ARTIFICIAL REARING OF WILD DUCKS 53 



able material. They are turned daily and will remain 

 fertile for several weeks, during which time they are 

 placed under the hens or in incubators. 



From ten to fifteen eggs can be hatched under a com- 

 mon hen, but it is well not to have too many, since the 

 hen may not cover them all. Mr. De Visme Shaw says 

 let the clutch number no more than seven if the hen is 

 set in cold weather, and in no case more than ten. I 

 am inclined to believe that most hens can handle a 

 dozen eggs, in proper nests, nicely, but the breeder can 

 learn by experimenting just what his hens can do. 

 When the eggs are abundant and the hens scarce it is 

 well to put them to their full capacity. Captain Oates 

 advises making the clutch twelve eggs for hens and 

 thirteen for ducks, and, he says, five of his ducks 

 hatched no fewer than sixty-five ducklings. He ad- 

 vises leaving two or three eggs in each nest when the 

 eggs are gathered. 



The first few eggs laid often are infertile, and these 

 may be marked and left in the nest to encourage the 

 duck to continue laying. Wild ducks will lay many 

 more eggs than they can hatch. When the eggs are 

 removed, after enough eggs for one or two clutches 

 have been gathered, the duck should be permitted to sit 

 and hatch a brood. 



In an article written for The Amateur Sportsman, 

 Captain Oates says one should get from twenty to 

 thirty-three eggs per duck each season. He has even 

 done much better than this at times. "Some years ago," 

 he says, "I tried an experiment and turned into a small 

 enclosure two pure bred wild ducks which I had reared 

 from wild eggs, and also a wild drake which I had cap- 



