Wood duck house project

Tom Scholberg

Well-known member
After checking my woodroe houses and seeing the damage and wear the last 16 years have done I decided to replace them. I'll just leave the old ones up with a bit of touch up but climbing a ladder that has gotten heavier each year has gotten me looking at over water houses. Went to the city Public Works department and begged for a few street sign poles and then went shopping for cedar. MAJOR STICKER SHOCK!!. Came home and fired up GOOGLE. I found a very interesting (cheap) set of plans for woody houses built out of exterior plywood, for about a 1/3 the cost. If anyone is interested the article is prepared for the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife by Paul C. Fielder in 2000.
They may not last as long as cedar but I think it was Patton who said "A good plan today beats a perfect plan tomorrow". I was going to post pics but honestly they went together so quick I forgot to take pics along the way. Wish me luck and will keep you all informed.
I have to marvel at the recovery of our wood ducks, in the 60's here you might as well shoot an eagle or loon as a wood duck and now they are one of our most hunted of them all. AND they are PETA good, yum. That brings to mind the closed Minn. deer season and then intensive harvest permits allowing 5 each!! Turkeys, Canada geese- the list goes on, thanks to hunters. OOPS off the soapbox, good night
 
If you have a saw mill nearby rough cut soft wood like pine, spruce or fir is perfect and cheaper than the plywood. Rough cut white pine lasts many seasons here in New England.
 
making it out of plywood i didnt bother to put a clean out door on it figuring it wont last that long out in the weather. maybe only 2 or 3 seasons. and i read some where that a rough oval was the best type of hole the ducks prefered not sure if its true but that what i did.
 
Chris , I put a piece of ice & water shield on the top of my boxes and painted the top white to keep the box cool. You could rip bottom 8 inches of the face of the box to gain access and clean it in the Fall/winter.
 
One word of caution on plywood nest boxes - aside from being heavy... they can get very hot! Might be wise to include ventilation (gaps between roof and walls), and make sure they won't be subject to direct sunlight. It can get pretty darn warm in May, but especially the late hatches in June and July.
 
ill drill some vent holes into it. and ill try to place them out of direct sunlight but im just going to be screwing them to the standing dead trees in the lakes on base there is only a handful of guys who hunt waterfowl on the base my next batch i make ill add some clean out doors as far as painting it i think ill just leave it be.
 
Nick, First off "hi, how ya doin?". Second good call on the heat factor. Mine will have enough poor fit vent holes to keep the air flowing. The ones I built are WAY lighter than the cedar ones. BTW the Wash State DNR bulletin that I got the plans from advised not to paint due to fumes or toxins of some kind from the paint. I guess that is possible but I may paint the next boxes if they have enough time to completely "defume" or whatever.
 
i read that to on duck unlimited about the fumes but i think they are refering to the inside of the box i wouldnt see any harm with painting the outside as long as you give it a day or 2. unless your some sort of wood duck slum lord and you got them lined up waiting for a shanty hahaha.
 
Guys you can go on the Delta Waterfowl web page the have plans on there our chapter here on li put out a bunch of them and every year we have signs of nesting,Good luck
 
Go to ducks.org they have plans and everything you need to build one just look under the wood duck description I believe there is a link there
 
Here are some plans we have used for over 400 boxes over the years in Virginia. Rough cut pine was used along with sheet rock screws. We favor using steel poles so you don't need a predator skirt. You can use a wood pole wit a PVC pipe over it to keep predators from climbing. Steel lasts forever. One good source can be fence companies that take down chain link fence.

View attachment Copy of wood duck box plans-1...jpg
 
Hey Mr. Scholberg, I'm doing well. Especially with the increase in sunshine, temperature, longer daylight, and DST... All of which point toward me going perch fishing after work! Retirement still treating you well?


As for wood ducks, boxes, etc . . . there is a ton of top notch info here:
http://www.woodducksociety.com/

Particularly for boxes:
http://www.woodducksociety.com/bestpractices.htm
Heat: Pole-mounted boxes are seldom in complete shade. Boxes made of metal, insulated plastic, and even plywood, when exposed to direct sunlight on hot June days, can become way too hot for the hen and her eggs. White paint and vent holes help, but it’s better to choose boxes built with natural wood. Wooden boxes have been shown to be the best at resisting heat build-up



As for predation... Cone guards are the best, but I know people have had good success thwarting mammals with dangling 4" PVC or mounting on steel pipes for a certain amount of time, but these materials oxidize over time and then predators have no problem climbing them.

The single most important thing is to check the boxes every year and see if they've been successful - I consider usage by undersirable species (starlings, etc), predation, and abandonment to be failures. And, IMO, it is far worse to put up unsuccessful boxes - especially if they facilitate predation - than to put up no boxes at all.
 
Nick, I'm doing well thank you. Retired almost 2 years now and haven't had a day off yet. I'll never run out of stuff to keep me busy. Seems like every project turns into two, not complaining just the way it is. Got a lot of days hunting last fall but had a couple setbacks. Got a 25' Class C motorhome in Aug that should make some of the hunting trips a bit more civilized.
Good links full of info. Hope to set 3 houses tomorrow on steel posts through the ice. Had poor results with houses in the trees and looking for an easier setup to check.
 
Hey Tom,

You (and everyone else within driving distance) should come to the Wood Duck Society Annual Meeting on April 5 at Wargo Nature Center.

Guest Speaker will talk about purple martins this year. Last year Joe Hautman talked about using hunting, photography, and nest boxes to accumulate reference / perspective for his art. Year before that we had a high-level amatuer photographer and before that Ray Norgarrd talked about moist soil management.

After the guest speaker, folks who want to share their 2013 nest box results and/or ask questions do so as a group - always very interesting.

Then Lunch and nest box videos for those who wish to hang out in the afternoon.

Later,
NR
 
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