy to attract. It's a primal thing that becomes sweeter, more valuable with the experience of a lifetime of seasons. After all this time of being a die hard hunter, I have learned to love these birds and their environment through the understanding of a generous number of glorious sunrises in duck paradise. I must learn to put some of both back.
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 |
You may attract mating pairs of wood ducks with these nesting places, but you must then protect the eggs from amongst others, 2 major predators of nesting sites, namely raccoons and chicken snakes. The location of the boxes is important. Do not place boxes where varmints can jump to or on them from trees or any other objects. The bottom of nest boxes should be at least 5 feet from the ground so that critters including squirrels can't jump to them. It is imperative that a shield be built of sufficient strength to deter minks, racoons, opossums, and most of all chicken snakes, even though you are not around water. If you do not construct a heavy duty shield that will withstand strong winds and hungry critters you are wasting your and the ducks time and season. You will only feed chicken snakes, and never see young ducklings with their mother. It's down to earth gratifying.
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 |
1.Get to Home Depot.
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 |
8. The shield is 26 gauge galvanized sheet metal cut in a 36 inch circle. You will probably have to go to a sheet metal fabrication shop to find such a heavy gauge metal. Cut straight to center from edge, then a 2.1 inch x in the center of the 36 inch circle, then cut a second x to make this many points of very sharp sheet metal so wear finger protection. Drill through every point of metal and screw to PVC pipe so that shield will be exactly horizontal when set up. This will require a level, and assembling components (box, shield) after PVC pipe is placed over t post on location.
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.
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.
The Pindo or Jelly Palm (15 degrees F), has a silver gray colored, feather like frond with an arching habit, one of the more cold hardy palms grown here in South Louisiana zone 8b, and very worthy plant of having on your place. This specimen is ten or fifteen years old, only just beginning to bare mature fruit. As the fibrous fruit ripens, it falls from the tree and emits a very pleasantly fragrant apple peach smell. Jelly can be made from its mature ripened fruit, but I haven't tried it yet.
