Money in Broilers and Squabs. 99 



Prof. Cushman, in American Agriculturist, gives these facts 

 concerning James Rankin's ranch: 



The laying ducks were quartered in double-pitched-roof 

 houses about 16 feet wide and of different lengths. One is 200 feet 

 long and others 120, 70 and 60 feet. Three are 30 'feet iii length and 

 several 11 feet square. They are made of cheap hemlock lumber 

 and covered with standard roofing. The material for one building 

 120 by 16 feet cost about $100. The interior of this house is divided 

 into pens 12 by 18 feet, with an aisle along the back wide enough 

 for the passage of an attendant with a wheelbarrow. There are 

 three or four sliding half windows in the front of each pen. The 

 indoor partitions are about two feet high. The pens are bedded 

 with meadow hay, and 30 ducks and 6 drakes are quartered in each. 

 A yard 100 feet long and as wide as the pens, made of 30 inch net- 

 ting, is connected with each. The ducks have access to these both 

 day and night in the summer and during the day, after they have 

 laid, in winter. 



AVhen feeding them in winter, the food troughs are placed in 

 the pens near the walk, so as to be reached from the walk, also a 

 box of coarse sand and of crushed oyster shells. Prepared grit is 

 mixed with all soft food. Low nests are arranged along the aisles 

 and the eggs are collected from the walk. These are well bedded 

 with hay, and 90 per cent, of the eggs are clean enough to be used 

 without being washed, an important item. , 



The laying ducks are removed from their winter quarters about 

 August I, and the yards are sown with rye, to purify the land and 

 to furnish green feed. The birds are pastured on green sward during 

 the summer. They are removed to a fresh place frequently and 

 these plots are readily distinguished the next season by the dark 

 green color and rank growth of the grass which covers them. 

 Young ducks intended for breeders are also pastured out in this 

 way and both are fed lightly through the summer. Their food is 

 composed largely of bran, with but a very slight proportion of corn 

 meal and mixed into a soft mess, and is given morning and evening. 

 They are fed lightly, because they should forage. 



When housed, about November 15, Mr. Rankin gives them 

 twice a day a soft food made of equal parts corn meal, wheat bran 

 and Quaker oat feed, and 12 or 15 per cent beef scraps. To this is 

 added one-fourth part cooked vegetables, like small potatoes, tur- 

 nips, etc. They are also given all the green rye and refuse cabbage 

 they will eat. A little whole corn is given them at noon but no more 

 food at one time than they can eat up clean. He finds that under 

 such management they lay in about three weeks after being housed. 

 (A young duck can easily be made to lay at five months, old, if de- 

 sired ) At first the fertility of the eggs is low, but soon becomes 

 high The average yield of a flock, counting ducks and drakes, will 

 be over 100 eggs per head per year, a high average for one duck 

 being 150 eggs in one season. 



