5° 



POULTRY CULTURE 



Fig. 46. Feeding young ducks from 



track over pens at Hallock duck 



farm No. i 



two principal reasons for this. In the first place ducks are not as 



sensitive to the effects of filth in their food or on the land that they 



occupy as are fowls. In the second 

 place they are less disposed to 

 quarrel among themselves than 

 fowls, turkeys, and geese. There 

 are many plants in the eastern 

 states growing from 5000 to 

 10,000 or 12,000 ducks a year, 

 a number growing up to 20,000, 

 and some with an annual pro- 

 duction of over 50,000. One 

 man on Long Island operates 

 two farms, the combined annual 



output of which is about 75,000 to 80,000. Duck growing as a 



specialty is the production of "green" ducks, — that is, young 



ducks killed at about ten weeks 



of age, when they should weigh, 



dressed, five to six pounds each. 



Much of the weight at this 



stage is soft fat, which cooks 



away, but the epicures in the 



cities will pay as much for the 



duck at this age as later, when 



a greater proportion of the 



weight is meat, and the profit 



in ducks for market is in the 



" green " duck.^ 



This line of duck growing 



is said to have been conducted 



on a relatively large scale on 



Long Island since before 1 860. 



The breed of ducks used prior 



to the introduction of the Pekin 



duck was the White Muscovy. 



Until about 1891 or 1892 the ducklings were hatched with hens, 



and the largest growers raised only a few thousand. Then artificial 

 ' The marketmen say, "" The green duck is a gold brick." 



Fig. 47. Track through feed room at 

 Hallock duck farm No. i 



