MANAGEMENT OF DUCKS 139 



yard (if they are let out before they lay), but the nests are there 

 if they want them, and many will use the nests regularly. 



The only other furnishings needed are a feed trough and a 

 drinking vessel, but it is advisable to have a tub or a pan in which 

 the birds can take a bath, and to supply them with water in this 

 once or twice a week. The drinking vessel must be one that 

 they cannot get into, for if they can get into it they will certainly 

 do so. An ordinary wooden water pail, or a small butter tub with 

 the part above the upper hoop sawed off, makes a very satis- 

 factory drinking vessel for adult ducks. It will hold enough 

 water for the ducks to partially wash themselves, which they do 

 by dipping their heads in the water and then rubbing them on 

 their bodies and wings. For the regular bath for two or three 

 ducks one of the largest-sized bath pans made for pigeons 

 will do very well, or an old washtub cut down to six or eight 

 inches deep may be used. For a flock of eight or ten ducks a 

 good tub may be made from one end of a molasses hogshead. 

 The bath should always be given outdoors, because it takes the 

 ducks only a few minutes to splash so much water out of the tub 

 that everything around it is thoroughly wet. The drinking water 

 should also be given outdoors whenever the houses are open. 



As the ducks of the breeds usually kept can hardly fly at all, 

 very low partitions and fences will keep them in their quarters, 

 but to keep other poultry or animals out of their yards it may be 

 necessary to build higher fences. For the heavier breeds, like 

 the Pekin and Rouen, fences are usually made from 1 8 inches to 

 24 inches high. The ducks will rarely attempt to go over these, 

 but occasionally a drake learns to climb a two-foot fence by using 

 his bill, wings, and toes, and may then manage to get over a 

 higher fence. For the small, light breeds, fences 3 or 4 feet high 

 may be needed. If their yard is on a slope and is large enough to 

 give them a chance to start a flight high up on the slope, so that 

 they will rise above the fence at the lower side, it may be necessary 

 either to put a very high fence on that side or to cover the yard. 



