POULTRY FOR PROFIT 219 



Sand or grit should be part of every meal. The 

 duck has no crop and hence is unable to grind its 

 food without plenty of grinding material. 



After ducks are a month old they may have a 

 vessel of water large enough to dip their heads in, 

 but they do not need to swim. Water for their 

 heads keeps their eyes clean and their heads from 

 becoming infested with vermin. 



Green feed is a very important part of a duck's 

 ration after the first two weeks. It is easy to see 

 why this should be so, for the duck as found wild, 

 inhabits low, marshy ground where there is a great 

 deal of tender green growth. For the same reason 

 animal food is necessary to take the place of the 

 bugs and grubs a duck would find in its natural 

 habitat. With feed at its present prices it is a ques- 

 tion whether there is much profit in raising market 

 ducks in confinement when all feed must be pur- 

 chased, but when they can be given a moist, marshy 

 range and forage for part of their living they ought 

 to be fairly profitable. Indian Runners, being egg 

 producers and smaller eaters than Pekins, ought to 

 be more profitable. 



Hatching Duck Eggs. 



On all the large duck plants the eggs are hatched 

 in incubators, and they hatch very well in this way, 

 only needing a little more moisture than hens' eggs 

 and a little lower temperature. 



Mr. Rankin's method of running the incubator is 

 as follows: 



"The temperature of the egg chamber is main- 

 tained at 102 degrees with a thermometer on a live 

 egg until the animal heat begins to get well estab- 

 lished, which is about the fifteenth or sixteenth day, 

 when the heat is allowed to go to 103 degrees, at 



