Results 1 to 15 of 15

Thread: Clean out your wood duck boxes and Black Bellied Whistlers update

  1. #1
    Join Date
    Feb 2004
    Location
    SC
    Posts
    4,304

    Default Clean out your wood duck boxes and Black Bellied Whistlers update

    I used to think a hen couldn't hatch a "dump box" but somehow they work it out the best they can. This one has 20 something in it with a hen sitting hard.



    22 of 29 hatched out of this box. 21 made it out of the box, found 1 dead and 7 unhatched.



    I put 2 nesting boxes behind my buddies camp in the marsh last November Louisiana. I was jacked when he sent me a pic this morning! I wish I lived closer and got a clearer pic.

    Listen to your elders. Not because they are always right but because they have more experiences of being wrong.

    "We make a living by what we get, we make a life by what we give" Sir Winston Churchill

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Jun 2008
    Location
    Wateree Creek
    Posts
    1,733

    Default

    The box in my yard had 14 eggs and 11 hatch. She brings them to the yard to feed every day. Got a hen mallard and another woodie hen that bring them to the yard every day.

  3. #3
    Join Date
    Nov 2012
    Location
    York Co
    Posts
    4,826

    Default

    Good to know. I have several boxes with 20

  4. #4
    Join Date
    Nov 2008
    Location
    Scumter
    Posts
    21,811

    Default

    Cleaned mine out late this year. None were being used. Water has changed in the swamp though and I need to move at least 2 of the boxes. Ants were in the 2. The other 4 regularly get used, so not sure what's going on. I need new predator guards too.

    Sent from my SM-G930V using Tapatalk
    [SIGPIC][/SIGPIC]
    Delta in a nutshell: Breeding grounds + small wetlands + big blocks of grass cover + predator removal + nesting structures + enough money to do the job= plenty of ducks to keep everyone smiling!

    "For those that will fight for it...FREEDOM...has a flavor the protected shall never know."
    -L/Cpl Edwin L. "Tim" Craft

  5. #5
    Join Date
    Feb 2004
    Location
    SC
    Posts
    4,304

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by willyworm View Post
    Cleaned mine out late this year. None were being used. Water has changed in the swamp though and I need to move at least 2 of the boxes. Ants were in the 2. The other 4 regularly get used, so not sure what's going on. I need new predator guards too.

    Sent from my SM-G930V using Tapatalk
    Wood ducks will use a nesting cavity a mile from water.

    Does anyone on here have a source for galvanized sheeting to make predator guards?
    Listen to your elders. Not because they are always right but because they have more experiences of being wrong.

    "We make a living by what we get, we make a life by what we give" Sir Winston Churchill

  6. #6
    Join Date
    Nov 2008
    Location
    Scumter
    Posts
    21,811

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by cajunwannabe View Post
    Wood ducks will use a nesting cavity a mile from water.

    Does anyone on here have a source for galvanized sheeting to make predator guards?
    Oh I know. I had a pair checking out a dead pine in my yard that has several cavities in it and I'm hundreds of yards from the closest creek.

    The issue with the 2 boxes I mentioned were the ants. If ants can get there it's destined for failure so they're gonna be relocated. It's either that or try to kill all the ants nearby. Relocating is the lesser of the 2 evils.

    Yeah, if someone can point me in the direction of an outlet for galvanized sheeting I'd be appreciative too.

    Sent from my SM-G930V using Tapatalk
    Last edited by willyworm; 05-07-2018 at 12:57 PM.
    [SIGPIC][/SIGPIC]
    Delta in a nutshell: Breeding grounds + small wetlands + big blocks of grass cover + predator removal + nesting structures + enough money to do the job= plenty of ducks to keep everyone smiling!

    "For those that will fight for it...FREEDOM...has a flavor the protected shall never know."
    -L/Cpl Edwin L. "Tim" Craft

  7. #7
    Join Date
    Mar 2002
    Location
    'Down in the Holler', SC
    Posts
    14,556

    Default

    I've got three boxes that sit above the creek bank out back and not one has been used in the past two years. Neither have the two downstream, yet four of these five box locations have had boxes up for over 20 years with multiple nests in several of them every year until we put these new boxes up two years ago. They have all been the DNR boxes, get fresh pine needles in them every January, and hundreds of Wood Duck chicks have jumped from them over the years.

    I don't understand it.
    .
    Foothills Golden Retriever Rescue
    .
    "Keep your powder dry, Boys!"
    ~ George Washington

    "If I understood everything I said I'd be a genius." ~ 'Unknown'

  8. #8
    Join Date
    Feb 2004
    Location
    SC
    Posts
    4,304

    Default

    No telling. I have one box that should be on it's 2nd clutch by now and it's been empty all Spring. I don't get it either.
    Listen to your elders. Not because they are always right but because they have more experiences of being wrong.

    "We make a living by what we get, we make a life by what we give" Sir Winston Churchill

  9. #9
    Join Date
    Jan 2005
    Location
    FROG LEVEL
    Posts
    23,785

    Default

    We had a winter for a change is what my take is
    Gettin old is for pussies! AND MY NEW TRUE people say like Capt. Tom >>>>>>>>>/
    "Wow, often imitated but never duplicated. No one can do it like the master. My hat is off to you DRDUCK!"

  10. #10
    Join Date
    Jan 2003
    Location
    SC
    Posts
    24,412

    Default

    3 out of 5 boxes were occupied by early February. Now one is being used by a young hen or one that failed somewhere else.

    Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk

  11. #11
    Join Date
    Nov 2010
    Posts
    1,255

    Default

    For the last couple weeks while training dogs in the afternoon, I watched a hen wood duck fly into a hole in a tree near my house. The hole is easily 40-45 feet off the ground. I got sent a video last week of it "raining ducks" out of that hole. Them jokers were falling and bouncing off the ground like a pin ball, walking off like it was nothing. Mama duck was over in the bushes calling them, once they assembled they walked off into the swamp and I haven't seen them since. Pretty cool...

  12. #12
    Join Date
    Feb 2004
    Location
    SC
    Posts
    4,304

    Default

    Can you post the video of them jumping on here? It's crazy how high up in a tree they can jump and not die.
    Listen to your elders. Not because they are always right but because they have more experiences of being wrong.

    "We make a living by what we get, we make a life by what we give" Sir Winston Churchill

  13. #13
    Join Date
    Nov 2008
    Location
    Scumter
    Posts
    21,811

    Default

    I can't recall the species but I watched a video that showed some ducklings leaping from a cliff and literally bouncing off of rocks as they tumbled all the way down. Musta been hundreds of feet. The little things got right up and waddled off to go join mom. God knew what he was doing when he made em.
    [SIGPIC][/SIGPIC]
    Delta in a nutshell: Breeding grounds + small wetlands + big blocks of grass cover + predator removal + nesting structures + enough money to do the job= plenty of ducks to keep everyone smiling!

    "For those that will fight for it...FREEDOM...has a flavor the protected shall never know."
    -L/Cpl Edwin L. "Tim" Craft

  14. #14
    Join Date
    Feb 2004
    Location
    SC
    Posts
    4,304

    Default

    Barnacle goose goslings

    Listen to your elders. Not because they are always right but because they have more experiences of being wrong.

    "We make a living by what we get, we make a life by what we give" Sir Winston Churchill

  15. #15
    Join Date
    Nov 2008
    Location
    Scumter
    Posts
    21,811

    Default

    That's them. Neat-o.
    [SIGPIC][/SIGPIC]
    Delta in a nutshell: Breeding grounds + small wetlands + big blocks of grass cover + predator removal + nesting structures + enough money to do the job= plenty of ducks to keep everyone smiling!

    "For those that will fight for it...FREEDOM...has a flavor the protected shall never know."
    -L/Cpl Edwin L. "Tim" Craft

Bookmarks

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •