My Wood Ducks showed up around here about March 6th.... maybe the 8th. Seeing as I just retired from my full time job I got all my nesting boxes cleaned out, changed wood shavings if needed and made a few more. I have 33 boxes out now. Got a couple more I may put out if I don't sell them first. It's a fun project I have been doing since my kids and I made a couple boxes way way back in the 1980s during a winter blizzard in our basement. I just replaced 1 of those wooden boxes this year. It was patched upa bunch. Now I make em from PVC and they work great. I get up every morn and walk over to the creek (about 30 yds from my cabin) and there is always 3....4 ...5 or more pairs of woodies always swimming on the water. Haven't looked in any boxes but I am pretty sure the hens are laying. And I ran and cleaned all my Blue Bird nests out. Made a few more of them also. I have over 70 of them scattered over a large area. Usually have about 2/3rds of them with BB each year. A couple projects that get me outdoors in early spring.

Good on you. Drake woodies are probably the prettiest birds there is.

I really like those boxes, they should last much longer then a wooden one and be a little more raccoon proof I would think.
What size PVC for the wood ducks?

They sure look good. I do the bluebird boxes here. Feed 12 to 15 all winter long. I don't see any air vent holes in those bluebird nests and what do you use on the insides as far as roughage making it easier for the babies to get out ? I also have 6 half size boxes out that the chickadees use. Thanks for putting those nesting boxes out.

I have always hear pvc boxes will get to hot. I dont know, always only used wood. It has been in the 90’s here already. I am assuming you dont ever have problems with the pvc getting too hot?

I too would be curious for instructions on making these.

The problem I have is the ants move in or Mergansers do before the woodducks.

Very cool!

Very nice.Excellent work.

Hey all....thanks for the comments. I use 10" pvc for wood ducks and 4" ....make a few from 6"... for blue birds. Have been lucky enough to have scrape pvc or cheap pvc to use in past. I cut a LADDER inside the boxes with a die grinder and thin strike off wheel so the little ducks and BB can use to get out. Not so important for BB.I put half moon shaped vents in all my boxes under the roof. If you can't see em must be behind what the camera sees. I was kinda worried about pvc being too warm but all my pvc boxes are being used year after year
..with good results. I do think the pvc helps some with raccoons not being able to grip with their claws to get to the hole. Verdict still out on that problem. I can get scrap 4" and 6 " pvc pretty easy. 10" is kinda hard to come by.... but I had a chance at over 60 ft used that a person dug up ...for free. But it was a 3 hour drive.... I passed.

look great can you give us the measurements, and hole size, for everything,

A tip I use is facing the opening of the box away from the water. When the time is right, the hen will position herself on the ground, between box and water. She starts calling for the chicks to jump out of the box. If the chicks can see her they are put at ease, and more reluctant to jump. The hens calls are like a dinner bell to predators. Chicks are more likely to jump faster if they can hear, but not see the hen. It’s kind of like calling coons on opposite side of den hole in a tree, they are more likely to come all the way out to find the source of the call. If they can se the source they almost always hang up in the hole.

Not as big of deal if box is real close to water, but the faster they jump and join momma the better.

what is the length of the piece of pipe, how big of hole ,

I like those. I built one similar to yours about 30 years ago and it is still getting used by Hooded Mergansers, Goldeneyes, and Wood Ducks. This guy was perched above it the other day checking out the hen that was standing on top of my nesting tube.

Very nice.

Members of our Trappers Council put some up last weekend, and this week two boxes had new tenants.

Wood ducks observed at both nesting boxes.

Water level too high to trap here and we are about to get more rain...not looking good.

Didn't see this until today.... The 10" PVC is 24" long... sometimes I'll go 26" long. The hole is 3" up and down and 4" left to right.... oval... kinda like Ford's emblem. No matter if you use wood or PVC you MUST make a way for the baby ducks to climb up the inside of box to jump out. I take a die grinder with a narrow strike off disc and make a ladder of grooves about 1/8th"... maybe 3/16th" apart in either my wood boxes or my PVC from the bottom to the entrance hole. Some say to staple window screen on the inside. I have heard people say every once in a while a duckling will get his toenail wedged between the screen and box and not being able to free himself he dies. I have ran just a few of my boxes and almost all have hen woodies in them. I got 33 boxes out a sold a couple to a young man who put them up right away.... not to far from my area. It's a fun hobby !!

How do you take them apart to clean them?

Found this nest while we were out on the lake fishing in a six ft tall stump 30 ft from the bank. No overhead cover. Full four ft of stump open. Wood ducks here are being out competed for the better nesting cavities by black bellied whistling ducks. And the whistling ducks all leave before season so you cant kill them. We see 100 to 1 whisling ducks to tree ducks now. Wood ducks used to be thick.

On my PVC nestboxes I lift the box off the post it's mounted on and then I take the top off by taking out 2 screws as I have a 2x2 screwed to the bottom of the lid. Which fits down inside the PVC tube and the screws come in from the side...... 180 degrees apart. On my wooden boxes I take em down off the post and take the top off the body. I have wood deck screws or drywall screws holding on the top... I use my battery drill with a screw driver bit in the drill. Works great.

Here area few pictures of woody hens on the nest... 2 pictures are of PVC nests as you can see some paint coming off and the blue pip




e shows in spots. One is a wooden box. And checked a few of my Blue Bird boxes ( I have over 70 0f them out) And all the ones I checked had nests, no eggs yet... or nests with eggs and the female was setting ... or 1 box had BB hatched already. So far I have a very high % of both WD boxes and BB nests being used. KInda cool !!