DUCK DOLLARS 57 
shut the doors and windows. The ducklings would not know enough 
to go into the house away from the storm. They would go to meet the 
storm, as far from the house as they could get, at the end of the run. 
The rain would not drive them in. The ducklings would stand up as 
straight as they could so as not to get their backs very wet, but they 
would not know enough to go into the house. The rain would beat down 
upon them and exhaust them, and before long the little creatures would 
fall down exhausted and this exposure might kill them. Remember we are 
talking now about the young ducklings. The old duck- 
lings know enough to go in out of the rain. When the Beep Tem 
storm breaks, they will scoot for the house. The duck- ~*Y 
lings eight, nine, ten and eleven weeks of age, and older, will stand rain 
in our latitude. 
May is the worst month in New England to watch for weather in 
managing young ducklings. 
The cold house is the home of the ducklings from five weeks until 
they are eight weeks old, when they are ready for fattening. The 
object of the cold house is simply to keep them out of the rain and 
snow. In the summer-time, or in southern latitudes, an orchard which 
has shade trees will do for ducklings when five weeks old, except on days 
when big storms come up. On those days the young ducklings must 
be housed. 
Where only forty or fifty pailfuls of food are used daily, the best way 
to get it to the different houses and yards is by use of a wheelbarrow. 
The No. 7 size wheelbarrow will take ten or twelve pails. 
If water must be conveyed, milk-cans (previously men- 
tioned) are best to use, as the water will not spill in 
carrying them in the wheelbarrow. If, however, several hundred pailfuls 
of food are used daily, a large, four-wheeled truck may be used to advan- 
tage, provided the land is level enough to allow the men to draw it, 
otherwise it is best to use a horse and wagon. 
Distributing 
the Food 
Fattening 
The fattening starts when the ducklings are eight weeks old. They 
are driven from the cold house at this age into outdoor (or fattening) 
sheds. These are sheds which are simply a roof on ; 
: : : Fattening 
posts, the sides being open. The roof should be tight, Shed 
but it is not necessary to make it absolutely tight by ees 
shingling or paper. All that is necessary is to nail battens over the 
cracks between the boards which form the roof. The fattening sheds 
are used from the end of April to November Ist, in our latitude. In 
southern latitudes their use could begin earlier. 
In the fattening sheds, feed three times a day, morning, noon and 
night—6 a.m.,12m., and 6 p.m. Feed a mixture of corn-meal, low-grade 
flour, beef scraps, oyster-shells and grit, and green stuff when you have 
it. Mix the food in these proportions: Three parts of corn-meal, one 
part of low-grade flour, three-quarters of a part of beef scraps with about 
three per cent. of oyster-shells and grit mixed equally, then one part of 
