22 



SUCCESS WITH POULTRY 



Hard grain is not sti good for Pekins as soft food. We 

 keep our iaying dueks (of which we keep some eleven hun- 

 dred) on equal parts of boiled turnips, wheat bran and corn 

 meal, with a little ground beef scraps thrown in. This is 

 all mixed thoroughly together while the turnips are hot, 

 and constitutes our entire fp^ed during the winter and 

 spring. 



I would like here to give a few hints in regard to 

 hatching, raising and handling young ducks. Contrary to 

 the general acceptation of the thing, it is not necessary for 

 ducks, eitJiRr young or old, to have access ' either to a, pond 

 or a brook,' as simply giving them all the water they need 

 to drink is sufficient. Indeed they thrive better and grow 

 quicker wuen confined in yards with just enough, water to 

 drink. Shade is one of the essentials to duck growing in 

 warm weather, also plenty of green food and ' vegetables. 

 Dueks are gross feeders, but are not particular as to quality. 

 We have some 2,500 out now, confined in yards, wifh 

 wire netting two feet high. The first lot go when nine 

 weeks old. Some of them will dress over ten pounds per 

 pair. It is necessary to have water dishes so constructed 

 that they can. drink without wetting themselves. Ducklings 

 should be fed about the same as chicks for the first few 

 days, .giving them milk if it can be had, by mixing their 

 food with it. Care should be taken the first few days to 

 keep the young ducklings warm and dry. For the first 

 week they will suffer more fropi cold and wet than chicks, 

 after that time they will endure more of either than 

 chicks. Corn i meal exclusively is too much concentrated, 

 and will soon cripple them in the legs and feet;, 

 it should be mixed with bran, boiled potatoes, 

 etc. About the same temperature and moisture- 

 are required in hatching as with chicks. Duck- 

 lings usually pip about forty-eight hours before 

 they are ready to come out. It ig a pleasing 

 and comical sight to see three or foiir hundred 

 ducklings when first out. 



They will fatten much easier and better 

 with simply water to drink. For green food we 

 like green corn the best. We begin to market 

 ducklings at nine weeks old, picking them clean, 

 all but the head and tips of the wings. They 

 are bled by cutting across the roof of the mouth 

 juts below the eyes (to stun them with a billet 

 of wood before this operation would be merci- 

 -ful). Ducklings are not drawn for the New 

 Tork market. Our ducklings last year, dressed, 

 for market, averaged at ten weeks old, nine 

 and one-half pounds per pair. 



It is well known by this time that the poul- ' " '" 



try business is as much a trade as any other de- ■ 



partment jn life, and a man in order to succeed must possess, 

 at least, two traits to qualify him for the business — intelli- 

 gence and energy. His buildings must be neat and com- 

 modious, constructed with a view of reducing the labor to 

 a miniinum, also of securing good drainage. Above all, 

 start in with good incubators and good brooding apparatus. 



BKBEDIKra TOUIiOUSiE GEESE. 



How to Manage weese With Success and Profit— Why the 



Toulouse are Best— Care of the Breeders 



—Must Have Range. 



BY CHAELES F. NEWMAN, BREiEDEB. 



The Toulouse goose is in my estimation the most profit- 

 able goose to raise. I have made many trials with others,' 

 but I now prefer the Toulouse., It grows the largest, ma- 

 tures the quickest, is not so much of a -rambler and flyer as 

 other kinds and as it does not take so readily to water as 

 other varieties, it grows more rapidly and accumulates flesh 

 faster, j-ney are not so noisy, and you need not be afraid 

 to let your horse stand in the yard for fear the flock might 

 rise and fly away ■ and scare the horse and wagon into 

 flying too. 



The Breeders. 



I allow two geese to one gander, though generally they 

 will pair ofB and you will notice that a gander will stay 

 with his actual mate nearly all the time. The gander is the 

 ■protector of the goose, especially in breeding time will he 

 defend her and her nest — fearless and vicious. It is not an 

 easy matter to distinguish the sex. When six or seven 

 months old, or at maturity, you can usually, by observation, 

 tell the ganders from the geese. The male, in most cases, 

 grows some larger than the female. The goose is deeper 

 in the body, a trifle slimmer in neck and smaller in head. 



\\\^ 



Qv^^t^'b 



standard-bred Toulouse Geese. 



The call of the gander is loud, long and shrill, while that 

 of the goose is merely an answer to it. Separate a flock 

 by driving paTt on each side of a fence or building and ;^ou 

 can distinguish most of the ganders by their calls. Never 

 look for a curled feather in the tail or any outside marks 



such as I have seen in some cuts, for there are none. Early 

 Secure first-class stock to start with. Debilitated, degen- in the spring it is easier to tell them, for instance by tast- 

 orate stock will never produce healthy young birds that ing, but it must be understood and done with care. 



come r into the world with enfeebled constitutions and .in 

 no conditon to live, and waste time trying to raise them. 



With the demand for dressed poultry, as far as We are 

 concerned, always in excess of the supply, with the returns 

 far greater than from' any other farm product, we think 

 that every farin should have its poultry department. 



■■'■ ' ■ ' JAMES KANKIN. 



Geese grow to a great age. The females are profitable 

 up to ten or twelve years of age and the males up to six or 

 seven years. It is not profitable to raise geese in confine- 

 ment. They must have a pasture where from early spring 

 they will live almost exclusively on green rye, clover or 

 grass, needing little grain and thriving well. Do not feed 

 too much corn in winter, as it ia apt to get them too fat 



