too late for a wood duck house?

[mille lacs muskie bum]

i was going to put out my DU woody house and forgot. is it too late?

[mille lacs muskie bum]

well i put it out anyway. i saw 9 woodies and 2 mallards in the swamp by the house. this is my first time putting a house out. it is only about 6 and a half feet off the ground. is that too low? i put it over a little bit of water and grass on the edge of the swamp. should i put anything in the box? and how do you keep predators out?

[DCF]

put about 4-5 inches of wood shavings or sawdust in there and put some tin around the pole

[Scott M]

You might consider a metal cone with the tip facing up and the open end facing down. This is a popular anti-predator measure. Makes it hard for anything to climb up the pole. You may be a little bit late for this year, but for the following year try to move it if the birds don't use it the previous year.

[Dotch]

Not too late, earlier is better of course. They didn't start nesting here until May last year and will nest up until July for their 2nd brood. Check out the Wood Duck Society HSOforum for info on predator guards, etc. Good people.

http://www.woodducksociety.com

[BLACKJACK]

No its not too late!!! Most of the wood ducks have just started looking and laying. I checked some of my houses yesterday and the most eggs that I found were five.

Seriously consider putting them on a pole with a coon guard. If you put them in a tree you're just creating a dinner spot for coons. Look at the link for the Wood duck society that was posted. Besides increased success rate for the nesting ducks, the nice thing about the pole mounted houses is ease of checking, no ladders! And you can monitor them during the season - kids love them!

[sachem longrifle]

Many years ago I shot a wood duck, brought it home, and cooked it the next day. I don't know what that bird ate but as it was cooking, my girlfriend at the time asked if I was making wine. It was DELICIOUS!!! Not related to this thread, I know. I just like that story