32 LL55ON5 IN POULTRY KLE.PING-5E.COND 5LRILS 



follow that method us closely as he can, including the accessories perhaps not insisted upon ID 

 other rations. The different proportions of different articles used by different experts, prac- 

 tically balance each other, as one who is skilled in feeding can see. 



If only u few ducks are kept on a plant on which fowls also are grown it is not necessary to 

 make a special mixture for the ducks. The mash made for the hens will answer by the addition 

 of a little sand or grit, when required, to the portion needed for the ducks. When the duck- 

 lings are fed this way, extra green food should be provided. 



Importance of Water. 



Even more than the old ducklings, the little ducks require water to wash down their food. 

 Their drinking vessel should be always supplied. They wilj drink even at night. For a small 

 brood of ducks with a hen an open drinking pan or saucer may be used, but for larger lots 

 drinking fountains into which the ducklings cannot get should be used, for with their pushing 

 and crowding at feeding times a brooderful of ducklings having access to an open drinking vessel 

 get themselves and each other very wet, and sometimes the wet ducklings are chilled or trodden 

 down by the stronger ones. Milk may be used for mixing the food, but should not be given to 

 drink, because the ducks will become smeared with the milk, which drying on them puts them 

 in a most miserable condition. 



Cleanliness. 



It is important that all feeding and drinking vessels should be kept clean. The duckling's 

 voracious habit of eating makes it shovel down filth with its food if there is filth present, and 

 in a very short time the effects of sour and foul food and drink become apparent. The floors of 

 the pens should be littered with hay- or planer shavings, and as these become wet and soiled 

 they should be removed and fresh litter put in. The yards, when small, should be swept or 

 scraped, say once a week, and even if a yard is large enough to make cleaning of the entire 

 space unnecessary as often as this, the parts of it most frequented by the ducks will need fre- 

 quent cleanings. 



Ducklings Must Be Kept Quiet. 



Ducks are timid fowls, and the Pekin duck is probably the most timid of domestic ducks. 

 Any annoyance or disturbance of the growing ducklings (or of the breeding stock) is therefore 

 to be avoided. Visitors should be kept from the duck quarters as much as possible, and dogs 

 or other animals that would frighten the ducks must be kept off the premises. Sometime* 

 ducks become panic stricken at night and ru>h back and forth in the house or yard, wearing 

 themselves out, losing a great deal of weight, and checking growth. To keep them quiet 

 breeders who have trouble with them in this way hang large lanterns in the duck houses. 



Marketing Ducks. 



The well grown and well fed duckling should be ready for market at ten weeks of age. Early 

 in the season some growers market ducklings at nine weeks to get the extreme high prices for 

 the first ducks; but as soon as the ducks begin to go to market in fair supply it is better to hold 

 them until at their best. For the bulk of the lot this should be at ten weeks. Some of the 

 inferior ones will not be ready for a week or two more. All should be sold by twelve weeks, 

 for after that the duckling begins to grow its adult plumage, loses its "baby fat," and loses 

 weight, and will not be fit 1o kill until eighteen to twenty weeks old. At that age the duck is 

 meatier and better eatinsr, and is far morp satisfactory for the home table, but will not bring :is 

 much in the market as the green duck, and will have cost nearly twice as much. 



The large duck growers, from the time their first ducks are ready to dress until the close of 

 the season, have pickers constantly at work. Their product goes almost wholly to wholesale 

 de-ilprs and commission houses. The grower who has only a few hundred ducks, and has a 

 traoV in dressed poultry, should have no trouble in disposing of that number of ducks at good 

 prices to his trade. 



