236 POULTRY CULTURE 



fattening were accelerated, and so results of the two rations for the full period 

 were equalized. 



31. For stock ducks {in autumn and early winter). About equal parts of 

 corn meal, wheat bran, and boiled vegetables, with 10 per cent of beef scrap, 

 fed morning and evening ; at noon a little cracked corn, wheat, or oats. After 

 the birds begin laying, increase the proportions of meal and scrap and add low- 

 grade flour, making mash about as follows : meal, I part ; bran, i part ; low- 

 grade flour, I part ; vegetables, i part, with from 12 to 15 per cent beef scrap. 



This is practically a standard ration until the ducks are laying, then a very 

 heavy ration to keep up condition under the drain of laying. Ducks lay almost 

 daily from about January first until about midsummer. 



32. VJ-'eber Brothers'' rations. For the first three weeks, corn meal, i part; 

 bran, i part ; low-grade flour, i part ; dry bread (ground) and rolled oats, i part ; 

 add 5 per cent of beef scrap, a litde grit, and a little cut clover or alfalfa or other 

 cut green rye. Mix this dry, then moisten with water and mix to a doughy con- 

 sistency. Feed five times a day. Water at each feeding. From the third to the 

 eighth week the above ration is modified to corn meal, I part ; bran, i part ; 

 low-grade flour, ^ part ; green stuff, ^ part ; beef scrap, i per cent ; fed at first 

 four times, then three times, a day. From the eighth to the eleventh week, duck- 

 lings for market are fattened on corn meal, 3 parts ; low-grade flour, i part ; 

 beef scrap, | part ; about 3 per cent of oyster shells and grit, with occasionally 

 a little green stuff. Those saved for breeders are fed corn meal, 3 parts ; bran, 

 3 parts ; low-grade flour, 2 parts ; beef scrap, i part ; (root) vegetables, i part ; 

 green stuff, i part, with about i per cent of grit, and a little salt ; about once a 

 week I per cent of ground charcoal is added. The mash is fed morning and 

 evening, about 4 quarts to every 10 large ducks, and when ducks are laying 

 heavily, they are given at noon about i pint cracked corn to every 10 ducks. 



The ration as used for the youngest ducks contains a greater variety of 

 ingredients, because these growers could get only limited quantities of stale 

 bread and of rolled oats at prices which made them economical foods, and it 

 was judged best to use these for the youngest ducklings. The regular use of 

 grit and shell was necessary with the ration as fed after the eighth week, 

 because of the small proportion of bran. Whether it is better to omit bran and 

 use grit and shell is doubtful. The period in which this ration was used is not 

 long enough to fully develop results of feeding it. The ration fed to stock 

 birds is heavier than the standard rations given. 



While it is customary to feed young ducks five or six times a day for the 

 first few weeks, it is not certain that there is any advantage in feeding more 

 than three times, except when the ducklings get no feed but what is given. 

 Ducklings on grass in spring and summer will come on as fast on three meals 

 of mash as on five, and will be stronger. For rapid forcing, young ducks may 

 be fed meat much more heavily than in any of these rations. They will stand 

 for a while a ration nearly one third beef scrap. Whether that is a profitable 

 ration has not been fully demonstrated. In feeding small flocks of ducks (up to 

 two or three hundred) the author has not found it necessary to give grit 



