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I used to waterfowl hunt a bunch with my chocolate lab Nikee, after she passed I just fadded out of hunting ducks and geese. I've always loved jumping woodies on the ponds around the property. I didn't know some of the issues of either having a predotor guard if on land or a stand alone snag upright thru the water. In looking back there was a wood duck house in almost every photograph taken at the time. I was just fun to put them up - never had much success as they didn't maintained every year as needed. May not have pointed South and other First Timer mistakes we made.

So here are some old pond photos with the duck houses ... the actual wood duck house info follows.

Grandpa getting one for my son.



My kids a lifetime ago.


The magic of bringing the woodies in and having a bunch of them around just enhances these kinds of scenes.

A couple years ago I bought two "plastic - high end- plastic ones and two wooden ones to see what the local woodies prefer. No question, the wooden ones. SO I revere engineered the house and figured out the dimensions - made a bunch and installed them The results are great - the only issue is the time when the ponds are covered up is when I'm bowhunting and they are mostly in my sanctuaries.

I put mine together with a rough cut cypress board 10'x1"x12" - That makes one Wood Duck house, with cypress inner steps for the chicks and a couple inches of planned cypress shavings foor the nest.

Here are the dimensions:




I've made them from finished and rough cut cypress the only difference is in the thickness and width. The 'plan' above is for finished cyress lumber, rough cut is 1"thick x 12"wide everything else is the same. DO NOT use pressure treated wood or plywood the chemicals used will harm the embryos. So I cut a bunch and hauled them to the farm, they fit alot better in pieces then assembled.



Assembled



I have them mounted to submerged snags and to 4x4's for any land based nest you need to add a predator guard. I looked hard for a bit and this guy makes a fantastic product that can't be beat $ wise. I'm not getting anything back - his product works, lasts and is inexpensive.
$14 plus 6% Sales Tax: $14.84 each - He'll give a Military discount if you ask.

https://dnr.maryland.gov/wildlife/Pages/MWDI/predator_guards.aspx

Mike Schroen
Sales Manager
Cell: 410-404-4662
Office: 410-633-0685 ext 22 office
Email: Mschroen@wemakeduct.com

Flat predator guard shipped:



I'm not a fan of shiny out in the woods so I bought a tan and black spray paint - once installed it's easy to blend it in.

Here are couple of mine that got put on my ponds this year. Close up of the predator guard installed on a 4x4