nest box

I couldn't get the picture to show up

I've got 2 boxes up and have never had anything in them....I keep hoping maybe a screech owl will move in since the ducks don't seem to be interested in them but so far nope....to be fair though, my boxes aren't over water....near but not over water
 
I've been messing with wood duck boxes for several years here in South Carolina. Some years I've had 3 clutches hatch out of one nest box because I clean them out and add fresh cedar shavings right after jump day.........next season, nothing might use it (very, very rare though here in SC)

Here's a perfect clutch
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Here's a dump box. Surprisingly, I've seen up to 21 eggs hatched out of a box with 29 eggs dumped in it.



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[font=Verdana, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif]Here's some baby woody's that have made it pretty far along! My neighbor took this pic in his backyard for me yesterday. I love putting ducks back into the wild![/font]
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PT

Great job on the nest, I have been messing with wood ducks here in New York State for a long long time. I enjoy being a Sportsmen that gives back. If everyone gave something back to what they love the world would be a much better place. I have so many boxes out that I don't clean all them out every year. Do what I can and try to get the rest ASAP. But I have had wood duck boxes that i haven't clean in a while be used. Thank you for the wonderful photos great job. You should be very proud of yourself.
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P Taylor

That is a piece of sheet metal to keep the coons and other predators off the box. Plus sometimes we put a guard around the bottom of the boxes We use ruff cut lumber. We make them heavier then most. But they seem to last longer.
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Y'all must not have egg eaters like we do here in SC. I'd lose all my eggs if I didn't have predator guards.

Are you using rough cut pine or cypress or ? for your boxes? The boxes I took over here on our local lake are 25 years old and made of cypress and still cranking out baby ducks. Our state switched to pine and they are horrible, splitting and we'll be lucky if they last 5 years..


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P T

I hate snakes yes we have some egg eaters, But not like you! We lose a lot to turtles and foxes and coons when they hit the ground running. We use ruff cut pine. They last for a while. But do have to be replaced. You can put metal cones around top and bottom to make it hard for snakes to get in. Your a better man then me grabbing that snake. I always looked at snakes like kill or be killed lol. Keep up the good work.
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