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I always used willow trees and stuff I just dug up from around our river, you need trees and plant that can handle a lot of water, so river birch, black willows, things of that nature, also pampas grass works well as it's too tuff for them to eat, gets big and bush and gives them cover.
Both wood duck and mandarins are cavity nesters, they do jump from outrageous heights as soon as they hatch, a small 3 foot drop onto carpet or a tub of water wont hurt a thing, but I've never done it they do just fine on their own, the only ones that have done it here are just the ones that jump out of my hand, LOL
They do well on any commercial maintenance or layer diet, you dont have to have all that expensive Mazuri feed, it's just a waste of your money, and is pretty much the same as Purina Layena (what I used most of the time) as Purina makes all Mazuri feeds anyway.
They do love catfish food though as a treat if you want to give them some of that.
A coop is a wasted effort on waterfowl, they arent going to use it and dont need it, give them a nice pond in your aviary and that's where they will sleep, they dont care if it's 100 and raining, or 0 and snowing, they are gone stay on that water.
With these two and elevated perches are nice for them too. I always got logs and stuff like that and put in their pens for them to perch on, once your trees get big enough, they perch in them too. This is especially needed around the nest box area.
also more than 1 box per hen is best to give them options, they are selective about where they like to lay. if you have 4 pair, give them 6 boxes
Thats about it, they arent too big of a deal to take care of, actually they are the easiest out of the wild species.
As for would I get wodd ducks or mandarins, do you mean which do I prefer? Both, they are equally beautiful, mandarins are on average a little less flightly than wood ducks, and dont require a permit if you plan to eventually sell them. Oh and just a wrod of caution, neither of these ship well as eggs, so dont blow a hole lot of money on eggs, get yearling pairs if possible, there will be tons of them for sale this fall, most will take your order now. Or if you have found some reasonable egg prices somewhere, try them, just be warned. Theres another post on here where a lady just paid $103 for 12 mandarin eggs and didnt get nothing! You could buy 2 pairs for that
I always used willow trees and stuff I just dug up from around our river, you need trees and plant that can handle a lot of water, so river birch, black willows, things of that nature, also pampas grass works well as it's too tuff for them to eat, gets big and bush and gives them cover.
Both wood duck and mandarins are cavity nesters, they do jump from outrageous heights as soon as they hatch, a small 3 foot drop onto carpet or a tub of water wont hurt a thing, but I've never done it they do just fine on their own, the only ones that have done it here are just the ones that jump out of my hand, LOL
They do well on any commercial maintenance or layer diet, you dont have to have all that expensive Mazuri feed, it's just a waste of your money, and is pretty much the same as Purina Layena (what I used most of the time) as Purina makes all Mazuri feeds anyway.
They do love catfish food though as a treat if you want to give them some of that.
A coop is a wasted effort on waterfowl, they arent going to use it and dont need it, give them a nice pond in your aviary and that's where they will sleep, they dont care if it's 100 and raining, or 0 and snowing, they are gone stay on that water.
With these two and elevated perches are nice for them too. I always got logs and stuff like that and put in their pens for them to perch on, once your trees get big enough, they perch in them too. This is especially needed around the nest box area.
also more than 1 box per hen is best to give them options, they are selective about where they like to lay. if you have 4 pair, give them 6 boxes
Thats about it, they arent too big of a deal to take care of, actually they are the easiest out of the wild species.
As for would I get wodd ducks or mandarins, do you mean which do I prefer? Both, they are equally beautiful, mandarins are on average a little less flightly than wood ducks, and dont require a permit if you plan to eventually sell them. Oh and just a wrod of caution, neither of these ship well as eggs, so dont blow a hole lot of money on eggs, get yearling pairs if possible, there will be tons of them for sale this fall, most will take your order now. Or if you have found some reasonable egg prices somewhere, try them, just be warned. Theres another post on here where a lady just paid $103 for 12 mandarin eggs and didnt get nothing! You could buy 2 pairs for that
