Wood Duck Nestbox update #5 hatched!

[Canso]

Our base stock for Wood Duck boxes is 1”x10” Pine. Cedar is best but we have 100 boxes out there so savings are large for us to go with Pine! 1” x 12” is also used.
The picture showing the shallow cuts and angle cut got posted upside down here. Make sure the smaller front board comes up under the upper board angle cut!

 

[Canso]

The sides and front all start at 24”, the front ends up shorter after being cut. Be sure to cut shallow cuts on the inside of the front board to give a spot for ducklings to grip as they climb out. The hole should be 3” and use a jig saw to elongate the hole on each side to about 4”.
The angle cut on the front has to be as shown to allow rain water to flow over and not enter the box. We use good construction screws for assembly and the lower front board has 1 screw on each side. This is the clean out, some can be swung over on one screw and tightened while cleaned out. Be sure to have extra screws and bolts etc on any nestbox checks. I always have my tools with me on a check, it hasn’t happened yet but when I do cell phone checks I’m always worried my phone may fall into a box! Being able to get it out right away needs tools on hand, and if a screw is dropped, good to have spares!
And once a box is clean and new chips installed, I’ll have a large ziplock bag filled with chips in my pack in case I ever need to replace chips. It does happen!

 

[fader]

Thanks for posting the box pics!