ARTIFICIAL INCUBATING AND BROODING 



Great care should be taken to disinfect the pens and keep 

 them dry and clean, as neglect in this particular will soon mani- 

 fest itself in the sore eyes and emaciated bodies of the young 

 birds and a great mortality will surely follow. 



One thing I neglected to mention is, that imiform heat 

 should be kept in the brooding boxes. The pipes are supposed 

 to radiate the same amount of heat the entire length of the 

 building. The ducklings, as they grow older require less and 

 less. We obviate this difficulty by increasing the distance be- 

 tween the pipes and the 

 floor, always putting the 

 newly hatched birds next 

 the heater and moving 

 the older ones towards the 

 other end of the building 

 to make room. 



For one embarking 

 in the duck business, I 

 should advise purchasing 

 eggs from a reliable 

 grower of first class stock 

 (one who will guarantee 

 fresh, fertile eggs) and se- 

 cure enough of them to 

 produce all the breeding 

 stock for the coming 

 year. The advantage of 

 this course over purchas- 

 ing a few breeding birds 

 to get stock is obvious; 

 it will give early birds of 

 one age that will be ready 

 for business and repro- 

 duce early in the season, 

 and the care is soon over. 

 A few old birds would 



give but a few eggs each day, which would either necessitate 

 hatching them under hens or keeping the eggs till they were 

 old in order to fill a machine, and it would be necessary to be 

 hatching the entire season; the young birds would be of all 

 ages and would not be uniform in size and value. 



In regard to the relative profit derived from growing ducks 

 or chickens, would say that there is very little difference. Duck- 

 lings during March and April usually command from thirty to 

 thirty-five cents per pound in Boston and New York markets, 

 while roasting chickens are then worth twenty to twenty-five 

 cents per pound. During June and July, chickens readily com- 

 mand from thirty to thirty-five cents, while ducklings are worth 

 but fourteen or eighteen cents in the same market. 



PEKIN DUCKS 



MATING, HATCHING AND FEEDING— FEATH- 

 ERS A SOURCE OF CONSIDERABLE PROFIT 



FRANCES E. WHEELER 



IT DOES seem rather hard on us sometimes that we are able 

 to profit so feebly by the experience of others and with 

 all the wish in the world and the willingness can "pass on" 

 so little of our knowledge to those we would fain help if we 

 could. "Work out your own salvation" is an iron bound law 

 and applies quite as truly to man's physical as to his spiritual 

 being. In our life's work we have to take hold each of us in 

 our own way; what we gain an insight of — that is, the practical 

 part or detail — is not much of it adaptable to others. "Live and 



learn, die and forget it ail," I used to think a hard saying of my 

 grandmother's, but have grown to realize its deep wisdom and 

 truth. Especial cause have we to remember it this spring at 

 Clovernook in the mating of our Pekin ducks. Heretofore we 

 have separated our breeders in October and wintered them in 

 one flock. Last fall we had so many that in December we divid- 

 ed them into two flocks and yarded them separately. This 

 February we picked from among them a choice Hallock drake 

 and penned him with five of our largest ducks. Their eggs we 



69— GROUP OF CHOICE PEKINS 



kept separate to hatch out in a pedigree tray. At the first test 

 we had four fertile eggs out of the twenty-two! The balance of 

 our eggs rated nine infertile out of one hundred and eighty 

 eggs. Again we put the two flocks together and the egg yield 

 promptly advanced twenty-five per cent. 



If the points thus submitted are correctly understood, the 

 natural inference would be that if each drake and his five ducks 

 were separated in the early fall and kept yarded separately for 

 a few weeks there would be secured a decided benefit to the 

 spring output, and the importance of not disturbing the breeders 

 after the fall round up would be emphasized. 



The ration of our breeders during "egg time" is: Two 

 measures of com meal, one and a half measure of ground oats, 

 one and a half measures of wheat bran,, and a half measure of 

 beef scraps. To this is added about one-fourth the bulk in green 

 stuff. At noon there is scattered to them two measures of 

 whole corn, oats and barley (mixed). They are yarded until 

 noon when they go to the river for the balance of the day. Of 

 course plenty of water, sand and grit is always before them. 



I have grown to have a decided respect for ducks, because 

 they know so much and so quickly show up our mistakes. No 

 fowl responds so promptly to care or neglect. A slight change 

 in the first "tells the tale" in a week or two. For example, I 

 ordered a shipment of ground oats; they sent me instead what 

 we call "provender," a mixture of everything, mostly shucks. 

 In less than two weeks the egg yield dropped one-third and it 

 took two more weeks to bring it back to its original standard. 



Evaporation is so rapid in , our section (the Adirondack 

 region) that in order to get best results from our incubators 

 when the' hatch is on we have to shut up the incubator room 

 three or four times during the last forty-eight hours and with 

 boiling water sprinkle the floor around the machines. We use 



92 



