WILD DUCKS 169 



are learning to eat they should be given plenty of time to 

 get what they want. After a couple of days, when they 

 have become the little hogs that they are, and fairly shovel 

 down the food, four meals a day are enough, say at 6 and 10 

 A. M., and 2 and 6 p. M., which is every four hours. They 

 should have all they will eat with eagerness. After all begin 

 to quit, and the weaker ones have had their chance, take 

 away the dish. Water in the shade, and the grit and char- 

 coal, should always be accessible. 



Subsequent Feeding. When they had learned to eat, 

 after the first day I fed the following : Mix three parts oat- 

 meal or rolled oats and one part wild-duck meal, as prepared 

 by dealers, scald with hot water, only crumbly moist, not 

 sloppy. Then sprinkle in coarse, sharp sand, say a handful, 

 or about 8 per cent, of the bulk. Grind up hard-boiled egg, 

 shells and all, and add a moderate amount of this to the 

 mixture, perhaps a quarter of the feed being egg. This can 

 be continued for a week, and then the idea is to reduce and 

 cut down the egg. When the ducklings are two weeks old 

 egg can be given only once a day and be discontinued en- 

 tirely when they are three weeks old. 



Crissel. At this time may be begun! the addition of crissel 

 or high-grade beef scrap, at first just a little in the mash, say 

 a small handful, perhaps 10 per cent., then increasing it 

 to 15 per cent., giving this but once a day. 



Diluting. After the first week the proportion of wild- 

 duck meal in the mash may be increased, say two parts 

 rolled oats to one part duck meal. This is on the theory 

 that it is rather rich undiluted for small ducks. Later, be- 

 sides the oatmeal, barley meal, bran, and middlings may 

 be mixed in for economy. Barley meal tends to constipate 

 and check diarrhoea, and a little may well be used from 

 the first, the coarse grade preferably. 



