FANCIERS' JOURNAL AND POULTRY EXCHANGE. 



275 



PoJltf^y Dep/\f^j[vie^j. 



AYLESBURY DUCKS. 



These ducks are noted for hardiness and early develop- 

 ment to maturity. The plumage of pure specimens is invari- 

 ably of a pure white. The drake differs from the duck only in 

 size, and having curled tail feathers. The legs are of a bright 

 orange color, while the beak should have a pale pinkish or 

 shell-like appearance, which is obtained or preserved by 

 allowing them frequent access to pure running water, having 

 a gravel bed, in which they delight to sport and dip their 

 beaks, thus keeping them clean and polished, while the birds 

 are more healthy and vigorous. Unnecessary exposure to 

 the sun, and impure water, produces a dull yellow color of 

 the beak, which in England is considered a disqualification. 

 In America, where the atmosphere is hotter and dryer, and 

 less uniform, it is next to impossible to keep the bills pale 

 and clear, excepting with the most careful provision of suf- 

 ficient shade, water, and gravel. The young especially should 

 in hot weather be let out for a couple of hours early in the 

 morning before the heat of the sun becomes powerful. This 

 is the best time for cleaning and littering the coops, which 

 should be large and well ventilated, to produce and maintain 

 the most desirable condition of health and plumage. For 

 exhibition birds, these precautions, with quiet and undis- 

 turbed conditions, are necessary, though equally applicable 

 to the welfare of the stock which we wish to fatten for 

 market, with the exception of less frequent access to baths. 



At maturity seven pounds is a fair average weight; they 

 sometimes reach a weight of ten pounds. Caution should 

 be maintained in reference to breeding and exhibition stock, 

 as over-feeding, producing excessive fatness, causes sterility. 

 Many choice fowls are spoiled by ignorant attendants. The 

 best food to produce weight, without fat, is barley furnished 

 with plenty of green cooling food, of which they are very 

 fond. They are very prolific and early layers, and will lay 

 a larger number of egg in the course of a year than any 

 other breed having equal care. It is also said that a duck 

 two or three years old will lay better than a yearling. The 

 eggs vary in color from a white to a green or creamy shade, 

 and are set under hens. 



Several broods of ducklings may be intrusted to the care 

 of one mother, if protected from drafts of air, as they do 

 not require hovering like chickens in moderately warm 

 weather. They should be fed regularly three times a day, 

 the earliest food being hard-boiled eggs chopped fine and 

 mixed with boiled rice or bread crumbs, and later in the 

 season give them such grains and other food as you prepare 

 for mature birds. They should have pure drinking water 

 constantly before them, and prefer to eat their grain and 

 raw vegetables from the same trough, in which gravel also 

 should be placed to assist digestion and in cleaning their 

 bills, which is quite necessary. Keep the apartments well 

 ventilated, but inaccessible to rats, cats, and weasels. It is 

 advisable to keep for breeding purposes about one drake to 

 two ducks. Autumn is the best season to purchase them to 

 begin with. If early birds, they will commence laying in 

 February, or earlier, with proper care and favorable seasons. 

 Let the drake be unrelated to the ducks, and change the 

 blood every third or fourth year. 



(For Fanciers' Journal.) 



CARE OF SITTING HENS. 



The proper care of sitting hens is a matter of no small 

 importance to the breeder of fine poultry. 



The loss of a few dozens of eggs, more or less, is a matter 

 of little consequence to him who breeds dunghills, and values 

 his eggs at from 10 to 25 cents per dozen, and, indeed, it will 

 not pay him to take extra care of the sitting hens ; but when 

 we pay from $3 to |6 per sitting for eggs, or value our own 

 at these prices, it becomes an important question how we 

 may obtain the most and best chicks possible from them. 



Many of the failures in the hatching of eggs, which are 

 charged to the dishonesty of the seller, or to the carelessness 

 of express companies in their transportation, is really due 

 to the want of proper care on the part of the buyer. If 

 laying hens have access to the sitters, the eggs are not only 

 apt to become broken, but the layer will sometimes take the 

 nest while the sitter is off feeding, and when she returns, 

 finding her nest occupied, she will, perhaps, take some 

 vacant one, leaving her eggs to become chilled, and entirely 

 ruined. 



Neighbors have frequently got eggs from me of the same 

 kind which I was setting, and from which I got ten or 

 twelve chickens to the setting of thirteen, and they would 

 often either fail entirely, or would gef two or three feeble 

 chicks. At the same time they were perfectly sure that it 

 was not the fault of the hen, as, they affirmed, she sat finely; 

 while at the same time, perhaps, they paid little attention 

 to her, making only an occasional visit to the nest, at which 

 times she appeared to be all right. 



