202 THE BEGINNER IN POULTRY 



His birds exceeded all his expectations as producers, and, 

 naturally, he increased his numbers. He was just a 

 plain farmer, working for market eggs, but his success 

 outdistanced anything else of which I ever heard. In- 

 creasing up to 115 stock ducks, he reported having 

 gathered, daily, for more than a month in succession, an 

 average of 112 eggs. This was a marvelous product, 

 even in the best month of spring. Just at this time, his 

 evil genius suggested that he get some outside, new 

 blood. Not knowing of the two types, he acquired some 

 males which changed his flock to green-egg producers, 

 and reduced the yield very greatly. Thoroughly dis- 

 gusted, he tried a Pekin cross, which was also disappoint- 

 ing in the extreme. The last I heard from him was that 

 he had just discovered the reason for his failures, and was 

 on the warpath for some pure -bred, white-egg Runners, 

 once more. 



Increase of stock is, in itself, a very healthful sign. 

 But, too rapid increase, or ignorant increase is often 

 fatal. It is here that records help again. The cause of 

 the fatalities connected with increase of stock nearly al- 

 ways lies in the fact that the handler does not manage as 

 he did at the first. Of course, large numbers are neces- 

 sarily managed somewhat differently from small lots, as 

 to detail work, \mX principles cannot change, and whenever 

 the handling of the increase bumps up against a principle 

 of working that made for the worker his earlier successes, 

 he is in line for failure. For instance, large flocks foul 

 the soil incredibly soon ; large flocks of uneven birds 

 crowd and trample all but the fighting percentage ; 

 large flocks deplete the bank account most painfully in 

 the off season. At this time, it is of great value to have 



