RANKIN'S DUCK BOOK 



twenty-five to thirty eggs, then show a desire to incubate, trier* 

 will recuperate and set a second time, perhaps giving a total ot 

 thirty-five or forty eggs. Now, we completely reversed nature 

 in this respect. By judicious feeding, good care, warm quar- 

 ters, and carefully breeding, we induced the bird to produce her 

 eggs in winter instead of summer, and, not only that, we com- 

 pelled her to lay three or four times as many of them ; and 

 when the poor bird showed a desire to incubate and recuperate 

 her exhausted frame, we induced a change of mind, as soon 

 as possible, and set her at it again. 



As a natural consequence, as the warm season advances- 

 many of the birds are off duty, as it were, and the eggs not 

 only decrease in numbers but in size as well, and during the 

 extreme heat of the summer, the later part of July and August 

 especially, the eggs show a decided want of vitality. I never 

 expected at this season, to realize more than one duckling from 

 two eggs. The same machine full of eggs that would give a 

 hatch of 350 ducklings in the early spring, at this season will 

 not give more than 175 to 200. The eggs appear to be as well 

 fertilized during the first two or three days as in the early 

 spring but evidently there is not vitality enough to carry them 

 through, as the germs soon begin to die, and before the hatch 

 is out you have taken nearly one-half of the eggs away as- 

 worthless. Nor is this all. 



There is always a far greater mortality among the later 

 hatched birds than in those got out earlier. They are more un- 

 even in appearance, and never attain the size of those hatched 

 earlier in the season,- — convincing evidence that the old birds- 

 have transmitted their enfeebled, debilitated constitutions 

 through the egg to the young ones. The natural laws of cause 

 and effect are plainly represented here. I tried repeatedly to 

 overcome this difficulty by changing the feed and quarters of 

 the old birds, dividing their numbers, but without effect. This 

 shows the absolute necessity of selecting large, vigorous breed- 

 ing stock. This principle applies equally to both land and 

 water fowl. 



The Absolute Necessity of Good Breeding Stock. 



Debilitated, degenerate stock will not produce healthy and 

 vigorous young. This is a prime cause of failure with many 

 of our poultry breeders. They say that they cannot afford to 

 breed from their early-hatched stock. They are worth too* 

 much in the market, so they are sent to the shambles, and their 

 owners breed from the later-hatched, inferior birds. A few 

 years' practice of this kind soon degenerates the stock so that 

 you will hardly recognize the original in it, and both birds and 



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