TI2 BIGGI^E POUr^TRY BOOK. 



house there should be either joined or situated near- 

 by a feed and cook-room containing bins, a root-cutter 

 and a capacious boiler. The front of the building is 

 one-third glass. From the front the yards extend one 

 hundred feet, making each one twenty-four by one 

 hundred feet. Experience has proved that free range 

 and water are not essential to success in keeping 

 ducks, especially Pekin ducks, for laying or breeding. 



Ducks as a part of the farm poultry should be 

 kept apart, as much as possible, from the chickens, 

 and away from the barnyard and farm-yard and out 

 of sight of the dooryard. With the chickens they 

 foul the drinking water and the food and their feathers 

 become soiled in the hen-house. In the barnyard 

 they are liable to be trampled l)y the stock, and they 

 are too filthy to be tolerated in the farm sheds, or 

 on the grass of the lawn. They should have houses, 

 shelters and yards of their own in all cases. These 

 need not be expensive. The houses may be low, and 

 no fence for Pekin ducks need be over two feet high. 



An excellent shelter for a farm flock is a shed, 

 one-half of which is open and the other half closed. 

 The open half should have a movable slat fence or 

 gate for use when it is desirable to confine the flock. 

 If they have free range it is necessary to confine them 

 to a house or yard for two or three hours after daylight 

 during the laying season, otherwise they will drop 

 their eggs in the fields and meadows, or along the 

 streams, and many will be lost. 



A convenient form of duck-house is here shown. 

 As ducks are humble-minded creatures they do not 

 require a lofty building, and therefore one for their 



