Free Pine Wood Duck Boxes

[h2ofwlr]

I have a few that someone dropped off as they replaced with these with cedar boxes. These are still usable.

If you intend to mount on a tree, don't even bother contacting me. Sorry but nothing but a death box and/or squirrel box if mounted on tree, so it's not worth any ones time if you mount it that way.

So either mount them over at least 2' of water using a steel highway posts or on land using treated wood 10' long doubled up 2x4s with a cone guard under it so the predators can not get at the box and 30' from trees and overhanging branches so squirrels can not jump to it. This assures a 80% nesting success if the hen uses the box. (can't do anything about the avian predators which is the other 20%) In nature it is a 20% success rate in natural cavities. So doing it the correct way gives them a much better chance of pulling off a brood.

For more on the "best practices" method of mounting wood duck boxes, visit the Wood Duck Societies web page www.woodducksociety.com

The MWA office in Hopkins has 36" cone guards for I think about $20 or so a piece if interested.

PM me if interested.

[Nershi]

We have about a 50% use rate with the boxes we put on trees. No signs that predators have ever got an egg, duckling or mama. We did have one family of flying squirrels move in to one but they moved on.

I'll take the boxes but they aren't going on posts. Let me know.

[Fish Felon]

Has anyone promoted simply taking a lithium powered drill with a chipper bit and hiking through the woods near ducky water with a ladder and making nesting cavities in dead trees?

Since 98% of wood ducks come out of nesting cavities in trees why wouldn't this work?

[gimpfinger]

We have about a 50% use rate with the boxes we put on trees. No signs that predators have ever got an egg, duckling or mama. We did have one family of flying squirrels move in to one but they moved on.

I'll take the boxes but they aren't going on posts. Let me know.

Them little falcons and screech owls like nesting in them too.

Team Power Dump

[Nershi]

Yep my buddy who lives down in your neck of the woods has about 100 death boxes out and he has had a little owl nesting in one for a few years now.

He kicks out a couple hundred ducks per year out of his houses and only has had two hit by predators. No guards required.

[h2ofwlr]

Hmmm... so the biologists say that there is 80% predation of natural nests, so why would there not be 80% predation of boxes then? If not even higher? (Where do you think the nick name of "death boxes" come from?) And I know how many of my boxes were raided years ago, it was appalling. And that is all I am going to say.

Frankly there are enough natural cavities in mature trees in our current times over most of MN. 100 years ago after the clearing of old growth trees, there was not and the their population plummeted. But many trees are now over 40 years old through out the MS flyway.

As I mentioned, there is really only reason to put up large scale boxes and that is to reverse the nest success ratio. And as I mentioned a year ago, there are some areas of Mn that still could use boxes as there is a scarcity of bigger trees, and that is primarily the SW 1/4 of Mn.

And there are 2 other reasons to put up a few boxes. 1st is education for kids. And the other is for ones own enjoyment of watching the ducks. A few boxes close by can achieve this.

[Quack]

X

[lanyard]

I don't disagree that there are best practices; however, militant adherence would seem to make the benefits moot.

30' from a tree.... in 2/3 of MN that has trees, that puts it out in the water and increases the barrier of entry to the education and enjoyment of watching ducks. If those two things are what it's about, and I have to plan my wood duck box maintenance in February, why not just pull up a YouTube video?

Predator Guards.... "free" wood duck boxes, but only if you guarantee the grantor you will spend the coin on guards, a 30' pole, etc. So, not really "free".

I get there is a "best way", not condemning that. Just think there are "good enough" work arounds to limit, not stop, predation.

Hell, if I cared about the tweety birds I WOULDN'T put the feeders out on the deck.... the Cooper's hawks know where the table is set! But we get one pair that nests regularly and they raise a chick or two. I'll take a couple dead birds since I don't have a cat to watch Cooper's Hawks fledge and teach their chick to fly in my backyard.

Besides, what are you teaching a kid if nothing ever dies. Sounds a lot like MN Waterfowlers filling out surveys on seasons....

Again, not bashing best practices. I'm just not one that thinks made up rules are laws.... hell, half the laws are just made up rules... like Jaywalking.

[h2ofwlr]

For the right person I could provide poles if were needed. Not sure what the 30' is about as I never have used one that long. One would be need to be plumb stupid to do so. So I'll leave that area to you Rob. So if any needs a 30' pole, contact Rob.

As for "Good enough", so what % of loss is acceptable then? Like I said, there is enough natural cavities in most of MN. So if doing a large scale boxes, then for any effectiveness at all, one needs to flip the survival rate. As for a couple near ones home, a nice educational tool. But not using a guards smacks of what is wrong with the country and what is being taught. Like the engineers that now make washing machine to last 6 years or furnaces 12 years. And for less than 10% more cost they could triple the life expectancy of the machines. But it is "good enough" and we are the ones being screwed by their attitudes.and actions. "Good enough" reminds me of the City of Shorewood and their streets programs of patching the same potholes twice a year for years. They never use any tack oil and so the patches pop off and they redo the patches over and over again. Simply an absurd waste of a cities taxes that the people paid. And to think that a long term fix is available: Simply blow out the sand and debris, and then spray some tack oil into the pothole and then add the asphalt mix and compact would fix the pothole for years to come. This is the best way, but instead they do it just "good enough" and milk the taxpayers year after year. So no - I am not a fan of "good enough" which is also known as the "that's good enough for Govt work" mantra that I've heard all too often over the years in the trades. And homeowners wonder why they homes are having issues a a few years after they are built "to code" BTW to code is like a Ford Escort with manual trannsmission and no AC or power windows--it is the bare minimum. The problem is most people want a midsized car or smaller SUV for quality and features on average with AC and AT, etc, and they are getting a "stripped down Escort" quality in their new homes. But hey--it is all "good enough" (Where's the barf smiley when you need it?).

As for 2/3 of Mn is trees comment, really? You are not even close, heck you are not even in the ball park with that comment much less the playing field with that comment. For example 40% of my boxes in Chanhassen are on land, and none are "in the trees" but rather just outside of them 40' or so. And another 40% are on a combo post, so if I did not run MHN, every one of these could be on land within 100' of where they are now. My point being that there are PLENTY of open areas to put up a box on land near a wetland and yet close to trees where the Woodies frequent. Granted the NE 1/3 of MN there is less open areas, but there is enough open areas to set out a few close to where you lived if you so choose to.

Rob, likely you are just being facetious and/or purposefully putting out misinformation just to be an internet troll. So 3 of your misinformations the light was shined on for it for what it is. Sorry Rob, but you are trying to dress up a pig, but you never the less still have a pig for your reasoning. Oink Oink.

[lanyard]

Sorry Al, haven't GPS'd your houses..... only the one's I see, from the road, in the comfort of my leather interior heated seat Ford Fusion with automatic transmission anti-lock brakes traction controlled with side mirror defrost.... wait, you mean I could have saved several thousand and bought a Focus with cloth and manual and windows that crank down? Damn.

So what if I changed "good enough" to "entry level"?

Dude~ "Hi, I have a kid and think the wood duck boxes are pretty neat, but I drive a Ford Escort with no AC and a manual transmission, and the kid already has to wear the same pair of shoes for school, soccer, and baseball.... so the free house thing would work well for us...."

Al~ "Excellent, you're just the man I'm looking for. Do you have access to a pond, meadow or prairie habitat in which to install this fine house of pine?"

Dude~ "Well, we live in the end unit of a town house complex and small creek runs along the edge. The yard is about 30' wide and there are woods along the creek. Looks like a good place for a wood duck, since there is trees and some water."

Al~ "Hmmmm.... sorry. If I give you this there is high likelihood the ducks, if any actually use it, will get slaughtered in their sleep by raccoons. Maybe you could just go buy a house and do the same thing, then I won't have contributed to your mindless and merciless treatment of the tenants this fine home was designed for."

Dude~ "So, I can go buy a house for $25, nail it to a tree, and not have to buy a post and predator guard... Sweet."

Al~ places hand on forehead and resolves to start a campaign to require nesting structure permitting to include an online test and GPS location for house inspections.

Fowler: You're the leather lined Fusion in this deal. And yes, I used *exaggeration* (the big word is Hyperbole: Hyperbole (/haɪˈpɜrbəliː/ hy-pur-bə-lee;[1] Greek: ὑπερβολή hyperbolē, "exaggeration") is the use of exaggeration as a rhetorical device or figure of speech. It may be used to evoke strong feelings or to create a strong impression, but is not meant to be taken literally).

My entire point is: made up rules are barriers of entry to the Ford Focus. If the only way to drive was the leather lined Fusion, a lot of people won't be driving.

You as well as anyone can lay out the steps in hunter growth/engagement. Being at the "mature" end of the spectrum is an evolution, it isn't a starting point, it's a goal. Because you've accomplished a goal, setting that expectation as a standard does not get people to move toward it. Quite the opposite, they'll either move away from it or go around it.

As someone with as many boxes as you maintain, access to the materials, etc. movement towards the goal would be setting limits on who would get them: looking for a scout group, asking for contacts to the schools' environmental clubs, etc. with the idea you could help them with site selection, materials, and education on proper maintenance. These groups have savvy kids that could do web cams and post them to their school/group web pages, and expand the education opportunities. They could fundraise to support or expand the program learning valuable lessons in the economics of conservation.....

Or, you could put them up for grabs on the internet with some rules that remind me of The Peasants conversation from The Holy Grail where "watery tarts are handing out swords" as no way to form a government.....

I dunno. Your boxes, do whatever the hell you want with them.