Maggie's Farm

An annual reposting:

Just a few weeks left to get your new Wood Duck houses up, and, if you want to place your boxes in water, it's easier to do if you can walk on the ice and punch a hole to hammer a post into the shallows.

Over the next few weeks, the males will be arriving, and hunting for nesting boxes and holes in trees before the gals arrive. 

If you have a stream or fresh water pond or marsh nearby, they will welcome your effort. Remember, there is no limit to the number of boxes you can place in a marsh - these birds are not territorial. I try to add one each year.

I place them on dead trees in the beaver marsh, and nail aluminum flashing low on the tree to stop coons. Some I put them in about 3' of water with a strong cement base. I always add a few inches of wood shavings on the bottom.

Our piece on Wood Duck here. I won't shoot a Wood Duck unless by mistake. They are highly edible, but too small.

The best wood duck houses here. I had planned to build a few more this winter, but I never got to it.