The Bearing of Young Ducks. 305


THE REARING OF YOUNG DUCKS.


By Maurice Portal.


The weather, over which most unfortunately we have no

control, plays an important part in the successful rearing of most

fancy ducks.


Those who use incubators tell me that they find many a

young duck is saved by being' put back to warm up thoroughly, but

my own experience has been that when attacked by cramp, the end

is too sudden for any outside assistance. If the bird is merely

starved with cold and wet, then the incubator drawer is excellent.

Newly-hatched young ducks do not appear to take any harm if they

do not feed for the first thirty-six hours after being put in the coop,

and some species seem much more apt to refuse food at first than

others, notably Carolina. There does not seem to be any certain

road to success in making any young take to eating. This year I

am trying putting a young call duck with each coop, at the sug¬

gestion of a friend. So far it seems to have answered well, as

call ducks are greedy feeders and teach the others to come on.


It needs great patience to get an obstinate and self-willed

brood to feed at first, and the more little tricks are tried the greater

the success. Mr. Wormald advocates hanging small bits of the

food on grass tips, as well as scattering it on the backs of young

birds. I have also found vermicelli scalded and hung in threads on

grass to be good; as it is white it catches the eye.


Ants’ eggs, dried of fresh, are appreciated by all young ducks,

and especially by Pochards and Tufted. I do not know if there is

much feed in dried ants’ eggs, but anyhow the birds like them.

Maggots I have never used, but small worms nicely chopped up

seem to agree with all young ducks, and if put amongst coarse

sand and a little water the ducklings seem to thrive. Personally I

use Duck Meal and egg five times a day at first, and give water in a

very shallow tin lid not half an inch deep. Bread crumb and egg

is used with advantage by some, especially in Prance, for Mandarins

and Carolinas. Duck weed is appreciated by all young ducks, and I

do not think too much can be given in the water. It is full of

insect life, apart from being vegetable too, and is one would imagine

almost a food in itself.



