wood duck houses

Clean out or no? I have and have not. Seems like it does not matter to the ducks to me. Just looking for some opinions. Nice to see if they are being used or not and if the eggs hatched out or not.

We just cleaned out and refilled out houses this past weekend. It is critical to remove the old waste/material for the future ducks. We found unhatched eggs, owl pellets, wasp nest, hornet nest, sticks and garbage(from blue jays or other birds) in our houses. We refilled them with cedar shavings and they are all set for their new tenants. 7 out of 10 houses had wood duck nest. 1 house had a owl nest, 1 had a starling or small bird and one house went unused. Last year we had 9 out of 10 houses have wood duck nest. We only had 1 house this year with multiple nest. Last year we had 3 houses with multiple nest and 1 house had at least 3 successful nest.

Absolutely inspect, clean and repair. I won't take out all the bedding, but the top few inches and replace with new. Between the hatched eggs, unhatched, 1/2 hatched, decomposed ducklings, and other critters who have nested in the box, it will get unhealthy for the next crop. I once had 42 eggs in one house. I have 26 houses out and have seen a lot. Inspecting will help if repairs are needed. I had a few houses where the coons scratched and widened the hole making it unsafe for future birds. Hole size is specific to protect the birds. Lack of cleaning and inspection only puts the birds in a position to fail.

If wood ducks can not carry nesting materials, what bird is building the nest? I have never put in nesting materials. The eggshells are in the boxes, so I know they are hatching something. Some of the boxes have 8 inches of material in them.