SUCCESSFUL POULTRY KEEPING 



NO WATER EXCEPT FOR DRINKING PURPOSES 



This duck ranch is unique in one respect that the breeding 

 stock do not have access to a water run. No water is supplied 

 to ducks or ducklings except for drinking purposes. The breed- 

 ing houses are light, airy and well ventilated, and divided into 

 pens of twenty-five birds each; five ducks to each drake, early 

 in the season, and later on six to eight ducks to one drake as 

 the males become more active and begin to handle the ducks 

 more roughly. If too many drakes are. allowed in the pens 

 late in the breeding season, they are liable to spoil the appear- 

 ance of the ducks by rough usage and make their heads and 

 necks sore and bloody by pulling at the feathers. 



The breeding pens are about 12 by 20 feet and have out- 

 side yards about 20 by 100 feet each. There is a three-foot 

 walk just back of the pens in the breeding house and separated 

 from them by a low two-foot high partition. The birds are 

 fed in the house near the walk, and all the water they get is 

 one bucket to each two pens (the water trough is in the middle 

 partition) three times a day, or but twelve quarts of water for 

 each fifty ducks at each meal. That seems pretty closely figur- 

 ing for water supply for birds that are normally considered 

 water fowl, but the breeders were in the best possible condition, 

 and we were given to understand that the fertility of the eggs 

 was all that could be desired or expected for the season of the 

 year. Neither the old or young stock ever have water to swim 

 or bathe in. 



FEEDING THE BREEDERS 



Young stock selected for breeders are turned out to pas- 

 ture as soon as possible in flocks of 200 each. Here they are 

 housed in open sheds or shelters and are fed twice a day all 

 they will eat of the following mash mixture: Three parts, by 

 measure, heavy wheat bran, one part low grade flour, one part 

 com meal, five per cent beef scrap, three per cent fine grit,and 

 all the green food they will eat in the shape of corn fodder, 

 clover, alfalfa, oat fodder, or green rye, cut fine. 



When housed in the breeding pens in the fall the brids are 

 put on the laying ration and from then receive a mash twice a 

 day, morning and evening, composed of equal parts, by measure, 

 wheat bran and corn meal; ten per cent beef scrap; twenty per 

 cent low grade fiour; ten per cent boiled turnips, mangel beets 

 or potatoes; fifteen per cent clover, rowen or alfalfa, green 

 rye or refuse cabbage, cut fine, and three per cent grit. At 

 noon they get a light feed of corn and oats. Clean grit and the 

 best quality of oyster shell is kept in boxes always before the 

 birds. The mash food is never cooked and is always mixed 

 with cold water. 



The houses are always kept clean and well aired. The 

 breeding pens are cleaned out and bedded frequently with 

 meadow hay grown on the farm. The ducks appreciate the 

 clean, dry bedding, and it is necessary to keep their feet warm 

 and give them a dry bed. Unlike hens, ducks do not need 

 any incentive to exercise; they are always on the move and 

 usually busy both day and night. On account of this ten- 

 dency to be always on the move and talking about it, and 

 because of their extreme timidity it is necessary to avoid hav- 

 ing dark quarters at night. Lighted lanterns are kept in the 

 houses and yards at night to keep the ducks quiet. 



LOTS OF HARD WORK IN DUCK GROWING 



While one of the most profitable branches of the poultry 

 business there is plenty of good hard work connected with the 

 conduct of a large duck ranch. It means early to rise and late 

 to bed for the man in charge if a respectable balance is to be 

 kept on the right side of the ledger. It isn't a business suited 



to the man who likes short hours or who wants to linger in bed 

 after daybreak. The duck man must be up and doing before 

 sun-up, when the first gray haze of dawn shows on the horizon. 

 The ducks will be up and waiting for breakfast and it isn't good 

 business policy to keep them waiting too long. They have 

 lusty appetites and the clamorings of their empty stomachs 

 will cause them to fret off good flesh or wiU affect the egg crop 

 if permitted to go long unappeased. 



Mr. Rankin employs six men on his duck farm and he 

 keeps them all busy. For himself he considers fourteen to 

 sixteen hours out of the twenty-four a day's work, and he has 

 been keeping this sort of thing up for a long time and is still 

 hale, hearty and remarkably young and vigorous for his years. 

 On one of our visits to his plant we reached there on an early 

 morning train and found him busily at work hoeing the aspara- 

 gus bed, having already finished the routine work for the morn- 

 ing. Many years of strenuous farm Ufe have not marred his 

 health or activity and there are few men in offices today, fifteen 

 or more years younger, who are his equal in physique. 



NO GROUND POISONING 



Although Maplewood has been a duck and poultry plant 

 for forty years there is no evidence of ground poisoning of 

 which we hear so much now in the poultry papers. CleanU- 

 ness and good common sense care of the farm are responsible 

 for this freedom from the common evils attendant on the con- 

 stant use of yards and houses for poultry and ducks. 



Maplewood Farm is very flat and there is no gentle slope 

 to aid in the natual cleansing of the yards with each rainfall, 

 but the soil is fairly well drained. Once each week the men 

 sweep out the runs and yards and the manure so cleaned out 

 is used on another part of the farm for fertilizer. In hot weather 

 the yards are also swept thoroughly when ever there are signs 

 of an approaching heavy rain. Otherwise the hot sun on the 

 wet droppings would cause a very unpleasant odor. 



As soon as the ducks are out of the yards for the season 

 the soil is well turned over by deep plowing, is thoroughly worked 

 and planted to "rye, clover, alfalfa, corn or other crops. One 

 or two crops a year on the ground gives all the disinfecting 

 needed. On this ranch they grow all the green food and vege- 

 tables used and store away quantities of mangle beets, tur- 

 nips and cabbages for the winter. Rye is kept growing the 

 year round. Clover, alfalfa and corn fodder are grown in large 

 quantities. Fresh cut, shredded green corn fodder is con- 

 sidered one of the best green foods for ducks of all ages. 



BROODING AND FEEDING THE DUCKLINGS 



All ducldings are brooded in hot water pipe houses of the 

 ordinary box-hover pattern with one flow and one return pipe, 

 each 2 niches in diameter. 



It is aimed to keep the temperature under the hov«rs at 

 between 80 and 90 degrees and the house itself comfortably 

 warm. There is always plenty of fresh air in the houses at 

 all times and when the ducklings are two weeks old they get 

 an outdoor run op green rye. The Uttle birds are kept com- 

 fortable, clean and' well fed. Their runs and hovers are bedded 

 with planer shavings. 



The water founts are galvanized iron and are placed on 

 a wire cloth fastened on to a board walled pit at a level with 

 the earth floor of the run so that any water slopped is quickly 

 drained away and does not mess up the brooder house. 



For the first four days the duckUngs are fed four times 

 a day all they will eat up clean in twenty minutes of a mash 

 made of four parts by measure of wheat bran; one part corn 

 meal; one part low grade flour, five per cent fine grit. 



From four days to four weeks old they are fed four times 



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