Stressless, I did have my tree mounted deck huts protected by wrapping the tree below the hut with aluminum. My struggle was getting the duck houses to be used, secondary worry predators getting in them. I moved them to water mounts to see if ducks might feel safer. Probably just too many good old trees with natural holes in them in the area and the ducks feel more protected in the wooded areas compared to the open in my yard.
I'd be happy to use cedar chips, I just heard or read online that cedar was not preferred (or even not recommended?) I don't recall why but I agree, far easy for me to come by cedar chips/shavings as bagged bedding.
