32 LE550N5 IN POULTRY KEEPING — SECOND SERIES 



follow that method as closely as he can, including the accessories perhaps not insisted upon in 

 other rations. The different proportions of different articles used by different experts, prac- 

 tically balance each other, as one who is skilled in feeding can see. 



If only a few ducks are kept on a plant on which fowls also are grown it is not necessary to 

 make a special mixture for the ducks. The mash made for the hens will answer by the addition 

 of a little sand or grit, when required, to the portion needed for the ducks. When the duck- 

 lings are fed this way, extra green food should be provided. 



Importance of Water. 



Even more than the old ducklings, the little ducks require water to wash down their food. 

 Their drinking vessel should be always supplied. They will drink even at night. For a small 

 brood of ducks with a lien an open drinking pan or saucer may be used, but for larger lots 

 drinking fountains into which the ducklings cannot get should lie used, for with their pushing 

 and crowding at feeding times a brooderful of ducklings having access to an open drinking vessel 

 get themselves and each other very wet, and sometimes the wet ducklings are chilled or trodden 

 down l)y the stionger ones. Milk may be used for mixing the food, but should not be given to 

 drink, because the ducks will become smeared with the mijk, which drying on them jiuts them 

 in a most miserable condition. 



Cleanliness. 



It is important that all feeding and drinking vessels should be kept clean. The duckling's 

 voracious habit of, eating makes it shovel down filth with its food if there is filth present, and 

 in a very short time the effects of sour and foul food and drink become apparent. The floors of 

 the pens should lie littered with hay or planer shavings, and as these become wet and soiled 

 they should be removed and fresh litter put in. The yards, when small, should be swept or 

 Bcrajied, !-ay once a week, and even if a yard is large enough to make cleaning of the entire 

 space unnecessary as often as this, the parts of it most frequented by the ducks will need fre- 

 quent cleanings. 



Ducklings Must Be Kept Quiet. 



Ducks are timid fowls, and the Pekin duck is probably the most timid of domestic ducks. 

 Any annoyance or disturbance of the growing ducklings (or of the breeding stock) is therefore 

 to be avoided. Visitors should be kept from the duck quarters as much as possible, and dogs 

 01- other animals that would frighten the ducks must be kept off the premises^ Sometimes 

 ducks become panic stricken at night and ru>h back and forth in the house or yard, wearing 

 themselves out, losing a great deal of weight, and checking growth. To keep them quiet 

 breeders who have trouble with them in this way hang large lanterns in the duck houses. 



Marketing Ducks. 



The well grown and well fed duckling should be ready for market at ten weeks of age. Earlv 

 in the season some growers market ducklings at nine weeks to get the extreme high prices for 

 the first ducks; liut as soon as the ducks begin to go to market in fair supply it is better to hold 

 them until at their best. For the bulk of the lot this should be at ten weeks. Some of the 

 inferior ones will not lie ready for a week or two more. All should lie sold by twelve weeks 

 tor after that the dufkling begins to grow its adult plumage, loses its "baby fat," and loses 

 weight, and will not be fit to kill until eigliteen to twenty weeks old. At that age the dnck is 

 meatier and better eatinL', and is far more satisfactory for tlie home table, but will not bring as 

 much in the market as the green rluck, and will have cost nearly twice as much. 



The large duck crowers, from the time their first ducks are ready to dress until the close of 

 the season, have pickers consiantiv at work. Their product goes almost wholly to wholesale 

 dealers and commission houses. The grower who has only a few hundred ducks, and lias a 

 trade In dressed poultry, should have no trouble in disposing of that number of ducks at good 

 prices to his trade. 



