Mandarin Duck thread ( for posting pictures and discussing)

[Buck Oakes]

* shrug* mine are still young i have yet to see them outside or around nest boxes

 

[ShellyBear]

I have a pair that are almost three and they didn't lay. I'm sure your ducks will like the nesting boxes.

 

[cajunfowl0]

I personally think you need to candle eggs before the hatch that way you know if everything is ok

 

[ShellyBear]

I will.

 

[BYC-user-174785]

I think you may be worrying too much, but it does sound like you are doing things correctly. However, I do candle the eggs at hatch time to see if they have internally pipped, and if they will need intervention. That is usually not the case though; I just wanted you to know that you can candle the eggs. If your male is interested in a nest box then that may mean his mate will lay. The males do help choose a nest site.

 

[mandarin1]

I have a question if anyone could help me. I bought mandarin eggs from ebay, they arrived in great shape, air cell in tact, nothing damaged, etc. I let them sit for 24 hours to settle, for days 1-25 I had the temp at 99.5 and an average humidity between 55 and 60%, I did mist them with luke warm water once a day from day 4-24. I was also hand turning them 5 times a day, because the lady i bought them from said she had better luck with this than using the automatic turners. Day 25 I stopped turning, lowered the temp to 98.5, humidity between 72-75 (75-80 is what I was told from the lady I bought them from, but seemed high to me). By day 29 none had started to pip or even internally pip. I spoke with a gentleman at a waterfowl company that sells eggs and ducklings and was told they hatch between 34-36 days, which is not what I have read anywhere else, but then was told by him and one other person to lower my humidity, raise my temp back, and mist them with water like incubating conditions and once they pip put it back to hatching conditions. I did this on day 30 (so they were in hatching conditions for 5 days), day 32 I no longer could see any movement in any of the eggs. I was wondering what possibly went wrong and why they didn't hatch on day 28 or 29 or if they were supposed to hatch on day 34-36 and possibly putting them back to incubation conditions is what killed them or what could have possibly happened? I'm very upset about losing all these eggs, I had six of them all together and was my first time getting mandarin's. I'm also wondering if anyone has any mandarin ducklings or ducks for sale that are able to be shipped and if so what the price is? Thank you for any help!

 

[cajunfowl0]

eBay eggs are hard to hatch I ordered 6 peafowl eggs s couple years back and the chicks had formed and everything but didn't hatch. I don't think putting the eggs back to normal incubation temp hurt them. For all my eggs I keep the temp the same 99.5 the entire process. And btw you should not buy mandarin ducklings! Bad idea Ask buck. Maje sure you do as much research as possible for these exotics.What other birds do you raise?

 

[RuzichFamily]

I think you're always ahead of the game to buy a mandarin that is already fully feathered out. Way to difficult to try and hatch mail order eggs and the ducklings are too fragile.

Anyhoo, here is a pic my shutterbug of a neighbor took of my drake this winter. It came at the right time. Here's some color to get you through the eclipse season!

 

[mandarin1]

I appreciate your input, it makes me feel a little better that I didn't hurt them by putting them back to incubation conditions. I also ordered some peafowl eggs, but nothing ever started to grow inside them, but I wasn't sure if they would because they weren't shipped too friendly, one was broken and I couldn't see any visible air cell when I looked at the others, I believe I learned my lesson about buying eggs from ebay now. I was wondering if you knew a good place to buy mandarin ducks? Do they ship adult ducks or is that something you have to find locally? I also raise several different breeds of chickens, toulouse geese, runner ducks, rouen ducks, guineas, and I just purchased a couple peachicks (hoping for a male and female) a couple weeks ago. I did also have 2 Toulouse goose eggs and 3 runner duck eggs in the incubator along with my mandarin duck eggs and I had one of the goose eggs hatch and 2 of the runner's hatch (one died right before it was due to hatch), and the other goose egg still has a few days to go since they have an incubation time of up to 34 days and today is day 32 for it (crossing my fingers). Thanks again for your response!

 

[RuzichFamily]

I appreciate your input, it makes me feel a little better that I didn't hurt them by putting them back to incubation conditions. I also ordered some peafowl eggs, but nothing ever started to grow inside them, but I wasn't sure if they would because they weren't shipped too friendly, one was broken and I couldn't see any visible air cell when I looked at the others, I believe I learned my lesson about buying eggs from ebay now. I was wondering if you knew a good place to buy mandarin ducks? Do they ship adult ducks or is that something you have to find locally? I also raise several different breeds of chickens, toulouse geese, runner ducks, rouen ducks, guineas, and I just purchased a couple peachicks (hoping for a male and female) a couple weeks ago. I did also have 2 Toulouse goose eggs and 3 runner duck eggs in the incubator along with my mandarin duck eggs and I had one of the goose eggs hatch and 2 of the runner's hatch (one died right before it was due to hatch), and the other goose egg still has a few days to go since they have an incubation time of up to 34 days and today is day 32 for it (crossing my fingers). Thanks again for your response!

I bought my first pair from a BYC member and I bought my second pair from https://www.frankstrade.com/ Both were great experiences and went well. I don't think I can ship b/c I'm not NPIP certified. Not really interested in it right now either, maybe someday. This is my first season hatching ducklings from my mandarins and I've sold them by word of mouth already. When they are fledged out I'll sell them to my prospective buyers. IMHO, shipped eggs are a waste of your time and money. I believe you are better off to pick them up in person.