Building a duck house for wild ducks on the local cannal

My youth group have been asked to build some duck houses by our local cannal to try to encourage the wild ducks from not nesting in the veg beds.

We are thinking about the ducks safety. Should the space have an entrance and exit (incase of predators). Or would it even be better to have a floor and roof but open sides (so they can see around themselves)

The 'houses were going to be raised up. Just like the veg beds they like sleeping in.

Any advice welcome, as we know nothing about ducks.

  • What an interesting query. I am not sure how you would encourage a wild duck to use an enclosed space - Duck houses sold to the public tend to be floating island style so the bird has some warning of land based predators approaching. If you see ducks flushed their escape tends to be an explosive up ward flight so a roof could inhibit that. Maybe the alternative is to just put in more raised beds planted up with different grasses to provide cover and to make the veg planters less attractive to the ducks. Good luck with the project

    Cin J