Since wood ducks may nest a mile or more from water, hens must often lead their broods over land to nearby wetlands. The family may move overland several times to find wetlands with suitable food and cover. Ducklings attain flight when 8 to 10 weeks old. About half the brood survives to flight stage. Drakes leave their hens during incubation and gather in flocks, often migrating to large marshes to molt.
Hens begin molting on brood rearing wetlands after the young can fly.
Adult wood ducks are flightless for 4 to 5 weeks while growing new flight feathers. Family groups do not stay together during migration and hens find new mates by the next spring. Hens that nest successfully, and their female offspring, often return to the same area, and even the same box or cavity, to nest the following year. This homing instinct makes it possible to build a population of wood ducks that use a particular wetland or group of nest structures. Although many different nest structures have been tried, experience has shown that wood ducks prefer the basic box structure or designs with similar dimensions.