No. 4.] DUCKS AND GEESE.- IGl 



Poultry of any kind will have such flavors if handled the same way. 

 They must be kept where they will get nothing to eat that would 

 give an undesirable taste to the flesh for about two weeks before 

 they are to be killed. 



While both ducks and geese like the water and will spend a great 

 deal of time in it if they have the opportunity to do so, they can 

 be grown without water except for drinking purposes. If they can 

 conveniently be given access to water, they are easier to care for, 

 more contented and keep themselves cleaner. But, while both are 

 water birds, their habits are in some things quite different. A duck 

 devotes its attention more to the insect life along streams. A flock 

 of ducks will often follow a little stream for a mile or two, eating 

 the small forms of life in the shallow water and the insects that 

 hover near the surface of the water, and be too far away at night 

 to retui'n home. Ducks will live almost wholly on animal food if 

 they can get it in a fresh, natural condition. One of the most 

 profitable small flocks the writer ever saw was kept at a render- 

 ing plant and lived largely on flies, enormous numbers of which 

 swarmed about the decaying meat scraps and filth that were all over 

 the place. About two weeks before killing the young ducks were 

 shut up and fed on grain. The owner said that she had no com- 

 plaints about the quality of these ducks. Growing ducklings can 

 take meat scraps in quantities that would soon kill young poultry 

 of any other kind and grow remarkably on the heavy diet. 



Ducks at all ages stand heavy feeding and close confinement so 

 well that they are better adapted to intensive methods than any other 

 poultry. There are very few farms in this country that grow 10,000 

 chickens a year. There are many duck farms growing from 15,000 

 to over 50,000 ducks annually. The ducks grown on these farms are 

 known as green ducks, that is soft young ducks killed as soon as 

 they have gi-own their frames. At this stage the ducks, if fat, are 

 almost as heavy as they will be when mature and in fair flesh. The 

 mature ducks sold in the markets are mostly from small flocks scat- 

 tered all over the country. 



While geese like the water, the principal part of their food — 

 when they can get it — is tender grass and leaves of vegetables, and 

 they will graze for hours just like sheep. There is an old saying 

 " Geese cat everything before them and foul everything behind 

 them," This does not apply except whei-e too many are kept on 

 a tract of land. Geese are like all other animals in regard to feeding 

 on land too thickly populated. Geese eat all sorts of insects, worms 

 and small creatures found in the water, but do not hunt these as 

 persistently as ducks do. They eat grain readily and are sometimes 

 grown on a diet containing little else. Some come to maturity on 

 such a diet, but it is too heavy for them, and people who try to 

 grow geese without liberal supplies of green stuff usually have con- 



