76 



THE GAME BREEDER 



as part of the daily ration, to ducks 

 young and old during the closed season 

 when wild ducks are not marketed and 

 the diet can be changed to acorns, grain, 

 vegetables, etc., a short time before the 

 ducks are to be shot or marketed. The 

 ducks as I have observed can be per- 

 mitted to fly about and obtain natural 

 foods. They may go a long distance but 

 will return if properly handled. 



Since it is now well known that ducks 

 permitted to fly about and obtain many 

 natural foods can be trained to return 

 home at a feeding time the best way to 

 save in the food bill undoubtedly is to 

 rear the birds unpinioned and to encour- 

 age them to find their food in the 

 marshes. Wild ducks respond quickly 

 to a whistle or horn when it is used re- 

 peatedly at feeding time to call them to 

 their meals and they can be induced to 

 visit a place where there is food by 

 sounding the dinner call there, provided, 

 of course, the place be within hearing of 

 the ducks. 



On a New Jersey preserve, which has 

 a canal running through it, the ducks 

 were trained to fly to dinner, when a 

 horn was sounded and the gamekeeper 

 told me that the canal boatmen, observing 

 the performance, procured a horn and 

 called the ducks over to the canal where 

 some were shot much to his annoyance. 



Since many thousands of wild ducks 

 are now reared for food and for sport 

 in places where there are comparatively 

 few natural foods and since the feeding 

 of grain at present must be almost or 

 entirely abandoned, it is important for 

 the wild duck breeders to learn that they 

 can use small potatoes and other garden 

 vegetables which are not marketable. 

 Often there are a little more sweet corn, 

 tomatoes, beets, cabbages, potatoes (in- 

 cluding the small ones not worth gather- 

 ing) and various other vegetables that 

 are needed for the house and all of these 

 can be fed to the wild ducks in order to 

 reduce the cost of rearing-. Wild ducks of 

 the common species, mallards and black 

 ducks are excellent food and the birds 

 always command good prices now that 

 the laws have been amended so as to 

 permit and encourage the industry of 



duck breeding. The license to breed wild 

 ducks costs nothing in Massachusetts. 

 In Indiana no license is required. New 

 York charges $5.00 for a license to breed 

 wild ducks and other game which is 

 $5.00 too much since no food producing 

 industry should be penalized to this ex- 

 tent. In some States the license costs 

 $25.00 per annum. In many States it is 

 $2.00. 



The wild ducks sell readily for $3.00 

 and $4.00 a pair for breeding purposes 

 and bring nearly as much when shot and 

 sold as food to the New York hotels and 

 clubs. The eggs sell for $20 and $25 

 per hundred and many thousands of eggs 

 are sold since many new commercial 

 breeders and sporting clubs always are 

 ready to purchase both ducks and eggs. 



Wild ducks undoubtedly are the 

 easiest game birds to rear. Often it is 

 stated that pheasants are as easy to rear 

 as poultry but gamekeepers and preserve 

 owners know that this is not true for 

 beginners at least; there is much to be 

 learned about pheasant breeding before 

 the breeder will be able to rear the young 

 birds successfully. Wild ducks, how- 

 ever, are very hardy and they are com- 

 paratively free from diseases ; thousands 

 of people with little experience have 

 reared them successfully. The ducks are 

 such big eaters that some have com- 

 plained that the food bills were dispro- 

 portionate to the profits but if wild ducks 

 be introduced on any farm or country 

 place where there is a little pond or other 

 waters they quickly can be reared in 

 large numbers and at small expense pro- 

 vided they be permitted to fly about and 

 find much of their food in marshes or 

 besides streams or ponds. 



It is wise to clip one wing of the ducks 

 at certain seasons. At the Game Breed- 

 ers Association the ducks' wings were 

 clipped just before the nesting season in 

 order to comoel them to lay their eggs 

 in a wire inclosure. This was made of 

 5 foot poultry netting inclosing a little 

 land about an artificial pond. If the 

 ducks be permitted to fly about during 

 the nesting season many nests will be 

 made at a distance, often outside of the 

 owners' premises and, of course, all of 



