608 DOMESTIC ANIMALS, DAIRYING, ETC. 



How Much to Feed. The amount of food needed each day for 

 young duck varies as much as does their growth. Their growth aver- 

 ages a half pound a week ; and to make this increase of weight each 

 week requires an additional quantity of food over the preceding one. 

 The rule is, feed each meal what they will eat up clean with a relish, 

 and do not allow them to linger over the feed trough. It is better 

 they should have not enough than too much, as they will be 

 in a much better condition to relish the next meal. One thing is con- 

 sidered to be of as much importance as the feed, and that is removing 

 the feed left over and thoroughly cleaning the troughs after each 

 meal. This is scrupulously attended to by successful duck raisers. 



One raiser gives, as a generous allowance for one day's ration 

 for one hundred laying ducks, the following : For the morning meal, 

 35 quarts of the mash, and for the evening meal 40 quarts, making 

 a total of 75 quarts for the day's portion, or three-fourths of a quart 

 to each duck a day. Another raiser allows 400 quarts, fed in halves, 

 twice a day, to six hundred breeding or laying ducks, averaging two- 

 thirds of a quart to each duck a day. 



It cost from 6 to 12 cents a pound to raise a duck for market at 

 ten weeks of age. It costs from $1.75 to $2.50 each to keep breed- 

 ing ducks a year. The three different methods of feeding ducks are 

 as follows: (1) Feeding ducks for market (ten weeks old); (2) 

 feeding young ducks to be kept as breeders; (3) feeding old ducks. 

 The first method, for the sake of convenience and to explain more 

 fully the composition of the rations, is subdivided into four parts, 

 as follows: 



(1) From time of hatching to five days old provide the follow- 

 ing mixture : Cracker or bread crumbs and corn meal, equal parts 

 by measure ; hard boiled eggs, 15 per cent of the total bulk of crack- 

 ers and meal ; sand, 5 per cent of the total of crackers and meal. Mix 

 with water or milk, and feed four times a day. 



(2) From five to twenty days old, the following mixture : Wheat 

 bran, two parts by measure; corn meal, one part; rolled oats, 50 per 

 cent of this bulk; beef scraps, 5 per cent; sand, 5 per cent; green 

 food, 10 per cent. Mix with water to a dry crumbly state and feed 

 four times a day. 



(3) From twenty to forty-two days old, the following mixture: 

 Wheat bran, two parts by measure ; corn meal, one part ; beef scraps, 

 5 per cent of this bulk; sand, 5 per cent; green food, 10 per cent. 

 Mix with water to a dry crumbly state and feed four times a day. 



(4) From forty-two to seventy days old, the following mixture : 

 Corn meal, two parts by measure; wheat bran, one part; beef scraps, 

 10 per cent of this bulk ; coarse sand or grit, 5 per cent ; green food, 

 10 per cent. Mix with water to a dry crumbly state and feed fouu 

 times a day. The hours for feeding are 6 a. m., 10 a. m., 2 p. m., 

 and 6 p. m. 



When ducks are raised for breeders they are fed differently 

 from those intended for market. They are not forced so much as are 

 the latter, and less fattening food is given them. The corn meal 

 and beef scraps are reduced to one-half the quantity used in the above 



