FEEDING AND FATTENING DUCKS I 



101 



SHELTERS USED FOR DUCKS DURING THE LATER PERIOD OF GROWING 



Many other rations might be given, but they are all 

 derived from and are substantially the same as the fore- 

 going. Mr. Rankin was the pioneer of Pekin duck grow- 

 ers in America. The father of Mr. Hallock bred ducks 

 for the New York market long before the introduction of 

 the P.ekin. Duck growing then was on a small scale. Mr. 

 A. J. Hallock began with Pekins almost as soon as Mr. 

 Rankin, and being a young man and more favorably 

 located, developed his business on a much larger scale 

 and became permanently a leader in the industry. The 

 Weber Brothers began a few years after Mr. Hallock and, 

 being neighbors of Mr. Rankin, got much of their early 

 knowledge of the business from him. Nearly all the men 

 who have made their mark in the growing of ducks for 

 the table learned their business either on one of these 

 farms, or from men who were trained on one of them. 



It should be understood that all duck growers and 

 all expert poultrymen vary their rations from time to 

 time according to the availability and prices of different 

 feeds. Corn meal, wheat bran, middlings, and low-grade 

 flour are staple mill stuffs, supplies of which are prac- 

 tically always obtainable at as low prices as any other 

 feeds could be bought. The practical duck grower uses 

 these, with meat scrap and green feed, and adds to the 

 mixture anything else in the milled-feed line that he can 

 get at a satisfactory price. Duck growers generally use 

 low-grade flour more than poultrymen who keep other 

 kinds of poultry, because it is not practical to scald such 

 large quantities of feed as they require, and the low-grade 

 flour is not only the best thing to give adhesiveness to 



the mash, but adds much to its nutritiousness and palat- 

 ability. Finely ground crackers and bakery waste give 

 like results. 



It will be noted that some of the duck rations pre- 

 sent the unusual feature of hard grains mixed in the mash, 

 and that in these cases there is not given the light feed 

 of grain at noon, which is more common. Some poultry 

 keepers who keep ducks for their eggs feed considerably 

 more unground grain but give it mostly after soaking in 

 water. Slightly sprouted oats are also a favorite feed for 

 ducks. They can use a limited quantity of hard grain 

 with the mashes or soaked grain given them, but any at- 

 tempt to keep ducks on a ration with more than one light 

 feed of whole or cracked grain a day will result in poor 

 growth or poor production. 



The feeding of the ducks on a large plant is always 

 done as expeditiously as possible. Everything is arranged 

 with a view to quick work from the moment the distribu- 

 tion of the feed begins until the last lot has been fed. 

 Every available man takes a hand in the work, for as soon 

 as feeding begins the ducks become quite excited, and it 

 is always the experienced duck grower's policy to prevent 

 excitement as far as possible, since the least excitement 

 or disturbance that puts the large flocks of ducks in mo- 

 tion may result in the maiming of some of the ducks and 

 may unfavorably affect the growth of many that are not 

 crippled outright. The Pekin duck in particular is nerv- 

 ous and timid and, growing at the remarkable rate that it 

 does, is even weaker than other ducks on its feet. Hence 

 the grower takes every precaution not only against fright- 







A FLOCK OF TEX-WEEKS-OLD DUCKS READY FOR MARKET 



