BEGINNING WITH STOCK OR EGGS. 



27 



them have acceps to water. A single flock on a farm may lie given the run of a small fielil. 

 Where they must lie confined make the smaller yards square ratherthan of parallelogram form, 

 and malie them a^ lar^-e as your land will permit. A quarter of an acre of gtassy yard makes a. 

 nice yard for a flock of breeding ducks of the numbers we are discussing, but if you have the 

 room you may be able to give a considerably larger yard at very little extra expense for fencing. 



Beginning With Stock or Eggs. 



One of our most successful duck growers and most juilicious advisers of new poultrymen 

 says that for those who begin in the fall he thinks it better to buy breeding stock, but tlioe 

 who begin toward spring may find it more satisfactory to start with eggs. From one considera- 

 tion I would always advise the beginner to buy some breeding stock though not beginnini? until 

 late in the pprin<<. By handling only a few breeding ducks, and only for a part of the season, 

 he gets some knowledge of them and experience which is of value to him when his young ducl;< 

 come to their first breeding season. His chances of handling them properly and with satisfac- 

 tory results are very much better if he has had some experience along that line than if all his 

 knowledge of ducks is what he gained while growing them. It may not be advisable to liuy 

 breeding ducks enough at the prices which must be paid in the spring to hatch a large lot of 

 ducklings, liut I certainly think it will pay anyone not familiar with the nature and habits of 

 ducks to buy at least a trio of them, though also buying eg^s to hatch. 



What Kind of Stock. 



In liuying stock ducks btiy good ones. That is, ducks that are good for market purposes. 

 They should be of good size, for to be profitable ducklings must make pretty nearly five jiounds 

 on the average at ten weeks, and such ducklings cannot be produced from small ducks. W. 

 E. Curtiss & Co., who for years have bred Pekin ducks for all purposes very successfully gave 

 the following statement of their methods of mating in Pakm-1'oultry a few years ago: — 



" We select females of good fair size, — we like to have them weigh at maturity eight pounds 



Brooder House and Ram for Ducklings. 



