The Migratory/Ornamental Waterfowl INFO Thread

[KansasKid]

If you don't finish them out in the incubator, i would be very careful and see if you can catch them before they leave the nest box. If you look around on this thread, and the mandarin thread in the ornamental fowl section you can read several instances of people leaving there ducklings with the mothers and having them die. i can think of three so far, there are too many things that can go wrong.

 

[Matapatos]

Mine were in a wire covered pen with smaller netting around the bottom, but in a mixed collection. The other birds harrassed them and they found ways out... 9 turned into 1 in a day. If they are all by themselves in a large pen, they may be ok. Don't expect them to be like chickens, running around with their mom and listening to her. Ducks are different and will push their limits! Especially wood ducks and mandarins! Those little Houdinis can jump and run like nobody's business!

Travis

 

[Boggy Bottom Bantams]

Quote:
yes usually males are the worst thing to have in a pen with them. Breeding is their main goal in life this time of year, not being a picture perfect adady, so babies represent, no more breeding to the males. One way to fix that, distroy the babies in their mind...
Like the other two post said, as well as mine before that, it is best to keep them in a brooder.
There are way too many things that can and will kill them. Some folks get lucky and have a couple clutches do well, but if you keep at it, eventually you'll loose them.
males, mice, snakes, house cats, small openins you missed, fire ants, etc all will kill babies but can be avoided in a brooder setting.

I strongly advise you do it. If you have an incubator going, do put them in it the last 3 days to a week, if they ever hatch in the pen, it is a night mare tring tocatch them all.
They can fit threw the smallest of openings, climb like crazy, find every hole in the wire, dive like a fish, etc which will drive you crazy if you later decide to catch them to brood.

dont mean to be a downer, just trying to give you an experienced heads up on what most likely is going to happen. Been there done that too many times.

 

[4-H chicken mom]

Ok, After reading all the horror stories here and on the other thread, I am going to pull the eggs. I get the humidity but what about temp the last few days? I do my BEI's at 98.5 the last days. Also, how do I pull the eggs if she doesn't come out of the box today? She hisses some fierce at you even if you just look in the box. Does the duck stay with them until they are fully dry? How long after they hatch do they climb out? I am running out of time.

I didn't have my mind set to do this, now I am feeling the presure to do this without killing them.

 

[kangababy]

Quote:
That will work. This year we have yet to take eggs out from underneath any of our birds unless they have already hatched some. We check our boxes daily and when we see babies we take them and any eggs that haven't hatched. If you want to pull the eggs though and she is in the box, just reach down and take her out. At least that is what we have been doing. I have only had one ring teal come after me so far for doing this. She won;t hurt you and if she does bite it doesn't hurt. normally if you stick you hand down in the box she will jump out. We leave our babies in the incubator until they are basically dry and then stick them in the brood box. If we have lots of other baby ducklings we might take them out a little earlier because they will have the warmth of them plus the heat lamp in the brood box, but here our highs right now are in the upper 90s with a heat index of 105 and nights are going down into the 70s and our boxes never get below 85.

Something we have found useful. We have found digital themoetor at walmart that give you the currnet tempature and the lowest tempature within the last 24 hours. It helps to monitor how hot it is. We actually turn our heat lamps off the birds over a week old during teh day. hope that helps and good luck.

One thing to keep in mind... Once they hatch in the incubator, be carefu opeing the lid. They will run and jump out and you will be chasing them. We haven't lost one to this but we have chased a many in our tack room and barn because of this. They are fast too.

 

[exoticduckluvr]

4-H Mom if all you have are the Mandarin I don't think you have anything to worry about. The Hen and Drake both are excellent protectors of their young. I have been raising them for 6 yrs now in a mixed pen. Just section off a small area for them for a couple of weeks if in mixed pen. You can use 1/2" mesh 3' tall and some bamboo poles and tie wraps. A 3' x 5' area would be great so they have room to run around and you can put a small water pan in for them in the day time. Shallow plant pot bottom trays work great

 

[4-H chicken mom]

I feel so bad right now. She came out of the box tonight, so I took the eggs.

I candled the eggs before putting them in my hatcher and all six are in the air cell. I didn't see any pips though. What I don't understand is why is she leaving the eggs when it is obivious that they are getting ready to hatch? My BEI's never left their nest the last days. I don't get it, but maybe that's why it is so hard for us to hatch these things. The ones I tried all died around day 14. But after monitoring and keeping track of her for the last 28 days, she has come out of the box every evening for 1-2 hours. My question now is do I take away the box or take out the nesting material? My DD thinks it was cruel that I took her eggs so late. So now if anything goes wrong, it will totally be my fault, but I realized the bottom boards I put up in the pen was not tall enough. I guess I thought the ducklings wouldn't leave mom. Can someone tell me do Mandarins pip and zip right away or what? My BEI's aways would pip then wait at least 24 hrs. before they even started zipping. I don't know what to expect from these!

I did stop and buy some meal worms today. Boy I wish I hadn't sold all my BEI ducklings and the next batch still has 10 days to go.

 

[Dr. Todd]

It's normal for many species of wild ducks to leave the nest prior to their eggs pipping. This allows the eggs to cool, gives the bird the opportunity to moisten their breast feathers to increase humidity around the hatching eggs, etc. You did the right thing taking them though, hatch them in the incubator and you'll save yourself the heartache of losing them one by one if parent raised or caught up after hatch. Be patient, they'll hatch when they hatch.

DT

 

[KansasKid]

Dr. Todd :

It's normal for many species of wild ducks to leave the nest prior to their eggs pipping. This allows the eggs to cool, gives the bird the opportunity to moisten their breast feathers to increase humidity around the hatching eggs, etc. You did the right thing taking them though, hatch them in the incubator and you'll save yourself the heartache of losing them one by one if parent raised or caught up after hatch. Be patient, they'll hatch when they hatch.

DT

I know this is random but, you wouldn't happen to have a website where you advertise your birds or anything would you?
btw, love the quote in your signature

 

[newlifetax]

Another couple questions here. I have 2 white wood ducks and 1 NA pintail that are 4 weeks old in a brooder. The pintail is getting really big and feathering out well. The wood ducks are feathering too, but 1 of them is half the size of the other. When can I safely release them into the pen with the rest of my birds? I know a grow out pen is best, but that is not an option for me.

Question #2. My wood ducks have bred and hatched. Now the drake is molting, but the hen is still trying to get him to breed her. Can they successfully breed when in molt?