New Mandarin Duckling, any tips?

[Jeserah]

Hello all!

To preface, I'm not a first-time duck owner, I have a 6 yr old mallard hybrid who is very healthy and happy, raised and kept on a proper diet and housed with care. I also specialized in waterfowl while I was a wildlife rehabber.

My friend let me take home one of her newly hatched mandarin ducklings last night (the one I received hatched around 530 PM) as a future companion for my hybrid, as my boy tragically lost his prior buddy last month due to a freak accident. I am very experienced in raising ducklings, but this is my first time raising an exotic, and I want to make certain there's nothing I'm overlooking. It needs to imprint on people because it will also be a future education animal which is why I had taken it so immediately.

Anywho, if any of you had any advice to share on raising these little ducks other than standard duckling care, I'd most appreciate it. Thanks for the help!

 

[chickensioux]

I had call ducklings and 1 mandie baby hatch last year and I did not do anything special for the mandie. She did just fine and was a lively little thing right along with the others.
Good luck and enjoy.

 

[Jeserah]

Thanks very much!

I have found so far that mandarin hatchlings are much more vivacious than their domestic counterparts when 1 day old. I have never seen a duckling so "bouncy" and able to run like it does at 1 day. It also has come to recognize our hands as "safe" and will jump into our open-palms willingly, where other ducklings don't seem to make that association as fast. It is the noisiest duckling I've ever known, and has a constant running commentary of peeps unless sleeping (even then... haha). Like other ducklings, it is taking a bit of time to adjust to food, but unlike other ducklings it is extremely agile and possesses great balance, enough to rest on a finger!

I fear that I have to be very careful with imprinting and this little dude, as he seems much more hardwired to recognize fellow ducklings before people, even when played on a video across the room (my family was watching the "mandarin ducklings jump from tree" video on youtube and the hatchling immediately responded to the calls of the chicks as well as the mother).

These are just a few observations, and I don't actually know if there is anything else noticeable. It's been one awesome day!

 

[chickensioux]

I raised all my call ducklings and the mandie in the house. The entire time, all the calls got very used to my presence but the mandie was always skittish. She just never really wanted me near. To this day she is a calm mandie but stays away from me and the calls walk right up to me.

 

[4-H chicken mom]

Make sure you cover the brooder with a screen. Those little darlings can really jump. I have a pair of Mandarins and since day old, they have been really skittish. I interacted with them every day. They are no longer afraid of me because they know me as the worm lady now. She will even fly up and take a worm from my hand, but they still don't want to be touched.