RANKIN'S DUCK BOOK 



"were none on the place that pleased us so well. Its many ad-, 

 vantages over a single building must be evident to all. The 

 increased facility for doing the work, as well as its economy 

 in housing many more birds for the money invested, were 

 not the least. 



When planning this building, we had some misgiving 

 about running it east and west as the lay of the land required, 

 thinking that the exposure on the north side during the in- 

 clement weather of the early spring, would confine the young 

 birds to the building and they would suffer for want of exer- 

 cise, but we were agreeably disappointed as we found that 

 they thrived equally as well, if not better, on the north side 

 as on the south, proving what I have always known in duck 

 culture, that the extreme heat of summer is more debilitating 

 to young birds than the cold winter, and that early hatched 

 birds will always be of larger size and more robust physique 

 than late ones. 



That is why I always made it a point to select my early 

 hatched birds for breeding purposes. I have never known any 

 too good for that. I insert cuts of this double building, with 

 the older ducklings on the north side and the younger ones on 

 the south. Were I to build another, should duplicate it in 

 every respect. 



Regulation of Heat in Brooders 



Now, as the birds grow larger, they naturally need less 

 heat, and we must contrive to fix it so they do not get so 

 much. As stated before, no fringe is used beyond the first 

 four brooders, — the space in front being left open; and not 

 only that, but we gradually raise the back of the cover next 

 the walk until it opens an inch or more the entire length of 

 the pen. Those ducklings, before they reach the other end of 

 this brooding-house, ought to weigh (if well cared for) over 

 a pound each. 



The brooder will not then be large enough to hold them 

 neither do they require the heat, in fact, it would be injurious 

 at this age; so before the birds reach the extreme end of the 

 building shut them off from the brooders entirely by placing 

 a board in front of the opening. The young birds will always 

 thrive better out of doors than in; and when two weeks old 

 always let them out during the sunny days of April, by open- 

 ing the slides in front. 



At this stage of growth when the birds are from two to 

 four weeks old, especially with the early hatches when con- 

 fined as they usually are during the inclement weather in win- 



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