POULTRY RAISING 87 



About December i, increase your beef scrap gradu- 

 ally from s per cent, to 10 per cent., and lift your ducks 

 occasionally by the neck and see how thin they are. Do 

 not let them get too fat if they begin to lay in Decem- 

 ber and in January. If they do not gain much, and are 

 thin in flesh, gradually increase your corn-meal and add 

 some whole corn and whole wheat. The more they 

 gain on eggs the heavier feed they must have to keep 

 them in good flesh, for a good Pekin duck should lay 

 from seventy-five to one hundred eggs without stop- 

 ping. And give more oyster shells and grit. It requires 

 great judgment in feeding a flock of Pekins for the most 

 eggs and to have them run good and fertile. I have seen 

 flocks of breeders knocked out the whole season by get- 

 ting them too fat before they got to laying good. Your 

 breeders for best results should be mated up one drake 

 to five ducks, and your eggs should run fully 90 per cent, 

 fertile from March 20 on, and if they do not, as a rule, 

 you will find your breeders are too fat. 



If you keep ducks for the greatest possible profit you 

 will find none to equal the Pekins as layers, and for 

 quick growers, which stand close confinement, they head 

 the list of market ducks to-day. 



In hatching duck eggs I find a temperature of I02j/^ 

 plenty high for good results, and you will get much bet- 

 ter hatches in warm weather by airing your eggs both 

 morning and night. 



When they hatch put them in your brooder and give 

 warm water to drink. Watch them closely for two days 

 and teach them to go where the heat is, and after that 

 you have no further trouble. Give warm water to drink 

 for first two weeks, sure, for cold water will give them 

 cramps, which quickly kills them, and if they do not die 

 it will so stunt them that they never get over it. 



I have at last found a perfect feed for young ducks 

 first hatched, and that is Spratt's Patent chick feed. I 



