RANKIN'S DUCK BOOK 

 First-Class Breeding Stock 



The above shows the necessity of first-class breeding 

 stock to start with. I do not mean fancy stock at all, as 

 many of the points of excellence claimed by the American 

 Standard militate directly against the market value of the 

 birds. A few years ago several men came to buy Pekin ducks 

 for breeding stock. On looking at the birds and getting the 

 price, one man said: "Those are the best birds I ever saw. 

 I want thirty of the best birds you have." Another said: 

 "They are fine birds, but I cannot afford to pay two dollars 

 for a duck; have you no cheaper birds?" "Yes, I have some 

 later birds — culls from which the rest have been selected. 

 They are not as large as these. My late birds never attain 

 the size of the earlier-hatched ones and they will not lay 

 quite as early. You can have your choice of these at one dol- 

 lar each, which is about their market value." 



He took those birds, and I consider when he made that 

 choice that he threw away more than $100 of his first season's 

 work alone, for, with a fair share of success he might easily 

 expect to raise 100 young birds from each of his breeding 

 ducks, and as the birds he chose were at least one-third 

 lighter than those he rejected, their progeny would not be 

 as heavy at a marketable age by at least one pound per bird. 

 The excess in cost to him, had he bought the better birds, 

 would have been one cent on each of the young birds he 

 raised. He lost, on making the choice he did, more than 

 twenty cents on each bird, and this is not all ; those birds will 

 be small for generations to come. He never can get them up 

 to the standard of the others. They will go upon the market 

 as small birds, and as such, command at least two cents per 

 pound less than the larger ones ; in fact, his losses in this 

 transaction will represent a large share of the profits. 



How to Begin . , . 



I will now suppose that the breeder has secured his 

 stock, erected his building, and is ready for business. The 

 next thing is to feed them well, keep them warm and com- 

 fortable, giving them as great a variety ; of green food as is 

 obtainable during the winter months, in order to induce 

 winter laying and insure fertility of the': eggs. This matter 

 requires close attention, because the .profits in one week of 

 the early market will always equal fthe. profits in four or 

 five of the late. The proportion of .(the sexes in the early 

 spring should be about one drake to five or six ducksi . 



One point here I wish to emphasize, particularly and 

 that is the selection of drakes. The :.dnakes. should/ be at 



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