THE PEOPLE'S PRACTICAL POULTRY BOOK. 



81 



come regularly home every evening ; and precautions must be taken, before 

 they are permitted to mingle with the old ducks, lest the latter should ill- 

 treat and kill them, though ducks are by no means so pugnacious and jealous 

 of new-comers as common fowls uniformly are." 



OUR PERSONAL EXPERIENCE. 



In 1862 we tried the experiment of rearing ducks without having the 

 water facilities said to be necessary to make our undertaking successful. 

 Against the advice of breeders we bought, of the common variety, one drake 

 and three ducks in the fore part of February, placed them in our back yard 

 and let them run with the rest of our fowls ; fed them regularly, (as we do 

 all other fowls,) three times a day, and having placed at their command or 

 convenience at all times an eight-quart basin full of water. We did not coop 

 them with our other fowls; understanding they would do better in dark 



ROTTEN 



coops or roosts, we therefore made for them two tight tent coops of rough 

 boards, with small, open doorways in front in the most secluded place we 

 could find in the yard, between a couple of trees and surrounded with shrub- 

 bery. The three ducks commenced laying about the last of February, and 

 continued laying pretty regularly until the latter part of August or first of 

 September. In April we set a hen on thirteen ducks' eggs, which brought 

 off twelve young ducks. We did not set any ducks, but continued to use 

 hens for that purpose, and at the close of the season were rewarded with a 



