POULTRY RAISING 69 



part corn meal, one part clover, five per cent beef 

 scraps, two per cent grit and oyster shells. Give 

 all they will eat of this, night and morning, and keep 

 water by them if they have not a pond. Also give 

 them water in their houses at night. A butter tub, 

 sawed down, makes a handy thing. 



About December first, increase your beef scrap 

 gradually, from 5 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 December 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 75 to 100 eggs without 

 stopping, you should also raise their beef scraps from 

 10 per cent to 15 per cent 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 getting 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 20th on, and if they do not as a 

 rule you will find your breeders are to 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 

 10214 plenty high for good results, and you will get 

 much better 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 



