new Mandies with our ducks..new question about chicken tractor

[chickenlisa]

I will be getting 2 pairs of Mandarins in a few weeks. They'll be about 4 months old then. I plan on putting them in the pen with our 8 ducks. (They are 3 Blue or Black Swedish and 4 months old, 3 Cayugas also 4 months old, and an adult pair of Blue Swedish.) Can anyone advise on the best way to go about this? I already have the pen and its tall and covered. I have to better close up all little gaps in it though. I am looking for a tree (live or dead) to pull in there and stand up in the corner so they'll have a high place to roost. I am concerned about everyone getting along. What should I do?
Lisa

Please scroll down to my most recent post to see photo of pen.

 

[cheepchicks]

I don't know much about the mandarins and I don't know how old these two are but I just got them and I keep them with the keets and the bantam frizzles I have.

 

[chickenlisa]

Thanks-pretty ducks.But what about the initial mixing of them-my 8 ducks are full size and the Mandies are full size too, but small ducks even when full size. How can I do this so the Mandies don't get hurt? or will that tree and roost I put in be for them to get away from the big ducks if necessary?

 

[chickenlisa]

Also, are your ducks flying yet? How tight is your pen? THe lady I'm going to get mine from had one of her young males fly the coop because of a little gap at the top. I'm wiring all gaps shut this morning. I'm just in on a break. I'm going out to scope out all fallen branches from our trees to see if any are suitable for a duck tree...one that I can put in the pen for them to roost on. I still need advice on the introduction of them to my 8 ducks already here. I don't know duck behaviour well enough. I know what I'd have to do with chickens, but hope I don't have to go thru all that with the ducks.
Lisa

 

[bobbieguyette]

well the best way I have found to get them together is my keeping the new ones in a big cage and put in right in the pen with them they will check em out but in the cage they wouldnt get hurt, and give it a couple of days till they just ignore them and them let them out and then watch them for a bit works for me are your mandarins pioned or wings clipped? if they freerange or get lose im afraid you will lose them good luck and hope this helps

 

[chickenlisa]

The mandies' wings will be clipped when we get them. They won't free range at all. I hope to do that,(put them in a separate little pen) but the lady who has them now said she may want to come all the way to my house to see them released into their new pen, so I may have to let her know that they wouuld be in a small pen for a few days inside of our pig pen...hope she's ok with that.
If anyone else has any other good ideas, please let me know.
Thanks bobbieguyette.
Lisa

 

[DrakeMaiden]

My suggestion would be to keep them in their own pen for a while -- a quarantine pen -- for a month. Then you could try the cage in the pen trick, if you think you need to.

Quarantine is just a safe bet all around, but if the woman who raised them wants to see them "released" it would probably settle her mind to see them in their own safe quarters.

 

[chickenlisa]

Will 4 Mandies be ok in a chicken tractor for that quarantine period? Its about 8-10' long and about 4'X4' wide and tall. I'll try to put a photo here of it...

Hope that loads the photo. I forget how to do it--the old EZ board BYC I could do it on, but this looks different. I'm not a computer whiz, that's for sure.
Lisa

 

[chickenlisa]

Sorry to reply to my own post...Does anyone know if that chicken tractor I posted a photo of above will suffice for a quarrantine pen for 4 Mandies (when I get them?) It'll only have to be for a few weeks or a month...then they'll be in a large, tall pen with my other ducks.
Thanks.
Lisa