FEEDING AND CARE OF DUCKLINGS 325 



The incubator must be run at 102° the first two weeks, io2|° 

 the third week, and 103° the last week of hatch. The eggs 

 are turned once a day during the first week, then twice daily 

 until they pip. After that the machine must be kept 

 closed until the hatching is over. 



Feeding and Care of Ducklings. — After removal of the 

 egg shells the duckUngs are left in the machine until thor- 

 oughly dry. They are then ready to remove to a brooder, 

 which should be at a temperature of 90°. Any brooder 

 practical for chickens is good for ducklings, allowing' two 

 ducklings the same space as three chicks. 



Ducklings ought to have clean, sharp river sand and 

 fresh water before them. They should be fed five times a 

 day with bread crumbs mixed with the boiled infertile 

 eggs from the incubator, which are ground fine in a meat 

 chopper, with enough crumbs to make a dry food. Stale 

 bread is preferable, but it must be perfectly sweet, not 

 moldy or sour. 



After the fifth day a growing mash, made of six parts 

 bran, two parts corn meal, two of flour, five of cut greens, 

 ten per cent of beef scrap, sand, grit, and oyster shell, should 

 be fed. They are given all they will eat up clean. After 

 eight weeks of age they are gradually changed to a fattening 

 food, consisting of four parts of corn meal, two parts of low 

 grade flour, one part of bran, twelve per cent of beef scrap ; 

 to this should be added a little cut greens, sand, shell, and 

 grit to aid in digestion. Many feed good food, but fail to 

 provide proper grit to digest it. The cut greens may be 

 either lawn clippings, green clover, corn fodder, dwarf Essex 

 rape, or wheat. If ducklings have been carefully fed and 

 attended to they will average ten pounds or more to the 

 pair. At ten weeks they are in the best condition to kill. 



