Conservation Corner

Making Boxes for Wood Ducks

Fri, January 13, 2012

Attract one of the state’s waterfowl treasures to your property by building a wood duck box, a man-made habitat for the continent’s most colorful waterfowl.  Wood ducks thrive in forested wetlands, and they naturally nest in tree cavities. They are common to Southern Illinois but can be spotted—and enjoyed—all across the State of Illinois. However, as human development alters wood duck habitat, these boxes you build provide a nesting sanctuary for the wood duck.

This is a good time to be making wood duck boxes since we cannot do much else outdoors,  With the exception of this final weekend of deer season.  Make sure you install yours by fall or early winter of this year to ensure you see results as wood ducks start their return in late winter or early spring. Wood ducks begin their search for nesting sites soon after their return to breeding grounds.

Nesting boxes should be built out of rough cypress, cedar or plywood. A good size is two feet tall, one foot deep and one foot wide. The front should have a hole about four inches in diameter located at the top of the front of the box.  Boxes need to be made of rough wood. The young wood ducks are able to use their sharp-clawed feet to scurry up the side of the box to jump out of the hole when the time comes.

Be sure to place wood shavings inside the box. Wood ducks do not carry materials to build a nest, and they will not lay eggs in an empty nest. Fill the box with three to four inches of sawdust or wood shavings.

It’s also a good idea to drill a couple small holes at the bottom of the box to allow for water and moisture to drain out of the boxes. Be sure to use galvanized nails for the construction of the box.  The boxes can be placed along woodland streams and in flooded bottomlands, sloughs, lakes and beaver ponds. Also, marshes adjacent to swamps make good locations for the boxes. Make sure the box’s entrance hole faces the water.

It’s also important to deter predators from your wood duck box. Rat or Corn snakes and raccoons are among the biggest predators to wood duck eggs.  If a wood duck box is mounted on a galvanized, metal pole, it deters most snakes and raccoons. Cone shields can be place on poles under a wood duck box.

For boxes mounted on trees, a metal sleeve can be wrapped around the tree, which prevents raccoons or snakes from climbing the tree. Each year, after the nesting period, remove old eggshells and any unhatched eggs from the nest. Wood ducks lay an average of 12 eggs, which take 28-30 days to hatch. If the first or even second nesting is unsuccessful, female wood ducks will continue to lay eggs in hopes of a successful litter.

Young wood ducks are able to fly when they are eight- to 10-weeks-old. For more information on building wood duck boxes, go online to www.woodducksociety.com/duckhouse.htm.

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