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Thread: Checking nesting box activity

  1. #1
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    Default Checking nesting box activity

    I'm not seeing a great hatch out of my boxes this Spring. I still have several hens sitting on eggs tho. Sucks to open a box and find a snake. I keep branches trimmed but somehow this one made it inside the box.

    I love finding empties inside the boxes! Due to the lack of time I didn't count egg shells to estimate nest success.
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    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
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    That blue heron is just waiting for one to jump out.
    Quote Originally Posted by cajunwannabe View Post
    Man is merely a two legged locust, devouring wild lands, developing and prostituting wildlife and fisheries under the guise of "use of the resource" for tremendous profit and moving on. Will it ever end?

  3. #3
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    I had 12/13 hatch in March. The one that didn't make had a formed duckling in the shell with feathers with no sign of why it didn't make it.

    The box was empty until two weeks ago. Went from having 4 eggs to what appears to be 14 in about 5 days. Not sure if that is normal or if it's a dump nest. I'll try to update when I can.

    Sent from my SM-G892A using Tapatalk

  4. #4
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    Erected a box this year, never seen a woodduck in this cove but figured they have been there before. Took a couple months but sure enough, checked it one day and she flew out. 10 eggs. Checked it the other day and it was a 9/10 hatch with #10 being 3/4 developed. I didn't put anything in box and she made a nest of grass, moss, sticks, down, etc. I removed shells but left the rest, should I remove it all? Will they nest through the summer?
    Low country redneck who moved north

  5. #5
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    I cleaned out a box at my pond the other day and one of the old rotten eggs busted on my hand when I was scooping them out. My stomach was sore from dry heaving the next day.

  6. #6
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    Nov 2007
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    Quote Originally Posted by mudflat View Post
    Erected a box this year, never seen a woodduck in this cove but figured they have been there before. Took a couple months but sure enough, checked it one day and she flew out. 10 eggs. Checked it the other day and it was a 9/10 hatch with #10 being 3/4 developed. I didn't put anything in box and she made a nest of grass, moss, sticks, down, etc. I removed shells but left the rest, should I remove it all? Will they nest through the summer?
    Nope, leave the material in there. There still may be some stragglers that will use it.

    I read online that wood ducks will NOT bring in nesting material, but I have had the same experience as you in that they will fill it up. I have also had an empty box where a hen successfully hatched her clutch without any nesting material other than her down feathers (she didn't bring anything in).

    I used to buy cedar shavings to put in boxes, but it got too expensive even with the material lasting a few years. I have gone to leaves/pinestraw from the woods out back, and I have has just as much success/usage as before. If you run out of shaving and have a completely empty box, grab a few handfulls of whatever leaf litter is around, and I'm sure the ducks will appreciate it.

  7. #7
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    Kill the snake's and the heron's

  8. #8
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    Nov 2001
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    Columbia, SC
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    and the deer
    Ugh. Stupid people piss me off.

  9. #9
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    'Down in the Holler', SC
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    Quote Originally Posted by WNM View Post
    Nope, leave the material in there (until you clean the box out for next season). There still may be some stragglers that will use it.

    I used to buy cedar shavings to put in boxes, but it got too expensive even with the material lasting a few years. I have gone to leaves/pinestraw from the woods out back, and I have has just as much success/usage as before. If you run out of shaving and have a completely empty box, grab a few handfulls of whatever leaf litter is around, and I'm sure the ducks will appreciate it.
    I've used dry pine straw in all boxes for the last 24 years and had many clutches hatch... until this past two years. Of the five boxes out back along the creek, only one has produced the last two years, which is a complete change from the past.
    .
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  10. #10
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    Quote Originally Posted by WoodieSC View Post
    I've used dry pine straw in all boxes for the last 24 years and had many clutches hatch... until this past two years. Of the five boxes out back along the creek, only one has produced the last two years, which is a complete change from the past.
    I am used to 2-3 clutches per nesting season in many of my boxes. Something is "different" this year. As of March 15th I only had 9 out of 26 nesting boxes being used. I don't know if it was the milder Spring temps (unseasonably cool or more normal maybe?) or the lack of hens but I'm concerned we're killing too many woodies here in SC. Next years harvest numbers will probably differ from what I'm seeing here locally I hope.

    I have always used cedar shavings and usually get 100% use out of my boxes. All 3 of my newly installed boxes were used this year too.
    Last edited by cajunwannabe; 06-17-2020 at 12:42 PM.
    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

  11. #11
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    Just counted 18 plus mom swimming in front of the the house. She has her hands full
    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!"

  12. #12
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    Hand's

  13. #13
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    Wing's
    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!"

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