PROGRESSIVE POULTRY RAISING 



kept in a cool place and turned daily. They should be 

 set as soon as possible after laying as they do not keep 

 as well as hens' eggs. In incubating duck eggs artificially, 

 they are handled about the same as hens' eggs except 

 that the temperature should be held at 102 for the 

 first three weeks and more moisture supplied in the 

 machine. They may be tested for fertility on the fourth 

 or fifth day. Ducks take very kindly to artificial brood- 

 ing and are in fact usually easier to handle than chicks. 

 The incubation period is twenty-eight to thirty days for 

 all varieties except the Muscoog, in which case it is thirty- 

 five days. 



Where they are to be sold as green ducks at ten to 

 twelve weeks, the young ducks are usually not allowed 

 to range but are fed heavily from the first. The brooder 

 temperature should be about 95 to start with but is 

 reduced more rapidly than for chicks, usually being 

 brought down 10 the first week and reduced even more 

 rapidly thereafter. Ducklings should not be fed for at 

 least thirty-six hours after hatching. The ration for 

 the first week may consist of equal parts of bran, corn 

 meal, middlings and 5 per cent of sand in it to serve as 

 grit. This should be given to them five times daily, 

 care being taken that no more is fed than will be com- 

 pletely cleaned up. After the third day 5 per cent of 

 sifted meat scrap should be added and green food in 

 the form of chopped lettuce, alfalfa or clover fed freely. 

 After the first week the number of feedings may be 

 reduced to four and the ration, two parts wheat bran, 

 one part wheat middlings, one part corn meal and one-half 

 part meat scrap with 5 per cent sharp sand, may be 

 given. In addition all the green food they will consume 

 should be furnished. At about eight weeks of age the 

 young ducks should be confined in a cool, shady place 

 and fed for three weeks on a fattening ration which may 

 consist of equal parts of wheat, bran, middlings, corn 

 meal, to which is added 10 per cent of meat scrap and 5 



Page Forty-Three 



