Mandarin Duck thread ( for posting pictures and discussing)

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I just went in the Mandarin pen for the first reall time since the babies hatched. (I've reached in thru the open door long enough to refill their feeder and switch waterers for the babies) but today I brought in new pellets, water, crumbles and went all the way in. They all ran to the other end, so went ahead an opened up the nestbox they hatched in...there were 4 unhatched eggs and 1 dead baby. I thought I heard one peeping that day they all came out...but it stopped shortly afterwards so I thought it was 1 of the babies on the ground..Not that I would 've taken it out if I did know, but I feel badly that it didn't come out with the others. Maybe something was wrong with it, that's why it didn't climb out and drop down to the ground with the others? Well, that was baby 14 + 4 eggs + 18 eggs in all! Is it possible they were all from my Alpha female (Grandma/Mama) or could she and one (or more) of her daughters have laid them together?
How many is normal for 1 female?
 
8-12 is usually what I get from one hen Lisa. I have saved a few hatchlings and leftover eggs left in the boxes before if ya feel like it next time. When ever I see the new ducklings with their mom out of the boxes on the morning they hatch I immediately check the box to see whats left or might be saved. 99% of the time nothing to save.But every great once in a while ya get lucky. Never hurts though cause ya gotta get the bad eggs out anyway. LOL! Congrats and good luck on all them babies. Spend as much time sitting with them in the pen or next to it as you can. Makes for alot tamer or friendlier birds.
 
I do, but I'm in NJ...
Thanks DestinDuck....my pen for them is weird...it is set up between 2 sheds, so 2 of the walls are the sheds' outer walls, with my chicken pen wall the far end wall, and a huge dog house (built for St Bernards (I snagged it from freecycle and painted it barn red) at the other end. So access is at the dog house end thru a door we made, and the only other viewpoint is the side opposite the door. It's long and they hang out at the opposite end of the door. If I walk in and go towards them, they fly or run down to the dog house end. Their pool takes up some of the space and a tree takes more of the space, a big homemade sawhorse thing is where they perch... not a ton of space in there....
Ideally I'd get rid of my big ducks in the other pen and open this pen up into that back pen so they had much more space then I could sit in there with them...I like this pen for them tho because I can see them sometimes from the house. The back pen is behind the one shed so I can't that at all unless I go back there...
sorry for the longwinded explanation. If I can figure out how to sketch a pic of it, I'll do that and see if anyone has ideas for making it better. I'm horrible at planning spacial configurations.....but can copy pretty much anything.
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Our Mandarin hen hatched out 8 normal and 5 white ducklings yesterday. We had to round them up as they had escaped the pen and were all over the yard. All are great and indoors now. The flying ducklings are so fun!

 
You are SO lucky to have retrieved all of them safely! I lost a few some years ago when they ran thru the chicken wire...we got them all back but the rest were so afraid they scattered into the tiniest places in their pen and got stuck and died while we were trying to get them all back. This is my first year letting the mama Mandarin raise them again- we re-fenced that pen with tiny hardware cloth and window screens along the bottom for extra security...I don't go in unless absolutely necessary. So far so good. I envy you with all those white babies too. I want some so much! Have fun! I was just up in the Albany area last weekend too- I'd have picked some up if you were selling them.
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Lisa
 
I really don't know...I sell my young ones (reg) for $30 each or 4 for $100....unsexed at their young ages....I heard from someone else that they sell sexed pairs for up to $80 (for regular colored ones! Crazy!) I have a person who wants to buy 2 of my reg colkored young ones in June and has a potential source for white ducklings, so he'll get more than he needs of them if possible, and we'll trade the regulars for the whites...or if I have Sebbie goslings by then, work that into a trade for more whites if there are some...I just want to avoid shipping (to or from) since I had a bad experience a month or 2 ago- the postal service lost my Express Horizon box with 6 Mandarin adults inside..by the time they got to their destination, 2 died...so I really don't want to ship any birds right now. The weather is unpredictable too... cool to hot, really rainy to really sunny all in 1 week here.
If you find anything out, let me know please?
Thanks
Lisa
 
Well sad day here. The babies must have been out in the rain and cold too long yesterday. Lost 4 babies overnight. Hopefully the rest are going to be ok. This is why I really do not want to sell them yet. I would feel terrible if someone bought them and then they died.
 

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