Wood Duck Nestbox Plans

[shoreman]

We've been making and installing these for years with great success:


http://www.intercom.net/~shoreman/Woodduck.html

[Dan Jackson]

Shoreman, I had been thinking about building some of these boxes to put up. What time of year should the box be put up and what time of year do woodies use these boxes to nest?

[shoreman]

Dan,

As far as installation, you can put them up most any time. We sometimes install them in the Fall to let them age a bit, and we sometimes install new ones to replace damaged or rotten ones in Feb/Mar when we're making them ready for the up-coming breeding season.

I'd recommend getting the boxes ready for the hens no later than march the 15th; by then the drakes and hens are pairing off, and a few are checking the boxes out for nesting sites. Mid-February is a good time as well. These dates are for our particular areas (Maryland and Kentucky), and will be earlier and later depending what part of the country you live in. Texas has records of wood ducks nestingin January!

Very important: check the boxes for pest species such as starlings during the nesting season. If there, do your duty! It's better to squash a non-native species that's driving out our native wildlife, than to have more of them to deal with later on.

Good luck!