DUCKS. 113 



accommodation may consist principally of roof. It 

 is a movable house six by ten feet, set on plank run- 

 ners fifteen inches wide. This structure, set on a well- 

 drained site, bedded with short hay or straw and 

 moved occasionally, will serve as headquarters for a 

 flock of ten to twenty-five. 



Breeding ducks should be carefully selected for 

 their size and typical shape, and only mature birds 

 should be used. An active yearling drake may be 

 allowed for each five or six ducks. 

 As the drakes are not so pugna- 

 cious as cocks, flocks ma}^ contain 

 several of them without danger of 

 their injuring one another. 



As a general thing it is better to hatch duck eggs 

 under hens than under ducks. The period of incuba- 

 tion for duck eggs is twenty-eight days, and the 

 temperature required is the same as for hen eggs. 

 They have strong vitality and are easy to hatch either 

 in the natural way or artificially. 



Ducklings when hatched are animated balls of 

 down, seldom quiet and never so happy as when eat- 

 ing or dabbling in water. They do not require so 

 much warmth from the mother and do not need to 

 be hovered so much as chicks. Hence, it is safe to 

 put thirty to forty with a single hen. INEore also can 

 be put in a single flock in a brooder than of chicks. 



While ducklings will take to the water as soon as 

 hatched, they do better if not allowed to swim until 

 they are four weeks old, and should not be allowed to 

 enter ponds or streams until they have their first 

 feathers. Thousands of ducklings die yearly from 



