Paul Taylor
Active member
I love seeing Mr. Anthony's posts on his work with wood duck nesting boxes! It's awesome to see others share in the responsibility of "putting back" for others to enjoy wildlife.
I actively maintain boxes during nesting season here in SC since ducks have ample time to produce multiple broods. Cleaning old eggs and debris out of the nesting boxes after "jump day" and adding new cedar shavings has increased the number of successful hatches each Spring. This year has been tough tho. High water and a damaged predator guard allowed a couple Black Rat snakes to access the box on 2 of my boxes. (We are taking the boat out and raising these boxes today. I also have a good many dump boxes this season so many eggs will be lost due to it being impossible for one hen to incubate 30 eggs.
The stark reality is we do our best to provide ideal habitat and nature still has a cruel way about her.
SUCCESS! I count the empty eggshells to determine hatch numbers.
View attachment Hatch.JPG
Opening a nesting box finding a 5 - 6 foot Black Rat snake is disappointing.
View attachment Snake 1.JPG
Snakes are released unharmed.
View attachment Snake 2.JPG
I have 5 "dump" boxes with hens sitting on an average of 25 + eggs per box. My record is 22 hatched out of one dump box but I'm sure the hen had a tough time with that many ducklings.
View attachment Dump 2.JPG
I actively maintain boxes during nesting season here in SC since ducks have ample time to produce multiple broods. Cleaning old eggs and debris out of the nesting boxes after "jump day" and adding new cedar shavings has increased the number of successful hatches each Spring. This year has been tough tho. High water and a damaged predator guard allowed a couple Black Rat snakes to access the box on 2 of my boxes. (We are taking the boat out and raising these boxes today. I also have a good many dump boxes this season so many eggs will be lost due to it being impossible for one hen to incubate 30 eggs.
The stark reality is we do our best to provide ideal habitat and nature still has a cruel way about her.
SUCCESS! I count the empty eggshells to determine hatch numbers.
View attachment Hatch.JPG
Opening a nesting box finding a 5 - 6 foot Black Rat snake is disappointing.
View attachment Snake 1.JPG
Snakes are released unharmed.
View attachment Snake 2.JPG
I have 5 "dump" boxes with hens sitting on an average of 25 + eggs per box. My record is 22 hatched out of one dump box but I'm sure the hen had a tough time with that many ducklings.
View attachment Dump 2.JPG