55S 



THE BOOK OF POULTRY. 



market purposes, and the methods chiefly used 

 in supplying the markets with this class of 

 poultry ; and finally to give such short account 

 as space will permit of the best known amongst 

 those exquisite varieties occasionally seen 

 at shows or on ornamental waters, and some 

 of which are among the most beautiful in 

 plumage of all the feathered tribes. 



The house for a single pen of ducks need 

 only be a few feet square, and may be as freely 

 ventilated as desired, so that it is needless to 

 be particular about stopping every 

 General crack in the walls: the more air 



of Duck™*"^ they have the better. The roof 

 should be tight, however, and the 

 chief requisite of all is a dry floor, as the birds 

 get cramp very quickly if this is not attended 

 to. The best floor for a duck-house is concrete, 

 sloping a little from the place where the birds 

 sleep ; another good plan is to make a floor of 

 slats raised two or three inches above the 

 ground, with half an inch of space between the 

 slats. On the floor dry straw is laid, on which 

 they sleep, and which must be renewed wholly 

 or in part whenever it is found wet or dirty. A 

 few bricks on the floor make as good nests as 

 anything, and some prefer none at all, the ducks 

 laying in the loose straw. It is generally the 

 best plan to shut laying ducks in the house till 

 nine or ten o'clock in the morning (they usually 

 lay early, and sometimes before light) as other- 

 wise they are apt to lay away anywhere, or even 

 in the water whilst swimming. 



Though most of the ducklings reared for 

 market have never entered water in their lives, 

 breeding and exhibition stock require water, in 

 which copulation often takes place, and without 

 which the eggs are not fertile as a general rule, 

 though " dry " rearing in the United States has 

 produced strains that breed satisfactorily even if 

 not allowed to swim, and some dry-reared ducks 

 are found fertile in England also. Where there 

 is good range over farm or garden, however, 

 quite a small pond made of concrete, or by 

 sinking an iron cistern in the ground, will 

 suffice. A pen of ducks thus kept is useful in 

 a garden, eating many slugs and worms, and 

 doing little damage if fenced away from straw- 

 berries, of which they are specially fond. A 

 foot of wire netting is quite sufficient to confine 

 them anywhere, or a board stood up on its edge 

 will do the same. 



It is usual to mate three or four ducks to 

 one drake, and the eggs are generally fertile, 

 except that the first dozen eggs which a duck 

 lays are very often not so. The birds are 

 almost always peaceable, and several pens will 

 agree perfectly well together. With good range, 



stock birds do not require much feeding, as 

 they pick up a great deal in the water in the 

 shape of small molluscs, animalcula, and weed, 

 and also from the ground in the way of snails, 

 slugs, and worms ; in such circumstances a little 

 meal in the morning and grain in the evening 

 will suffice. When kept in smaller space more 

 food is required, and amongst this a portion of 

 animal food is absolutely necessary, far more 

 so than in the case of fowls, as nature intends 

 them to obtain a great deal of this description 

 of food, and without it they cannot thrive, much 

 less keep up a supply of eggs. Plenty of grit 

 must also be provided in such circumstances, 

 some being also placed in the trough of water. 



A few ducks may be kept with profit, either 

 as providers of eggs, or of young birds. Where 

 ducklings are chiefly valued, the Aylesbury or 

 Pekin will generally pay best, or a cross between 

 the two ; where eggs are most desired, Pekins or 

 Indian Runners of good strains will lay as many 

 eggs in ji year as the laying breeds of fowls ; or 

 one of the Campbell varieties will be useful. The 

 young are much more easily reared than chickens, 

 having unfailing appetites, and growing much 

 faster, so that they are eatable at a much earlier 

 age. The eggs are much better set under hens as 

 a rule, and if the duck be placed in a pen by her- 

 self for a few days, her broody fit will go off and 

 she will soon lay again. It should be mentioned 

 that duck eggs are very often covered with a 

 sort of slime wiien laid (sometimes of quite a 

 different colour from the shell beneath), which, 

 if left on, sometimes hardens the shell so much 

 as to hinder hatching ; if this is apparent it 

 should be wiped off, either at once, or before 

 incubation, where the eggs are intended for that 

 purpose. 



If a cosy house and bedding be provided 

 for the night, one hen can look after a 

 very large brood, the ducklings keeping them- 

 selves warm with much less brooding in com- 

 parison than chickens. They are generally fed 

 mainly on one part of chopped hard-boiled egg 

 mixed with two parts of stale bread-crumb, for 

 the first five or six day's, giving the food on a 

 board about every two hours, and adding twice 

 daily some green vegetables or weed chopped 

 up, of which they prefer lettuce to anything else. 

 A sod of turf may also be placed in front of the 

 coop when there is no grass run, of which they 

 will swallow a great deal of the earthy part as 

 well as of the green. Later on coarser grit 

 must be supplied, as for the old birds. After a 

 few days the egg and bread may be replaced by 

 Spratt and barleymeal, with which must be 

 mi.xed a fair portion of some animal food — it 

 matters little what — soaked dry meat or crissel, 



