118 THE HOME POULTRY BOOK 
eat it easily. When matured, a laying ration made 
as follows may be fed: Two parts bran, one part 
ground oats, one part corn meal, one part of beef 
scraps, one part of alfalfa. Waste vegetables may 
be added and corn and wheat fed at night, the 
mash being given in the morning and at noon. Grit 
and oyster shells should be kept where the birds can 
have free access to them. 
This is the conventional way of feeding ducks 
and ducklings and serves to keep them in prime con- 
dition. Yet simpler methods will answer. Being 
pressed for time, the writer tried feeding rolled oats 
dry at frequent intervals and found that the duck- 
lings both relished and thrived on them. He even 
went so far on many occasions as to sprinkle rolled 
oats all about the grass run where the ducklings 
were confined and to leave them from early morn- 
ing until late in the afternoon, a large covered 
drinking fountain supplying the water. No bad ef- 
fects followed, either. Coddling is no more neces- 
sary than for chickens. And yet this hit and miss 
method of feeding is not recommended, if more than 
a very few birds are being raised. 
A yard made of single boards will confine the 
ducklings at first, and the location should be shifted 
