MANAGEMENT OF DUCKS. 201 



given for preparing nests and setting liens on tlieir own eggs must be attended 

 to when setting tliem on ducks' eggs. Do not crowd the nest; five ducks' eggs 

 are enough for a small hen, and seven or eight for a Brahma or Cochin. Unless 

 the eggs are set on the ground, particular attention must be paid to the sprink- 

 ling with tepid water during the last two weeks of incubation. Sprinkle slightly 

 every day while the hen is off for food. Neglect this, and your chances for 

 ducklings will be greatly lessened. 



"Ducks' eggs usually hatch well. With fresh eggs that have not been chilled, 

 and have been carefully handled, you may count on ducklings at the rate of 

 ninety for every one hundred eggs set. I don't think it pays to hatch ducklings 

 very early in the season, unless one wisbes to raise some extra large birds for 

 exhibition. Ducklings grow rapidly, and if hatched in April and May will grow 

 to a good size for the winter market. 



"The proper time for picking ducks maybe ascertained by catching two or 

 three out of your flock and pulling out a few feathers here and there ; if they 

 pull hard and the quills are filled with bloody fluid the feathers are not ' ripe,' 

 and most be left a while longer ; but if they come out easily, and the quills are 

 clear, the feathei's are called ripe, and the birds should be picked at once, or 

 they will lose the greater part of them. To pick a duck before the feathers are 

 ftdly ripe is to injure the bird very much. You will find a bunch of long, rather 

 eoarse feathers under each wing ; do not pluck them, they support the wings. 

 When picking take but few feathers at a time between the thumb and forefinger, 

 and give a short, quick jerktdownward. 



"With conparatively little practice you will get the ' knack' of picking easily 

 and rapidly. Before commencing, tie the duck's legs together— not with a 

 cord that may cut into the flesh and lame the bird, but with a tolerably wide 

 strip of cloth — and if the dijcks are inclined to pinch with their bUls, draw an 

 old cotton stocking over their heads ; but with the exceptions of now and then a 

 vicious old drake, our Pekins are as tame and peaceable as kittens, so we never 

 bother the ducks nor ourselves with 'night caps.' Handle laying ducks care- 

 fully, and sitting ducks and those you intend to set soon should not be picked. 

 When handling young ducks do not lift or carry them by the legs with the head 

 hanging downward ; their bodies are heavy, their bones tender and easily broken, 

 and their joints may be dislocated. In hot weather a great deal of the down may 

 be taken from the drakes, but the down should never be taken in cold weather. 

 Ducks can usually be picked from four to six times a year." 



For the Pekin and Cayuga ducks water to swim in is by no means a necessity ; 

 indeed some breeders claim that they do better without it. The young duck- 

 lings enjoy it very mnch, however, and they may easily be satisfied by sinking a 

 shallow box in the ground near the bam-yard pump. 



The food of the ducklings may be very much the same as for young chickens. 

 They are more easily raised than chickens, being hardier, and free from that 

 scourge of chiekenhood — the gapes. When very young, however, they should 

 not be exposed to heavy rain-storms. 



Ducks are voracious eaters, and to handle them profitably the surplus should 

 be marketed as soon as fit, keeping through the fall and winter only those neo* 

 essary for breeding atook. 



