200 THE COMPLETE POULTRY BOOK. 



charge of a flock of ducks might be given over to the little folks, and they would 

 take an infinite amount of pleasure in caring for the ducklings, collecting the 

 eggs, feeding the old ducks, and watching their antics in the water. And then 

 your little folks would be learning something all the time, and^ take my word 

 for it, there is nothing so good for children as to give them something to care for 

 — to have them feel a sense of responsibility. 



"About thfe 'best breed,' the Pekin, Eouen and Aylesbury are the three lead- 

 ing varieties of ducks, and experienced breeders rank them in the order named. 

 Some attempts have been made by breeders of the Kouens and Aylesburys to 

 run down the Pekins, claiming that the Eouens would at maturity outweigh 

 the Pekins, and that the Aylesburys were superior as table birds. I can say 

 nothing against the Rouens and Aylesburys. Both are fine, large ducks, pro- 

 lific layers, and breed well ; but I hnow that the Pekins, when pure bred, are 

 the best breed of ducks that we have in the United States. For early maturity, 

 laying quality, size, and as tabl6 fowls, they have no superior in this country. 

 When any one says that the average. Kouens will, at maturity, outweigh the 

 Pekins, he says what every breeder, who has fairly tried both breeds, knows to 

 be incorrect. W. H. Todd, of Vermillion, Ohio, once exhibited a pair of Bouens 

 that weighed nineteen and three quarter pounds, and at that time they were the, 

 largest pair of Eouens in the country, if not in the worW, but I have sold 

 dozens of pairs of Pekins that weighed twenty and twenty-two pounds a pair. 

 I once had a pair that weighed twenty pounds at eight months of age. 



" AH ducks are naturally inclined to lay around any where, but by proper 

 management this habit may be overcome and all the eggs saved. A pen or yard 

 should be made somewhere near the pond or stream, if not too far from-the 

 house, and the ducks driven or coaxed into the pen at night. As ducks always 

 lay at night, or very early in the morning, the eggs can be collected, early in the 

 morning, the ducks fed and turned out for the day. By feeding only at 

 night and morning, regularly, and always at the pen or yard, the ducks will 

 soon come regularly at sundown for their food, and can then be shut up for the 

 night. But don't ever give your ducks a hearty supper and then shut them up 

 all night without water; if you do you may find some dead ducks the next 

 morning. 



" Have a trough of water in the pen, or at the feeding place. For a small 

 flock a rail pen maybe constructed and covered with boards. Have one side 

 higher than the other, so that the board roof will shed rain. I have a good- 

 sized yard near the water, surrounded by a picket fence, and with a long, low 

 shed across the north side. Nests are placed along the back side of the shed, 

 and the floor is well-covered with dry gravel and earth, which keeps it free from 

 filth. This spring I intend to extend the fence, so as to inclose a portion of the 

 stream, and put in water-gates, so that there will be plenty of water in the yard 

 at all times. Of course the ducks are only confined in the yard at night, but I 

 find that in winter and during the cold rains of early spring and late fall, they 

 spend a good deal of the time under the shed. 



"As ducks frequently lay for two or three months before they take a notion 

 to rear a family, it is necessary, fespecially when one wishes to raise a large num- 

 ber of them, to set some of the first-laid eggs under hens. The same directtona 



