White Mandarin Ducks

White Mandarin Ducks

A PAIR is a male/female pair of unrelated birds.

• Breeding season late April
• Clutch size 8-12 eggs
• Incubation period 28 days
• 1-1.5 pounds 

Backyard poultry breeders will find the White Mandarin Duck to be a beautiful bird and a bird that is easy to keep. Many are even kept in urban settings because they do not make as much noise as some other breeds.

The White Mandarin Duck is a color mutation variety of the Mandarin Duck breed. Mandarins are native to Russia, Japan, and China. They are perching ducks meaning that they prefer to nest in trees or nesting boxes.

Mandarin ducks come in a variety of color mutations with white being the most common color mutation for domestically raised birds. The whites have various shades of white plumage over their entire body and head. Their bills are red.

They eat by making shallow dives and so are also known as "dabblers." While they can dive as many as four feet deep, they prefer to dip just their heads under the water and graze on the insects and plant life just under the surface.

Although they spend a great deal of time in the water, Mandarins nest in the trees. Unfortunately, forests near wetlands are disappearing at a rapid rate and so the wild, native population is dwindling at an alarming pace.

Mandarins do well in captivity, as long as they are kept in covered aviaries or pinioned. They fly well and have been known to travel as far as 500 miles in 24 hours. Although the wild population is suffering, there is a healthy captive population.