MANAGEMENT OF THE BREEDING STOCK 



agement and feed given the ducks. The laying be- 

 gins to a small extent about December 1 and grad- 

 ually increases until the ducks are laying freely in 

 February. As the hot weather of summer begins 

 to come on the laying drops off until about July 



1 and after this not enough eggs are produced as a 

 rule to pay to hold the breeding ducks longer. Often 

 many ducks will stop laying considerably before 

 this, especially those which have started laying 

 early and it may not pay to keep such pens later 

 than May. Laying takes place early in the morning 

 and practically all the eggs are laid soon after day- 

 light. It is for this reason that the ducks are usually 

 shut up at night so that all the eggs laid will be se- 

 cured as some of them would otherwise be lost by 

 their being laid around in the yard or in the water. 

 In the spring the ducks can be let out about 6 a. m., 

 as the laying will be pretty well over by that time, 

 but in winter they must be kept shut up later in or- 

 der to secure all the eggs. After the ducks start 

 laying in the spring they are very regular and con- 

 tinuous layers and will miss fewer days than most 

 hens. 



After the breeding ducks are first put in the 

 breeding pens and shut in the houses at night it is 

 common practice to use electric lights for the first 



2 or 3 weeks in order to keep them from stamped- 

 ing as ducks in strange surroundings are quite nerv- 

 ous and are quite likely to stampede and to run 

 over one another thus causing cripples. Electric 



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