Yep, the early spring has the Wood Ducks and Hooded Merganser’s busy in our little back yard housing complex, we have three boxes and there are four more houses in the yards just to the north. This one ‘house three’ has 13 eggs already; if you look closely you well see there two distinct shades of eggs. The whiter ones are Wood Ducks the ones with a slight brown tent are those of Hooded Merganser’s.
They have began to add down to the nest, this is an indication they are getting close to incubating the eggs the box will probably top out at 20 to 22 eggs or more.
The Merganser’s are dumpers but will share the nesting duties with the Wood Ducks. They seem to work thing out because after hatching the Wood Ducklings will waddle off with mother Wood Duck and the little Merganser’s will find mother Merganser.
These eggs should be hatching about the third week of May. And that car guys and gals is today’s wildlife lesson.
Cool pics Kevin and I learned something I didn't know! Keep us updated and give us the link to the duckling cam when it's up and running!
-- Edited by OscarZ on Friday 13th of April 2012 09:43:54 AM
SShink said
Apr 13, 2012
Now that's what I call co-habitating!
dashboard said
Apr 14, 2012
We have been doing this Wood Duck stuff for some years. The hen will lay one egg a day sometimes two; she only spends about 15 minutes in the box lays the egg then returns to a nest in the pond. This allows the other hen to enter the box and drop her egg. They do spat over the nesting boxes at first but once the egg laying starts they tolerate each other. I think they tolerate each other because the duckling mortality rate is very high, so the more there are the better the odds; more on that latter.
We check the eggs everyday while they are laying, not just to count them but more importantly we need to know when the last egg is laid. Then they start incubating the eggs. About 28 days after that all the eggs will hatch on the same day. We try to check the boxes at the same time every day during incubation so mom becomes accustomed to our interference, as soon as she hears the ladder she leaves the box . We do this because we want to know the day the chicks will leave the nest. On that day all the predators show up. How they know is one of the mysteries of nature. But on that morning we will have Bard owls, foxes, hawks, coyote and raccoons and even the cat next door are hanging out around the back yard.
We are not trying to change the course of Mother Nature or disrupt the food chain; we just want to give the ducklings half a chance to reach the pond.
They do it year after year; mom checks around for predators then stands on the ground below the nest and quacks away.Out they come one after another some landing on the others.
They are born one day and leave the nest the next day never to return. That’s why we check the nest every day, so we know when they have hatched.When you open the door to the nest they all play dead, you can reach in take one out of the nest check it out and put it back in and mom is ok with it. She has learned over the last month that we are not predators.
I do keep the BB gun ready, it’s usually enough to drive off the bad guys, the worst are the raccoons. They will climb the tree and reach into the box to grab a chick, when you tag one of them they don’t like the 15 foot drop, make a real thump. They hobble of and return within an hour, we sometimes stay up on the night after hatching, they leave early in the morning.
-- Edited by dashboard on Saturday 14th of April 2012 08:09:48 PM
John D said
Apr 15, 2012
I still have a hard time believing the newborns survive the 20 foot free-fall to the ground and waddle off to the water!!
Lost in the 60s said
Apr 15, 2012
dashboard wrote:
We have been doing this Wood Duck stuff for some years. The hen will lay one egg a day sometimes two; she only spends about 15 minutes in the box lays the egg then returns to a nest in the pond. This allows the other hen to enter the box and drop her egg. They do spat over the nesting boxes at first but once the egg laying starts they tolerate each other. I think they tolerate each other because the duckling mortality rate is very high, so the more there are the better the odds; more on that latter.
We check the eggs everyday while they are laying, not just to count them but more importantly we need to know when the last egg is laid. Then they start incubating the eggs. About 28 days after that all the eggs will hatch on the same day. We try to check the boxes at the same time every day during incubation so mom becomes accustomed to our interference, as soon as she hears the ladder she leaves the box . We do this because we want to know the day the chicks will leave the nest. On that day all the predators show up. How they know is one of the mysteries of nature. But on that morning we will have Bard owls, foxes, hawks, coyote and raccoons and even the cat next door are hanging out around the back yard.
We are not trying to change the course of Mother Nature or disrupt the food chain; we just want to give the ducklings half a chance to reach the pond.
Got your CO2 10 shot ready ??
Lost in the 60s said
Apr 15, 2012
Take a look at this link for an entrance hole guard to prevent raccoons from reaching inside. You could make these for your boxes.
I have seen that type of guard used on smaller boxes for smaller birds, but these Wood Duck houses are 30 inches tall. I don’t think the hen would be able or willing to enter the house with that type of guard. The recommended guard is more the traditional rat or squirrel type guard, but then it difficult to inspect the house. Good thing is the raccoons only harass the nest after the chicks are born and still in the nest; and they only do it once.
Tim H said
May 14, 2012
Have you seen the black gaurd for raccoons they put on power poles that have transformers on them. Maybe you could temporarly put some on the tree trunk.
-- Edited by Tim H on Monday 14th of May 2012 12:46:45 PM
dashboard said
May 14, 2012
Their early, two of three houses are hatching today. My math projected Saturday, Sunday, Monday for each house; that’s why Angie keeps the check book.
I was hoping they would hold off till this weekend in case someone wanted to bring a youngster to the meeting.
Yep, the early spring has the Wood Ducks and Hooded Merganser’s busy in our little back yard housing complex, we have three boxes and there are four more houses in the yards just to the north. This one ‘house three’ has 13 eggs already; if you look closely you well see there two distinct shades of eggs. The whiter ones are Wood Ducks the ones with a slight brown tent are those of Hooded Merganser’s.
They have began to add down to the nest, this is an indication they are getting close to incubating the eggs the box will probably top out at 20 to 22 eggs or more.
The Merganser’s are dumpers but will share the nesting duties with the Wood Ducks. They seem to work thing out because after hatching the Wood Ducklings will waddle off with mother Wood Duck and the little Merganser’s will find mother Merganser.
These eggs should be hatching about the third week of May. And that car guys and gals is today’s wildlife lesson.
Cool pics Kevin and I learned something I didn't know! Keep us updated and give us the link to the duckling cam when it's up and running!
-- Edited by OscarZ on Friday 13th of April 2012 09:43:54 AM
Now that's what I call co-habitating!
We check the eggs everyday while they are laying, not just to count them but more importantly we need to know when the last egg is laid. Then they start incubating the eggs. About 28 days after that all the eggs will hatch on the same day. We try to check the boxes at the same time every day during incubation so mom becomes accustomed to our interference, as soon as she hears the ladder she leaves the box
.
We do this because we want to know the day the chicks will leave the nest. On that day all the predators show up. How they know is one of the mysteries of nature. But on that morning we will have Bard owls, foxes, hawks, coyote and raccoons and even the cat next door are hanging out around the back yard.
We are not trying to change the course of Mother Nature or disrupt the food chain; we just want to give the ducklings half a chance to reach the pond.
Like this. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vYbxc4el3O4
They do it year after year; mom checks around for predators then stands on the ground below the nest and quacks away. Out they come one after another some landing on the others.
They are born one day and leave the nest the next day never to return. That’s why we check the nest every day, so we know when they have hatched. When you open the door to the nest they all play dead, you can reach in take one out of the nest check it out and put it back in and mom is ok with it. She has learned over the last month that we are not predators.
I do keep the BB gun ready, it’s usually enough to drive off the bad guys, the worst are the raccoons. They will climb the tree and reach into the box to grab a chick, when you tag one of them they don’t like the 15 foot drop, make a real thump. They hobble of and return within an hour, we sometimes stay up on the night after hatching, they leave early in the morning.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EhDQRK048Rc&feature=related
-- Edited by dashboard on Saturday 14th of April 2012 08:09:48 PM
Take a look at this link for an entrance hole guard to prevent raccoons from reaching inside. You could make these for your boxes.
http://www.sialis.org/noel.htm
I have seen that type of guard used on smaller boxes for smaller birds, but these Wood Duck houses are 30 inches tall. I don’t think the hen would be able or willing to enter the house with that type of guard.
The recommended guard is more the traditional rat or squirrel type guard, but then it difficult to inspect the house. Good thing is the raccoons only harass the nest after the chicks are born and still in the nest; and they only do it once.
Have you seen the black gaurd for raccoons they put on power poles that have transformers on them. Maybe you could temporarly put some on the tree trunk.
-- Edited by Tim H on Monday 14th of May 2012 12:46:45 PM
Their early, two of three houses are hatching today. My math projected Saturday, Sunday, Monday for each house; that’s why Angie keeps the check book.
I was hoping they would hold off till this weekend in case someone wanted to bring a youngster to the meeting.