BalterFF Duck Houses for Outside Shelter Wood Duck Nesting Box

This review is for the BalterFF Duck Houses for Outside Shelter Wood Duck Nesting Box.I see I get the honor of the very first review! So I'm really impressed! This is really nice! Good thick wood, I think it's pine or cedar (?), that's been "carbonized".... The Japanese wood burning technique is called shou sugi ban.... Shou sugi ban was originally used in 18th century Japan. The result is a wood surface with a charcoal black color and a rustic look. The wood becomes more weather and fire resistant, and is also resistant to rot and insects.The duck house nesting box is lightly done carbonized, you could do it further yourself if you wanted. I don't think there's any stain/sealer otherwise on it. The wood has a typical fresh lumber scent. If I was going to put out where subject to the weather I would want to do something further to seal/protect the wood so it lasts longer. We live in a northern state with lots of weather extremes, we get a true 4 seasons a year. If you live in a drier climate you may not need to do anything?It's a good size. It weighs 11.1 Lbs, so maybe it's not pine. Pine is a relatively light weight wood compared to many other types, so maybe cedar?. Cedar is known for being more resistant to weather, insects... The listing doesn't state what type of wood, it would be nice if the seller listed this info. Hint, hint, hint! LOL.Also, we live in the city up here in a nice suburb of North East Ohio Outside Cleveland. We have a huge metroparks system up here with tons of wooded areas, I'm sure there's a lot of ducks as we have lots of natural water sources. We have tons of deer, hawks, eagles, turkeys, lots of owls, wild canadian geese, raccoons, opossum, bats, I'm sure there's foxes, coyotes, squirrels, chipmunks, mice... and probably lots of other wildflife too.I don't know if any ducks will show up here to nest in this box, there is a big wooded area across the street from us but I don't think there's any stream close enough for them to take advantage of the nesting box. I wonder if a small owl would nest in this box? I think I would need to cut the entrance hole bigger? I'll do some research. I think an owl would love it if I was to put it in the bottom of our big fenced in backyard amongst the trees.OK so I just verified with a google search that the little screech owls (and other smaller owls) will indeed nest in a wood duck nest box placed at least 10 feet high in a good shady spot amongst trees! How awesome is that? Can't wait to get this put up! Also this is simple to assemble!Regular price $99.99 per the listing, I must say despite how much I like this nest box, it's very high priced when I go browse other listings. Now I don't have the other boxes in my hands to do a side by side comparison of the wood and other components. But they look very similiar in size/wood/screws/ accessories/features... so I don't know if I can justify a price that's 2 to 3 x's higher for this nest box VS the others!As always I only do honest reviews and update if needed. I hope this helps you make the best choices how to spend your $.

Vague instructions. Not all holes pre drilled as others are. Had to return, exchange one duck house due to wood splitting. Recommend weather treatment before you put together. Not well boxed, packed, for shipping and protection in shipment.Kinda okay duck house.

Since I’m a licensed squirrel rehabber. My husband usually makes our own squirrel nesting boxes when it’s time to acclimate them to the spring weather. It’s a process to get them acclimated to the sights, Sounds and the weather of their real world. He takes the nesting boxes in places the boxes high up in our maple trees. Plus he has made some for neighbors since the city has cut down a lot of our trees on our main street. The only modification he had to make was to put an extra predator guard on the outside of the box, so no Raccoons are able to reach their paws inside and get any babies. This is a terrific box. I was able to put it together by myself, and he just added that extra predator Guard to it. It’s made very well and I’m very pleased with it.