Clean out your wood duck boxes

[cajunwannabe]

Checked 20 something boxes and I was disappointed to say the least. Box 1 started strong with a great hatch and it sucked after that. Thankfully I have hens sitting hard on several boxes....some wouldn't even budge from the box.

A storm damaged predator guard as well as high water level caused access for snakes in two boxes. I found more dump boxes than ideal clutch sizes and I found boxes where the hen was either killed or she abandoned the box for whatever reason. Finding dead ducklings inside a nesting box is a fact of life. They don't always make it out, either they're sick, weak or maybe hatched too late to make jump day. It's time to repair storm damaged boxes and clean them out and get another clutch going!

Hopefully I'll be able to recruit some help and raise a few nesting boxes this weekend to help these ducks out!

[CUduckreeper]

Will ducks lay more than once a year? I thought I was too late this year on cleaning out my boxes so I left them alone. However I will be happy to go check/clean them if it isn't too late this year.

[cajunwannabe]

I clean my boxes out right after they hatch and have had 3 broods hatch out of one box in one season. I've seen hens sitting in July.

[banded_mallard]

Wood ducks are one of the only ducks that we know of that consistently have two broods a year.

[WoodieSC]

I clean my boxes and put fresh pine straw in at the end of January.

For 22 years, with 3-4 boxes, we would normally have 2-5 hatches per year.

The past two years we’ve had no nests and nothing has changed.

I did find a nest in my neighbor’s box last weekend with a hen sitting on 15 eggs.

Beats me what’s going on.

[Beauregard]

Cajun, you mentioned dump nests- do you notice any pattern in which boxes have dump nests? I was involved in some research with a bunch of nest boxes years ago and we thought maybe box visibility was related to dump nesting. For example, a box on a point or an open shoreline was more likely to have a dump nest than a box tucked in the back of a cove. I don't think it was tested statistically, just an observation.

[thawhacker]

What’s the deal with the ones on the boat you think

[YoungBuckTX]

I clean my boxes and put fresh pine straw in at the end of January.

For 22 years, with 3-4 boxes, we would normally have 2-5 hatches per year.

The past two years we’ve had no nests and nothing has changed.

I did find a nest in my neighbor’s box last weekend with a hen sitting on 15 eggs.

Beats me what’s going on.

if you aren't seeing any ducks, add corn to your pond in February. you will prob get a pair or two then

[Sportin' Woodies]

Tell me you killed that black pos

[beanhunter]

Me and my boys will be working those boxes Sunday and we never give them a pass! Lol

[cajunwannabe]

What’s the deal with the ones on the boat you think

The duck egg shells on the gunnel of my boat are from a successful hatch. I count the empty shells while cleaning out the box in order to determine the number of ducklings that hatched and made the jump.

Regarding dump boxes, I haven't kept track of specific boxes being more prone to being dumped in. I always thought the close proximity of the nesting boxes led to hens dumping eggs in them, most of these boxes are set in sheltered coves but some are close together. This year I have way more dump boxes than I have "average" size clutches (10-14). Here are 5 different nest dump boxes from yesterday that hens are actively using. There should be a max of 50-70 eggs total in these 5 boxes.....there's probably more than double that.

I wish I took better notes on the nesting activity and data gathering.

[cajunwannabe]

Huge shout out to Beanhunter and his two boys for helping me install 3 new boxes yesterday and pull and move another! Thanks to Coot Nasty for the post hole digger too!

No series of pictures would be complete without a shot of "the ark". It's a heck of a work boat for hauling equipment and supplies to hang duck boxes!

[YoungBuckTX]

good stuff. of the 20 I have, half are hatched already. Others are still sitting on nest. Two screech owls this year
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[LC17]

We spooked a hen out of her box yesterday while fishing nearby. Went and opened the door on the box and snapped a quick pic of thirteen eggs. Will the hen come back?

[YoungBuckTX]

We spooked a hen out of her box yesterday while fishing nearby. Went and opened the door on the box and snapped a quick pic of thirteen eggs. Will the hen come back?

yes. she will be back. ours usually only fly away within sight.

[beanhunter]

Good times for sure. Kids enjoyed it and they finally jumped in too. We went back to the house and all of us ended up jumping in off the dock yesterday. I won't do that again for a while..

[WNM]

I had a nest with 30 eggs in it. I haven't been back to check to see the success, but I'd bet at least half of my boxes have 15+ eggs in them. A lot are close though. 300+ eggs between them all a month ago.

[cajunwannabe]

I'm digging the screech owl! I had one in a box in February but it didn't nest there.

It would take a LOT of harassment to run a hen from returning to a nesting box. I pulled a huge rat snake out of a box a few years ago with 5 fresh eaten eggs in it. The hen wasn't far from the box and she watched me pull the snake out and came back and incubated the remaining clutch. Very cool little ducks for sure.

[willyworm]

Will ducks lay more than once a year? I thought I was too late this year on cleaning out my boxes so I left them alone. However I will be happy to go check/clean them if it isn't too late this year.

I've been running the Santee in mid-August and seen a hen woodie leading a clutch of ducklings across the river that had prolly just came out the nest a day or so before. So a HARD yes on the mid-summer hatching abilities of a hen wood duck.

Mature wood duck hens have been known to raise 2 broods in a season. If they are unsucessful in attempt 1 then they usually have a strong tendency to renest to make a 2nd attempt.