94 Money in Broilers and Squabs. 



For birds that dress from 12 to 14 lbs. there is some family- 

 trade, yet the bulk of the trade does not care for them. 



Duck egg shells are very thick; therefore, are more slowly af- 

 fected by heat or cold. They retain the heat even better than hen's 

 eggs, and it consequently is more difficult to cool them. 



To make market ducks pay they must be fed largely on cheap,, 

 bulky food like Chopped green corn, cut grass and clover, chopped 

 vegetables mixed with grain, and the like, also wheat bran and meat 

 scraps. 



In selecting stock for breeding, size of frame, length of body 

 and general activity should be sought for. Without size of body 

 we cannot expect to obtain large ducklings, and the larger they are 

 the better prices* they will command. 



As the development of the air cell is the all important part in 

 artificial hatching, and as air increases the air cell and moisture re- 

 tards it, duck's eggs require much more air than hen's eggs, when 

 the moisture and other conditions are equal. 



E. O. Roessle says early ducklings are quite as much in de- 

 mand as early broilers, the prices are quite as good, and the expense 

 of raising decidedly less. 



The Country Gentleman says there are many breeders now 

 marketing over 20,000 green ducklings annually, and even at an 

 average of a dollar — it is a nice, tidy business, with plenty of profit 

 at these figures. 



The common way of fattening ducks would be to cut ofif the 

 bran at eight weeks, says George H. Pollard, in American Agricul- 

 turist. He does not change the food from the time he begins to 

 give them equal parts of bran and meal right up to the kilHng time, 

 and so does not have the bother of getting the • separate food* 

 mixed. Green food is not given at all to the young ducks, unless 

 they are intended for breeders, and then they are given only a 

 moderate amount of green food. Quicker growth is obtained with 

 beef scraps than with green food. 



There is quite a demand for live ducks in all large cities, says 

 the American Agriculturist. The Jewish population will not buy 

 dead fowls of any kind. It is a part of their religion that the poul- 

 try should be killed by a rabbi. This makes a good market for 

 many birds that would otherwise be worthless. The Chinese also 

 buy quite a good many and pay very good prices. They perhaps 

 consume quite as man}' as the Jewish trade. The Chinese and 

 Jewish trade do not seem to be particular about quality, and a good 

 many people ship to them the lame, halt and blind, and in that way 

 are enabled to get rid of ducks that they otherwise could not dis- 

 pose of. 



A cold and wet duckling is apt to go into spasms. 



Leg weakness in ducklings is caused by damp quarters at night. 



Cold and wet, overfeeding and lice, are the troubles of duck- 

 lings. 



In feeding ducks cabbage, Waldo F. Brown says he holds the 

 plant in his left hand, head downward, and slashes it in slices with 



