REQUIREMENTS TO BE SOUGHT 



525 



ing labor, and each department — the incubator cellar, brooder 

 house, breeding pens, fattening pens, picking room and feed 

 house — ^located where they are the most convenient and the 

 most accessible. The task of feeding and watering ducks alone 

 is no small one, and on large plants this factor receives very 

 careful consideration. Artificial incubation and brooding, com- 



Fig. 323. — Rouen ducks. 



bined with improved machinery for handling and mixing the 

 feeds, are largely responsible for the growth of the duck industry. 

 Inspire Confidence. — One of the essentials in breeding ducks is 

 a quiet, even-tempered caretaker — the man or woman who will 

 inspire confidence in the flocks and become, in a sense, a com- 

 panion to them. Ducks are high-strung, excitable birds, skep- 

 tical toward strangers, and yet responsive to good treatment and 

 tegular attention. Furthermore, they are confirmed creatures 

 of habit, and any serious change in their diet or management is 



