246 PO UL TR T- CRA FT. 



Ducks designed for breeding are better ii given more liberty from the time 

 they are weaned ; but the usual practice is to run all the ducklings together in 

 close quarters until they are of an age for marketing, then sort out those 

 wanted for breeding, give them more liberty, a grass, and, if possible, a water 

 range. In sorting stock novices are often at a loss to know how to distinguish 

 the sexes. After they are about five or six weeks old the ducks " quack" 

 loudly when caught ; the drakes give a low sound between a quack and a hiss ; 

 or sometimes make no noise at all. 



370. Selling Ducks. The ducks produced on large farms are always 

 sold dressed, and go mostly to wholesale dealers. Small growers, remote from 

 the large markets, must be governed by the conditions of their markets. In 

 some places it pays better to sell the ducks alive, in others to dress them ; gen- 

 erally the best profit is obtained by selling direct to consumers. Green ducks 

 are marketed at nine to twelve weeks old, and should weigh nine to twelve 

 pounds to the pair ; the average weight is rather more than ten pounds per 

 pair. The demand for them begins in April (a little) and May, and the 

 highest prices are obtained in those months. Early in the season, when prices 

 are high, with a tendency to take big drops, many ducks are marketed at nine 

 weeks old ; later they are held longer. If not killed before the pin-feathers of 

 the adult plumage start, (at eleven to fourteen weeks, the exact time being 

 determined by inspection, and, by the expert, quite accurately by the general 

 appearance of the ducks), they must be held for a month or more longer, until 

 the plumage has grown enough to make clean picking possible. At this time 

 they weigh heavier and are really much better ducks, their flesh being firmer 

 and better distributed ; but, if from large stock, they will be too large for the 

 general trade, and growers try to get all ducks marketed at the earlier age. 

 The ducks of an age for market are sorted the day before the killing. In 

 catching they are taken by the neck. If caught by the feet, there is danger of 

 dislocating the legs. Those to be killed are kept without food. 



371. Killing and Dressing Ducks. If the feathers are to be sold, the 

 ducks must be dry picked. The feathers will very nearly pay the cost of pick- 

 ing. For the eastern markets only dry picked stock is wanted. As experts 

 say that while it requires more experience to properly dry pick a duck, that 

 method, once learned, is easier and quicker, it will pay one who is dressing 

 many ducks to learn and use that method, even though his market does not 

 require it. Cushman thus describes the methods of killing and dry picking : 



They are stabbed in the back of the roof of the mouth,* after which they are stunned 

 by a blow with a club, or by striking the head against a post. The latter is said to be 



* NOTE. As to the manner of holding the bird when making the cut, Rankin says: " The bird should be held 

 between the knees, the bill held open with the left hand, and a cut made across the roof of the mouth just below the 

 eyes." McFetridge's method is: " Take the duck under the left arm with its head in your left hand, etc." 



