Duck Nest Box Questions

Carl

Carl

Well-known member
Staff member
For his Eagle Scout Project, my son is going to be putting up a dozen nest boxes for our expanding black belly whistling duck population.
Given that a pair nested in a bucket next to one of our sheds out here at he 5 Rivers Delta Complex its safe to say that adequate nesting sites are not readily available to them!

Some question:
Not sure we can get 1"x12" rough cut cedar, will pine be ok?
Should we paint or put a coat of Thompson Water Seal on the outside?
Has anyone tried using grey PVC conduit pipe for the support poles?

Thanks!
 
Carl, For the poles I went to the sign shop at public works and told them what I was doing. They pulled out a truckload of slightly bent or rusted sign posts that were headed for recycling. Free and tough. I did put some wood duck houses in trees and will never waste my time and materials doing that again. Those houses became coon feeding stations.
 
Carl

You happen to be in the heart of Cypress country. That would be my first choice. I'd call around to some local sawmills and see who could supply you with some rough sawn boards. If whistling ducklings don't claw their way out like wood ducks then planed wood should work too.
 
Carl,

My son just did his Eagle Project leading a team to put up a dozen wood duck boxes this spring. Some good advice was already given (Cypress, street sign posts, predator guards).

Don't know anything about black belly whistling ducks but if we can be of any help, let me know. We were able to get a bunch of stuff donated which helped, and used pre-cut kits which cut down the construction time significantly. If you use the same kind of boxes for BBWD I'd be happy to send you our plans.

Ed
 
Carl,

I don't know if you have a Menards down there, but they have 1 x 12 rough sawn cedar boards. The cedar is a bit pricey. I would not use pine or seal with Thompsons. Pine will rot quickly. Good luck, what a great project.
 
Carl, I have a had a fair amount of experience with building and maintaining wood duck nest boxes. My first suggestion would be to go to woodducksociety.com and look at their nest box plans and "best practices." Don't paint or put water seal on the wood. If you use cypress the boxes will last a long time but I have also built a bunch out of pine board, but they will not last near as long as cypress. Cedar is another good choice...better than pine but not as good as cypress. Invest a little more money and time and use treated 8' 4x4 posts. Roughly make a point on one end with an ax and use a post driver. You will have a solid support for the box and the sheet metal predator guard. You can also dig a two foot hole, put the post in and tamp the dirt back around it but I prefer using a post driver. (You will need a step ladder to start driving the post). Absolutely use a predator guard like the ones described in WDS best practices. Predators like coons and rat snakes will find a way to get around any other style of predator guard, I promise. 5 well built boxes made with quality materials on 4x4 posts with sheet metal predator guards will raise way more ducks than 50 boxes nailed to trees or put up without inadequate protection from predators. The WD Society web page has a lot of great wood duck related info, also some interesting stories and advice about other cavity nesting waterfowl like hooded mergansers, Black bellies, buffleheads and GEs. Just my 2 cents worth
 
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Dwight, thanks for the input.
All these boxes will be over water, in emergent vegetation & bottomless muck, so digging holes or attaching them to trees is not an option!
Guys down here have been using two 8 foot galvanized sign posts, basically sinking the first one completely in the mud, leaving the top one to hold the predator guard and the box.
 
For a cheep solution check out Oregons DNR site for nest box plans from a single sheet of exterior plywood. I made several a few years back when the price of cedar took off. So far they are still hanging in there. "A good plan today beats a perfect plan tomorrow"ttp://wdfw.wa.gov/publications/00406/wdfw00406.pdf -
Sorry it is Wash state not Oregon. 3 boxes out of ONE SHEET of plywood.
 
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Connecticut Waterfowlers Association uses local yellow pine harvested out of our state forests by our DEEP. Check with your Wildlife Unit or Forestry Unit. Tell them about the project and who knows, you might get your materials for free. We even get access to a DEEP workshop every March to build them.

Jim
 
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