Call ducks and Mandarins?

[lovin my birds]

That would be interesting to see. Im thinking I might just build them another pen. IDK yet. I wont be getting them until next spring anyways. And they wont be grown until next fall. So I have quiet a while to decide on what I am going to do.

 

[Boggy Bottom Bantams]

Quote:
yep you've got plenty of time to build some more pens then, especially if it's next spring and just eggs. Just do that and be safe, you'll be glad to did in the long run. Keep that mandarin pen and just get you some teal or wood ducks to go in there with it. They'll all get along and have no issues with bullying or the like then. And if you do pair up some mandarins, you wont have lack of fertility issues from the domestics either breeding her either.

 

[lovin my birds]

Lol! I need to not look at any other kind of ducks. lol! Everytime I hear something different I find pictures of it and want it. Lol! And now these suggestions are making me want some really really bad! Lol! Ahhh!

 

[Speceider]

I'm no geneticist, but it is common knowledge among breeders that there is some oddity in the chromosome number of them that prevent hybrid mandarins.

Aubrey,

I've been keeping wild waterfowl as long as you have, so I know the "common" knowledge (like, you cannot feed ducklings medicated starter because they eat more and will OD). Actually, in this case, the "common" knowledge goes back to:

Yamashina, Y. 1952. Classification of the Anatidae based upon the cyto-genetics. Japanese Coordinating Committee for Reseach in Genetics 111:1-34.

Yoshimaro goes into a long discussion on mandarins, thet he classifies as Dendronessa galiculata (not Aix). He actually has images of some incredible karyotypes (actually he lists then as n=42, vs n=40 in most other Anatinae, so I don't doubt his data, BUT on page 29 he states "However, it must be noted that the diploid number of Dendronessa accords with the basic number of chromosomes of other ducks." I believe this is a result of how "strange" avian chromosomes are. He regularly refers to micro and macrochromosomes, and some the the genetists I know talk about how unreliable karyptopes are bird birds. Several other species with different numbers of chromosomes such as his group Aastinae (including Anas, Cygnus, Tadorna, etc) and subfamily Anserinae (Anser and Branta) with an n of 45. There are numerous examples of duck goose hybrids (AnasxAnser; i.e. Poulsen, H. 1950. Morphological and ethological notes on a hybrid between a domestic duck and a domestic goose. Behaviour 3:99-104).
Paul Johnsgard, who spent alot of his career publishing on waterfowl hybrids published:

Johnsgard, P.A. 1968. Some punative mandarin duck hybrids. Bull. British Ornithol. Club 88:140-148.

He has p[ics of birds reported to be mandarinxlaysan hybrids, and mandarinxwood duck hybrids. The woodxmandarin hybrids that show greatly reduced sails, and generally poos plumage, like is often seen in hybrids. My take would be that MOST wouldn't recognize them as hybrids, just poor mandarins. The mandarinxlaysan hybrid would certainly suggest they could hybridize with calls.

Clint

 

[birdboy508]

they can be together.