60 YOUNG DUCKS ON REARING FIELD 



morning, and often during the day for the first two 

 weeks. Only a little food should be given at a time, and 

 not more than they will eat, since it is not desirable to 

 have stale food about. 



Mr. De Visme Shaw says young wild ducks will do 

 well if fed as their domesticated relatives are usually 

 fed; but they do better, and this with less trouble to 

 their attendant, if raised from the shell on food specially 

 adapted to them — such as Gilbertson & Page's largely 

 used wild duck meal — the special food containing a cor- 

 rect proportion of animal matter. 



Mr. Edgar, one of the most successful gamekeepers 

 in America, whose ducks are pictured in several of my 

 illustrations, uses exclusively the duck food sold by the 

 Spratt's Patent, Limited, of Newark, New Jersey, and 

 he has had remarkable success in rearing his young 

 ducks. 



Until the ducks are about fourteen days old they 

 should be fed at intervals of from two to three hours, 

 daily, the first feed being given as soon after daybreak 

 as possible. From this age until they are about a month 

 old the intervals between feeding times should be about 

 four hours. A fortnight later three meals a day are 

 sufficient. 



I fed a lot of young dusky ducks (black ducks) with 

 scraps from the table. They usually had some oatmeal, 

 force or other cereal in the morning, and they ate bread 

 and vegetables. Often when one had a meat bone the 

 others would chase him about the yard just as chickens 

 often chase the one which has secured a bit of food of 

 any kind. Early one Sunday morning they devoured all 

 the rolls left by the baker. 



