HATCHING AND BROODING OF DUCKS 



out the egg quickly, break the shell and release the duckling, 

 putting him back at once into the warm machine. When 

 nearly dried off the ducklings should be dropped down into the 

 "nursery" space below the egg trays (if there is no opening 

 through which they fall down), where the temperature is a few 

 degrees cooler than in the trays; this also prevents their turning 

 over and disturbing the unhatched eggs. About once in four 

 or five hours the dry ducklings should be dropped down, but the 

 work should be done .quickly, so as to derange the temperature 

 of the egg chamber as little as possible. After the hatch is well 

 over let the ducklings remain in the nursery chamber for about 

 twenty-four hours, then they are removed to the brooder house 

 and put in the warmest pens, next to the heater. 



BROODING AND FEEDING THE DUCKLINGS 



To carry the ducklings from the incubator to the brooder 

 house a square basket, about 2 feet 6 inches long by 15 to 18 

 inches wide and a foot high, is the lightest and best thing. Some 

 duck farms use handled boxes, similar in shape, but the added 

 weight is a drawback. On the basket are close covers, hinged 

 at the center, to keep the little fellows secure and protected from 

 the wind. Such a basket as here described will hold about a 

 hundred ducklings. When it is filled it is carried to the pen 



67— DUCKLINGS ONE WEEK OLD 



in the brooder house and the birds carefully tipped out onto the 

 fqed board, where a small supply of food has been placed. The 

 food at first is the infertile egg boiled hard and chopped fine, 

 mixed with about four times its bulk of stale bread crumbs, 

 or cracker crumbs, and having about five per cent of its bulk 

 coarse, sharp sand or fine (chick-size) gravel. They should be 

 fed every two hours for the first few days, feeding only a little 

 at a, time, and see that the food is all eaten up before feeding 

 again. If any food is left uneaten it should be cleaned off the 

 boards and thrown on the fertilizer heap; it will be so soiled as 

 to be unfit for feeding again. 



The temperature of the brooders should be about 90 degrees 

 at first, and the animal heat of the little ducklings will bring 

 the heat up to about 95. After carrying them through a cou- 

 ple of nights at his temperature 90 degrees will be warm enough, 

 and after a week 80 to 85 degrees. After the first few days the 



attendant can regulate the heat by the appearance of the duck- 

 lings. If they seem happy and contented, and cuddle down 

 comfortably under the hovers, they are warm enough. If, 

 however, they bunch together and cry discontentedly, they need 

 a little more heat. If they are disposed to push out from under 

 the hover there is a little too much heat, and the temperature 

 should be lowered to a point which will draw them in under 

 the hover. 



At one plant the baby ducklings are confined close to the 

 hovers by a board about a foot high, having two end-pieces 18 

 inches long nailed across so that one end makes a pen 6 inches 

 wide across the breadth of the pen, or, reversed, it makes a 

 pen a foot wide across the pen. In very cold weather these 

 partitions are put up at ' night to confine the ducklings close 

 up to the warm hover space. On another large duck plant 

 these partitions boards ai-e fitted to slots fixed to the sides of 

 the pens, and when taken up are slid up onto the top of the 

 collar-beams (boards) overhead, and are always within reach 

 when wanted. 



In an excellent article in the report of the R. I. State Board 

 of Agriculture, the following feeding directions are given: "In 

 times past all sorts of mixtures and all kinds of fussing have 

 been recommended in feeding young ducks. The biggest and 

 best breeders of the present day, however, do very little fussing, 

 and the food mixtures are of the plainest kind. I have found a 

 mixture of two-thirds wheat bran and one-third com meal, 

 with a handful of fine gravel or coarse sand mixed in, for the 

 first two or three days, sufficient for all their needs. If skim or 

 whole milk is easy to get, it may be used to moisten this mixture 

 to a crumbly consistency; otherwise either hot or cold water 

 will answer. I frequently break raw eggs into the meals, in 

 the proportion of two eggs to one quart of the dry grain. This 

 must be thoroughly mixed in order that it may not be too pasty 

 or sticky. After the first three days I omit the sand or fine 

 gravel, and by the fifth day begin to feed a slight proportion of 

 beef scrap. This proportion may be gradually increased until, 

 at two weeks old, they are getting five per cent of beef scrap; at 

 three weeks old their food should be one-half bran, one-half com 

 meal, and about seven per cent of the whole mixture beef scraps. 

 Gradually increase the animal matter until at five weeks they 

 are having 15 per cent. This proportion may be carried until 

 killing time, which, under ordinary conditions, should be at 

 ten weeks, when they should weigh from ten to twelve pounds 

 per pair. 



"Early hatched ducklings should have brooder heat for 

 practically the whole ten weeks. At least, they will require 

 houses that are slightly wanned even after feathering, or too 

 much of the food consumed will have to go toward making 

 heat instead of flesh. After the warm spring months come the 

 birds will require less heat, and after the first of May proba- 

 bly fourteen to twenty days wiU be all the hover heat they will 

 need. After that time a house dry and free from draughts 

 will meet every requirement. It must be kept sweet and clean, 

 however, and it becomes necessary to keep continually at the 

 cleaning. 



"Dry planer shavings make the best litter for the floor for 

 both old and young stock. Sawdust is fairly good, but mixes 

 too readily with the food of the young birds. Straw and gravel 

 are both bad, as they become wet quickly and are slow to dry. 

 Whatever material is used, it must be kept dry or disaster will 

 follow. Keep drinking water, grit and shell by the young birds 

 at all hours. Have the water supply so that they can get at 

 it night and day. This will save undue thirst and the loss of 

 many of the birds by the tramping and wetting which comes 

 after being shut away from the water for any length of time. 

 Standing in a brooder building any moonlight night one can see 

 a constant procession of little birds going to and from the water 

 fountain, and this in itself is proof of the need of its being there." 



89 



