A SELF-SUPPORTING HOME 



will provide you with a sitting in six days. 

 As you will want to keep some of the young 

 ones for next year's stock, ask the breeder 

 you buy from to ship you birds two years 

 old, as their progeny is stronger. 



Pekins never want to sit; so hens must be 

 used for hatching, until your stock is large 

 enough to fill an incubator in a few days. 

 Artificial duck raising is without doubt the 

 best. There is one farm in Massachusetts 

 that markets forty-five thousand young ducks 

 annually, sells two tons of feathers, and keeps 

 twelve hundred breeders ! Would such an 

 immense business be possible in the old way? 



Though Pekins don't need water to swim 

 in, they must have quantities to drink, always 

 fresh and clean; which means that drink- 

 ing pans must be refilled three times a day, 

 and be so constructed as to enable the bird 

 to submerge the whole bill in the water. 

 Why? Because there are two small holes 

 at the base of the bill, which become clogged 

 with feed or mud; and unless they can rinse 



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