I know that turkey hatch out already imprinted on their mother's voice, so the same could be true of Mandarin ducks. Although studies of Muscovy have shown imprinting for them happens after hatch. They even had a whole clutch ditch the mother that hatched them for another Muscovy hen! I doubt any studies have been done on Mandarins though. Hopefully someone else has an idea. You could create a thread in the duck forum as that would be where the Mandarin specialists would most likely hang out.
I think your best bet is to incubate them yourself as then you aren't stressing your girl by taking away her ducklings, and you can be in control of the process. They are gorgeous birds.
