WTB Mandarine Duck adult, juvenile or eggs

[RockyRidgeFarms]

Hello,

I am trying to buy Mandarin ducks to start my own flock. I am an experienced poultry, duck and peafowl owner in Rhode Island.

Does anyone have any leads or have any for sale that would ship to RI? Any stage of life , adults, juveniles or eggs.
the only thing I can find are eggs on ebay, which im sure is hit or miss.

Thanks!

 

[MGG]

Hello,

I am trying to buy Mandarin ducks to start my own flock. I am an experienced poultry, duck and peafowl owner in Rhode Island.

Does anyone have any leads or have any for sale that would ship to RI? Any stage of life , adults, juveniles or eggs.
the only thing I can find are eggs on ebay, which im sure is hit or miss.

Thanks!

Hi, welcome to BYC! What kind of enclosure do you have for them? I think I'm going to have a really good hatch of Mandarins this year, so I could sell you a pair or two this fall if you're interested. I can ship. Most Mandarins are done laying now so finding eggs would probably be tricky. My first Mandarin clutch is just starting to hatch now.

 

[RockyRidgeFarms]

That's great ! I would certainly be interested in purchasing them. Pm me with pricing if you want so we could set up arrangements.

I haven't started building their enclosure yet, I am researching what I would want to build. I'm thinking a large hoop house either in a shady woody area that has bushes and natural logs , or possibly in a grassy area and adding in the brush and hiding places along with a pool for a pond. Any tips or ideas would be welcomed . What do you have in your setup ?

 

[MGG]

That's great ! I would certainly be interested in purchasing them. Pm me with pricing if you want so we could set up arrangements.

I haven't started building their enclosure yet, I am researching what I would want to build. I'm thinking a large hoop house either in a shady woody area that has bushes and natural logs , or possibly in a grassy area and adding in the brush and hiding places along with a pool for a pond. Any tips or ideas would be welcomed . What do you have in your setup ?

I sure can.
How many pairs are you interested in and are you interested in adding other species in the future? I would probably do at least 10'x20' or something similar for just a pair or two, my pen is 36'x50' and I have about 40 pairs of ducks in mine, but they're a lot of smaller species. Mandarins like to fly and have their space, and the drakes will fight a bit sometimes in breeding season.
I have a concrete pond in mine which I love, but you can get by with a liner if you replace it every few years or so. Kiddie pools also can work, but I wouldn't recommend one. You'll find yourself constantly cleaning one of the biggest ones every day or two even for just one pair of ducks. The water is their life, lol.
They also kill grass pretty quick but you can slow it down by distracting them with other treats sometimes. They do like big branches and logs. I usually try to find a few log cavities for nesting each year, and I put up wood duck nest boxes too. They breed and nest pretty well in captivity.
I can share a pic of my setup if you want. There's still some things I would change but it works pretty well.

 

[RockyRidgeFarms]

Yea pictures would be great to see of your setup. I just got 5 mandarin that are juveniles and 3 ducklings. I have them in a 12x12 run with some cover in it along with some branch perches and a small kiddie pool. Ducklings are in a brooder learning from the week old chicks. I want to start building the aviary very soon. Trying to settle on design right now. I would like to have about 20 total by next year, and if it goes well expand from there. So I need to build a large space for them. I probably won't add any other species in there with them. I would like to see them hatching their young in there next year, so keeping them alone is probably the best bet.

If your interested in selling any I might be looking to buy a bunch. Depends on pricing. Right now I am buying all the hatchlings I can get from a local breeder for $60 each. But he may not get to many more to hatch this year. I would be interested in any that I can find so I can build my flock quickly.

For the pond, what's the simplist way to clean the water ? I'm assuming some type of filtration system. What do you use ?

 

[MGG]

Yea pictures would be great to see of your setup. I just got 5 mandarin that are juveniles and 3 ducklings. I have them in a 12x12 run with some cover in it along with some branch perches and a small kiddie pool. Ducklings are in a brooder learning from the week old chicks. I want to start building the aviary very soon. Trying to settle on design right now. I would like to have about 20 total by next year, and if it goes well expand from there. So I need to build a large space for them. I probably won't add any other species in there with them. I would like to see them hatching their young in there next year, so keeping them alone is probably the best bet.

If your interested in selling any I might be looking to buy a bunch. Depends on pricing. Right now I am buying all the hatchlings I can get from a local breeder for $60 each. But he may not get to many more to hatch this year. I would be interested in any that I can find so I can build my flock quickly.

For the pond, what's the simplist way to clean the water ? I'm assuming some type of filtration system. What do you use ?

I'll get some today!

I think a 30x40' or so would be a really good size. They'd have plenty of space and wouldn't kill vegetation too quickly. Usually it's not a good idea to let them raise their own ducklings, since other pairs can be aggressive and kill ducklings, or the ducklings could get stuck in places, chilled, separated, etc. Artificially brooding them is a lot safer.

I can only ship juveniles and it's pricey to ship many at once. The boxes I use can only fit two birds in each box and it's at least $50 in shipping alone. I'm not sure how many I'll have available yet, I have five ducklings so far out of my early batch, and I have I think four more batches due in the next couple weeks.

I have a valve and drain in mine and I drain it every two weeks, every week in the hottest summer months. Then I spray it out and refill it. If it's at all possible I'd recommend digging a pond and using a liner or concreting it, and then running water 24/7 from a well. It keeps the water nice and clean and the birds stay in really nice condition. It keeps it open all winter too. I've been trying to get a well for a while now but I haven't gotten anywhere with it yet.
That's what everyone that's into seriously raising birds does though, and it's definitely the easiest in the long run. There is no filter that could keep up. For keeping it open in the winter I used a submersible sump pump, and that worked decent. But I still had to clean the pond frequently.

 

[MGG]

Hi @RockyRidgeFarms , sorry that took so long! A lot going on this summer, haha.
Here are some photos.

 

[VN9215]

Would like to buy 2 pairs too. Can you ship to San diego?

 

[MGG]

Would like to buy 2 pairs too. Can you ship to San diego?

Welcome to BYC!
Yes I can. I'll have to check pricing. Do you have experience raising ornamental waterfowl?

 

[RockyRidgeFarms]

Thanks for posting photos ! That's a great setup you have there , do you use any type of filter setup ? If so, what do you use for that size pond ?