Hatching mandarin ducks

[MGG]

my hatch was unsuccessful. Unfortunately none of them hatched. do you sell the mandarin ducks?

Were any fertile/developed?
I have about 40 Mandarin eggs incubating right now and they're doing really well. Not hard to incubate at all. Shipping is really hard on ornamental duck eggs though and if yours were shipped that was probably the problem.

 

[matthewrbo]

Yes, they where shipped. Would you be able to sell me any of your baby mandarin ducks?

 

[matthewrbo]

I had 4 eggs to start, 2 were not fertile, and 2 were fertile but did not hatch

 

[MGG]

Yes, they where shipped. Would you be able to sell me any of your baby mandarin ducks?

Well I don't sell them as babies but I might have juvenile pairs leftover this fall.

 

[MGG]

I had 4 eggs to start, 2 were not fertile, and 2 were fertile but did not hatch

Oh only four eggs? That makes sense. Sorry you lost them.

 

[natureafc20]

Were any fertile/developed?
I have about 40 Mandarin eggs incubating right now and they're doing really well. Not hard to incubate at all. Shipping is really hard on ornamental duck eggs though and if yours were shipped that was probably the problem.

Hi Mate, I have a Mandarin duck sitting on eggs and I plan to take some of the eggs and put in an Incubator on the 25th day. Since they hatch between 28 and 30 days, I want to know if I should turn off the automatic turning when I put them in the incubator on the 25th day. Thanks

 

[MGG]

Hi Mate, I have a Mandarin duck sitting on eggs and I plan to take some of the eggs and put in an Incubator on the 25th day. Since they hatch between 28 and 30 days, I want to know if I should turn off the automatic turning when I put them in the incubator on the 25th day. Thanks

Hi! Mine actually seem to hatch on day 31 predominately. Though any time that last week is fine to stop turning.
I don't know how you plan on brooding them, but I've always artificially brooded mine. I let my one hen have a few babies that hatched under her this time though, and they're actually doing great. As long as they're in a safe pen and everything it's really cute!

 

[natureafc20]

Hi! Mine actually seem to hatch on day 31 predominately. Though any time that last week is fine to stop turning.
I don't know how you plan on brooding them, but I've always artificially brooded mine. I let my one hen have a few babies that hatched under her this time though, and they're actually doing great. As long as they're in a safe pen and everything it's really cute!

Thanks for the reply. My Mandarin is sitting on 9 eggs, I intend to take 5 and put in my incubator on the 25th day and leave 4 eggs to her to hatch naturally.

 

[mrputerz]

my hatch was unsuccessful. Unfortunately none of them hatched. do you sell the mandarin ducks

We started with 14 eggs all failed but 2 - which if they are any good should pip monday or tuesday..

 

[upstatemandarins]

Welcome to BYC.

Were they shipped eggs? Like nuthatched said, Mandarin ducks are not like other ducks and require someone who is pretty knowledgeable about other ornamental waterfowl and incubation to hatch and raise them successfully. They're not very easy to hatch in an incubator. The only way I get a good hatch rate is if I let a broody chicken hen or one of my Mandarin hens sit on them for the first two weeks. After that they can be pulled and hatched in an incubator decently. My eggs aren't shipped either so obviously that will give you an even harder time if yours are. How many eggs do you have? Mandarins are pretty flighty and even if hand raised, won't tolerate petting or even getting much closer to them than a few feet. Some of mine will eat out of my hand, but only if I'm the only person out there. And I've been working on it with them consistently for months. They're not at all like domestic ducks. What kind of pen do you have for them? They require a large enclosed pen with unlimited access to a pool of fresh bathing water. They also like branches and logs to sit on, and need wood duck nest boxes to lay their eggs in.

There's no way to tell if that egg is fertile without incubating it for a week or so first.

Mandarin ducks naturally hatch in tree cavities, and it's been said that them jumping from the nest and hitting the ground kick starts their brain into eating/drinking/following mom, etc.
Tree ducks hatched in captivity go straight to the brooder from the incubator, never getting that jump. I've only had it happen a couple times, but they do tend to act depressed without the jumping thing. It sounds stupid but I try to replicate it with most of mine. I haven't had any issues since I have so I have to say it works. I just put a few of my newly hatched ducklings in a tree cavity in our yard 5-6 feet high, and call them to get them to jump out. After each one jumps, I catch it and put them in a tub. If you wait till they're more than a day old you'll never catch them again.

After they've all jumped, I give them a dish of warm water with a sprinkle of gamebird starter in it. It starts to dissolve, and they love dabbling in it. I've used Mazuri Waterfowl Starter in the past which I really liked, but they changed their recipe last year and I had some issues with it so I just use gamebird starter now. Mine also love live mealworms and they're great for teaching them to be friendlier.

Here's a pic of one of my Mandarin ducklings for you.
View attachment 3483979

I've never used a Kebonnix, but if you have a separate calibrated thermometer and hygrometer inside to check the presets against you should be ok. I run 98-99 for Mandarins and 35-45% humidity. At lockdown I raise humidity to 70%.

I’m just reading through your thread and would love more advice from you. Our mandarins hatch not at a great rate at all in the incubator but 2-3 days later they die. I’m so heartbroken. We have a rubber duck that is very broody so we have put 2 eggs under her as none of the mandarin ducks are sitting on the eggs.
We will try the jump thing. Do you not incubate them? We only did the ones that were laid early because of the warm weather.
Would love some advice.
Thank you!