THE GAME BREEDER 



177 



BREEDING WILD DUCKS AND WILD GEESE. 



By E. D. PlCKELL. 



I have raised wild game and water 

 fowl for over thirty years just for my 

 own pleasure. I am obliged to devote 

 the greater part of my time to other 

 work but every moment that can be 

 spared from my duties I devote to my 

 birds. No other kind of work appeals 

 to me so strongly as going out among my 

 ducks, geese and other birds and attend- 

 ing to their wants. 



I have only raised a few black ducks ; 

 these were for the most part tame birds, 

 that is to say, birds bred in captivity so 

 long that they were more like mallards 

 than the usual black duck of to-day, 

 often called the black mallard. I cleaned 

 up on them last year and am not breed- 

 ing them now but I shall get some good 

 specimens this year. The birds are 

 reared quite successfully but they do not 

 lay quite so many eggs as the mallards 

 and they are more timid, usually, than 

 mallards. 



I have had splendid success with the 

 pin-tailed ducks, even more than with the 

 mallards. This, no doubt, is because I 

 like the pintails better than the mallards. 

 I have them tamer than any mallards I 

 have ever raised. My birds will come 

 when I call them and eat from my hands. 

 When birds are as tame as this, thev 

 will lay readily if given a chance; by 

 this I mean they must be put on a marsh 

 or near a small lake where reeds and 

 grasses protect them from their enemies. 

 The fence should be placed well back 

 from the water in order that the ducks 

 can get away from the water and o" 

 high land. I seldom, if ever, find a pin- 

 tail, teal or mallard nest near the water. 

 Both the pintail and the teal must be 

 permitted to think they are free to nest 

 where they please before you will have 

 any success with them. This is the true 

 secret of success. 

 •Give the birds plenty of natural covers 

 for concealment and keep them quiet 

 and undisturbed. Never allow visitors 

 near your breeding birds. I have had 

 blue-winged teal set so closely on their 



nests that they allowed one to pick them 

 up without causing them to cease sitting. 

 I am careful, however, not to disturb 

 them until they have laid their full nest 

 of eggs which usually is about fourteen. 



I carefully remove the first clutch of 

 eggs, placing them under a small hen or 

 bantam, already broody and prepared to 

 receive the eggs. Nine times out of ten 

 the mother teal will build another nest 

 after about three weeks and she then 

 lays from nine to eleven eggs. The teal 

 are allowed to hatch the last laid eggs 

 and to rear the young birds until they 

 are full feathered on the breast. At this 

 time I take the ducklings from the 

 mother duck and place them with those 

 I have reared by hand, allowing all of 

 them the full run of the slough ;_ this is 

 quite necessary in order to raise the 

 young birds taken from the duck. If 

 shut up in yards they will not be con- 

 tented and most of them will die. 



I commence feeding those hatched un- 

 der hens when they are twenty-four 

 hours old. I feed very little, at first, of 

 Spratt's duck food. I have also used 

 Evan's food with good success. These 

 foods with what insects they find while 

 following the mother hen is all I ever 

 give them until they are fully six weeks 

 old. I then begin feeding coarser foods, 

 such as corn meal and small chick food 

 with plenty of grit. They are allowed 

 free access to water at all times. 



We observe them early every morning, 

 long before other fowls are abroad, skip- 

 ping about in the grass, catching the 

 early bugs which have ventured forth. 

 By eight o'clock they are back ready for 

 breakfast with enough insects eaten to 

 balance perfectly with their duck meal 

 breakfast. 



Pintailed ducks delight to nest in hay- 

 stacks or old straw piles. A mallard 

 always will be found on top of the stack 

 if she can get there ; the pintails will be 

 observed nesting about half way up. 



I always provide hay-piles for my 

 geese. These are distributed throughout 



