More Great Flyway News

**DeltaDucks** · 04-08-2009, 10:11 AM

FROM THE DELTA WEBSITE

This female mallard was hatched and web-tagged as a one day old duckling in ‘Hen House 33’ in northwestern Pennsylvania in May, 2007. She was subsequently caught and banded at the state’s banding facilities at the Pymatuning Wildlife Area in August, 2007.

This past breeding season saw her return to ‘Hen House 33’ to successfully hatch her own clutch of 10 eggs... after her mother finished hatching her third clutch in three years!

South Carolina’s Flyways Foundation strives to boost mallard production in the Atlantic Flyway.
2006
A Hen House initiative gets off the ground in northwest Pennsylvania and southern Ontario thanks to a group of conservation-minded ducks hunters from South Carolina called the Flyways Foundation. They worked with a variety of partners including the Pennsylvania Game Commission and Long Point Waterfowl to install 400 Hen Houses. Of the 193 that were available in PA, mallards and wood ducks used 40. One of the mallard hens that successfully used ‘Hen House 33’ is the ultimate mother of the bird pictured below. Hen House 33 is located in Sheakleyville, in Mercer County, PA.

Delta student Jeremy Stempka with a mallard hen

2007 The same hen that successfully nested in Hen House 33 in 2006 returns to nest there again in 2007. Once again she is successful, with Delta student Jeremy Stempka there on May 8th, the hatch day, to capture and tag her ducklings inside the Hen House. On August 23, 2007 one of the young females that Jeremy tagged is recaptured at a state duck banding operation at the Pymatuning Wildlife Area, approximately 30 miles from Hen House 33. Since 1962, over 70,000 ducks and geese have been banded at this wildlife area, which is owned and maintained by the Pennsylvania Game Commission in Crawford County, PA.
2008
On May 27 2008, Jeremy recaptured the one-year-old hen while incubating a clutch of 10 eggs in the same “Hen House 33” where she hatched the previous year. She initiated her nest approximately 2 weeks after her mother, for the third year in a row, hatched a clutch of eggs.
All in all this Hen House 33 has hatched 4 clutches of mallard ducklings in its three-year lifespan. This is one of many interesting and successful stories of people using Hen Houses to boost mallard production across the continent. This in part explains usage rates in Hen Houses increasing over time. Often we see relatively low use in the first year and increases in subsequent years.
Summary

For a great summary of the Hen House effort in Pennsylvania, please read the attatched pdf article by Lori Richardson, courtesy of the Pennsylvania Game News – a state publication.