I am getting Mandarins!

[cskotek]

So in a few hours I will be picking up a pair or mandarins! Im am so excited, they are still young, and I am going to be clipping their wings once the blood feathers are done. I have heard of people pinioning them, and I personally think that would be SUPER painful for the ducks, and would kill me to do. So im just going to stick to clipping the feathers, worked with my other ducks haha. Welljust wanted to share my new addition with everyone. I will post pictures when I get them

 

[CelticOaksFarm]

cskotek, pinioning is done as newly hatched not older bird, clipping is a fine choice, but be sure you still provide a fully enclosed pen for them to keep them safe. They are so darn little every predator will make them a meal or snack,

 

[cskotek]

cskotek, pinioning is done as newly hatched not older bird, clipping is a fine choice, but be sure you still provide a fully enclosed pen for them to keep them safe. They are so darn little every predator will make them a meal or snack,

Ah, so the nerves are not fully developed.? And we have them in a inside cage until the outside one is FULLY closed in. Since these guys are pretty small where going to enclose the red fencing with chicken wire so they cant wedge through or fly over it. We also bring the ducks in at night until fully predator proof. Its just a daytime playpin. Haha.I even went and sectioned it off so the other ducks who wont fly out can go into the open area while these guys will be in the flight proof area. Im going to invest into a flight net but the problem is that we have trees in the way... Any ideas that I wont have to cut the netting and restich it?



Thats the trees in the area of their fenced in area. Its about an area of 40feet wide by 50feet (aprox)

 

[Mark HSV-AL]

Coopers Hawks during the day and Great Horned Owls at night. Best of luck but if you dont have them netted over then you are asking for trouble.

 

[cskotek]

Where going to make it so the mandarins will stay in the main area (which will be 100%closed in with a door to leave the cage and a door for the other ducks to go out into the tree area) Im going out to buy some chicken wire and hardware cloth to finish the area But the male mandarin is very fistey, the female is skittish, so where also going to try and handle them to get them a little bit more used to people

 

[ducksliketoswim]

I was thinking about getting some Mandarins as well but someone said that keeping mandarins with domestic ducks was a bad idea, do you know why? I would like to buy some but if i cant keep them with my other ducks then I wont be able to purchase any.

 

[4-H chicken mom]

I keep my mandarins in a covered aviary along with some Black East Indies and they do fine together. There isn't any cross breeding. :yiipchick

 

[kangababy]

Mandarins can't cross breed with anything. They can "breed" but no eggs will be fertile because they carry an extra chromosome. Keeping domesctic and ornamentals in together is not a good idea because domestics are just messy and the pen would always be a mud hole.

 

[luvmydux]

Mandarins are a wild breed, therefore more flighty than domestics. You will stress them out more trying to handle them, they are more for a beautiful thing to look at. They are beautiful though

 

[destinduck]

They probably wont like to be handled as stated. But they can get very tame and even eat out of your hands. My manderins are as tame as any domestics. All it boils down to is the more time you spend with and near them in your pen the friendlier they will become. As for keeping domestics with manderins it depends how big your pen is and how many birds are kept. Kanga is right about most domestics being messy. Domestics tend to be able to handle crowded conditions whereas wild type ducks will go downhill They are very beautiful and easy to keep. Good luck and I know you will enjoy them.
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