Mandarin duck eggs

[blueraven]

Hi its me again , I posted an earlier thread about incubating some mandarin eggs.

well they are still growing and look fine.
but i was wondering since one of my mallard ducks has just become broody and is sitting on some eggs, does anyone know if it would be a good or bad idea to take some of my mandarin eggs and put them under the hen mallard. would this be okay for the eggs.

thanks for reading and any comments will be helpful

 

[finchamdan]

Hi there,
I haven't had any experience doing that, however the problems you have are:
- the mandarin eggs will be at a different stage than the mallards and will probably need to be sat on constantly now.
- maybe the mallard might know if there not her eggs?

Otherwise if you have surplus eggs try it as a test and let us know how you get on. Baring in mins natural is better than artificial hands down

 

[3BirdGirlz]

I love using my broody hen....but I also make sure her nest is clean so nothing can cause bacterial contamination. That's the only thing I would worry about with your eggs. How far along are they? You could put them under her and then take them out for lockdown and hatch in your incubator. It's up to you and may or may not work great. Tuff decision.

 

[blueraven]

yeah I tested to see if she would take some of my other ducks eggs which are larger and white compaired to her own and she accepted them. i might try putting 2 in her nest. the only other problem i would have is that she has a nest out by our pond near the woods in the cattails and marsh grass. she is very hidden it took me two days to find where she was hiding. and i covered her up with some more grass. i am just worried about a raccoon getting her. is where anyway i could take her off the nest and mover her into the shack where they stay at night. or would that make her snap out of the broodyness??

 

[blueraven]

I started incubating them around 12/13th since i didnt put them in till like 1ish

 

[3BirdGirlz]

I wouldn't move her.....a chicken yes...but I wouldn't chance it with your duck. Maybe someone else will know better and have other advice. And beings you seem to be doing in your incubator you may just want up keep them there?

 

[blueraven]

yeah I was thinking that to. i went out there tonight after work to see if she began to incubate the eggs. she has begun to incubate them as i saw feathers on the edge of the nest. hehe can't wait to get some more babies. and it was dark out and the mallard drake was in the pond my geese and other ducks headed to the shack.

also i have read that most domestic ducks will not hatch their own eggs. as when they did selective breeding for the breed type they breed the instincts to go broody out of them. so my cayuga female will probably not go broody , correct?

 

[3BirdGirlz]

I've only raised call ducks and they did....and this is my first year incubating mandarin eggs.

 

[blueraven]

Just an update on my mandarin egg incubation.. I did go out and put one mandarin egg and on of my cayuga eggs under her. she did accept them fine. I am very lucky though because yesterday evening i noticed she was off the eggs for quite some time so I decided to take back my mandarin egg and my cayuga egg and just leave her with her mallard eggs as i have a few in the incubator now anyway. candled the eggs and were growing fine probably have a week or so left to go. so they were back in the incubator with the rest of the eggs. safe and warm. the female mallard still didnt go back on her next tell i walked them down to the pond and led them to the area when she finally went back on it was probably a good hour and half. so this morning i saw she was already off the nest hanging out with her pair. so i go down to the nest and sadly i found it compleately empty no eggs or shells everything gone. she is still acting broody when i walk near her puffing up and hissing. soo cute. so i am just glad that I grabbed the eggs yesterday cause yeah mandarin eggs are alot harder to get then mallard eggs.

all of my eggs are doing good moving alot so i am hopeful for a good hatch. what would you suggest i feed them their first few weeks of life. I have heard that people feed them differntly then just normal ducks.

I also have 5 duck eggs in the hatcher incubator right now and should hatch tonight 2 mallard ?with maybe mix in them. and 3 of my cayuga hen who mates with my khaki cambell male and sometimes them mallards get her too, my avatar is a picture of my cayuga egg duckling that hatched last saterday. so cute is imprinted on me all post some more pictures soon. work tonight will be so slow i know it.

 

[kacky]

Mazuri would be the best choice for feeding mandarins. However it is pretty expensive I feed that along with boiled egg and regular start and grow. Good luck on your hatch we should have about 15 wood duck and mandarin eggs coming off in a week too