18 DUCK DOLLARS 
taking them all the time, as they do chickens. Prices for ducklings are 
highest in the East in April and May. It is not necessary to get these 
high prices all the year to make the business a success. The Webers 
have taken the markets as they have come every month of the year, 
knowing all the while they were making a good profit, even when prices 
were at times one-half to one-third lower than at others. 
The Webers have found by experience the cost of raising ducklings 
(feed and labor, including expert pickers making from $20 to $30 a 
week) to be from six to ten cents a pound, depending on the fluctuating 
prices of grain. Others say the same, including the government reports 
from experimenters. 
It costs, therefore, from thirty to sixty cents to get the duckling up 
to the market and into the market. The selling price is fifty cents more 
than this. For many years after learning the business by hard knocks, 
they have figured confidently on making half-a-dollar profit on every 
duckling,—that is what actually happens. 
Ducks have no lice or other vermin. They are not bothered by 
hawks. They have no diseases. Hawks are an ever- 
Ducks Have present pest in many parts of our country. They will 
Ne Lice not touch the youngest duckling. By no disease, we 
do not wish to give the impression that ducks resist all ill-treatment. 
Fed improperly they will have diarrhea. Kept in the sun constantly 
when little and given no shade they will be sunstruck. Allowed to 
become crowded and panic-stricken, they will get lame and otherwise 
injured. Starved, they will die like any animal. But these matters 
are absolutely under the control of the breeder, with very simple and 
sure arrangements. There will be no losses from what is commonly 
known as disease. No medicine or pills or drugs of any kind are of 
any use in the duck business. 
The buildings necessary for the duck breeder vary with the climate. 
A good way to start is to put your incubator in the cellar of your house, 
or in a room, and your ducks in one small building, and enlarge as you 
get ahead. 
The beautiful white feathers picked from the ducklings before mar- 
keting are worth good money, forty-five to fifty cents a pound. Every 
twelve ducks will give a pound. Generally this revenue will pay for a 
good part of the picking. The demand for these beautiful white feathers 
is active and eager. A buyer came from New Jersey a few months ago 
and offered to contract for the entire output of the Webers for 1912. 
They are now shipping the feathers to buyers in four different cities. 
The feathers are put up in bales weighing about 100 pounds, and are 
shipped by freight. 
The following food is given: 
Rolled oats. Beef scraps. 
What Bread-crumbs. Green stuff. 
They Eat Bran. Vegetables. 
Corn-meal., Grit. 
Flour (low grade). Ground oyster-shells. 
The rolled oats cost the Webers $3.25 to $5 a barrel (180 pounds). 
