54 7 AMERICAN HOMES AND 
tained during the process of incuba- 
tion, being slightly higher at the last 
stage of hatching than during the 
first few days. 
The brooder houses are divided 
into sections, each one of which 
holds between 25 and 200 ducks, 
according to their size. Hot water 
pipes run the entire length of the 
building, being raised a few inches 
from the ground and covered by 
boards to radiate the heat below. 
During the night the ducks roost 
beneath them, where the temperature 
of the air is considerably higher than 
outside. 
Feed in the form of a mixture of 
corn meal, bran, wheat middlings, 
and meat scrap is fed, and while as large a quantity as will 
be eaten is furnished, none is allowed to remain in the pens. 
Fish, when obtainable, is introduced into the feed, and 
greatly accelerates the growth of the stock. Owing to its 
Shore front of a duck ranch 
tendency to impart a strong flavor to the flesh, it is with- 
drawn after the first month. Fattened by this diet the duck- 
lings grow rapidly, and in a few weeks will weigh more than 
A selec- 
Ducks prepared for early morning work of 
six pounds, when they are considered marketable. 
tion of the most robust and healthy is made to be used for 
breeders another 
year, the others 
being picked and 
packed in ice for 
freightage to the 
city. The picking 
is accomplished 
by girls, who re- 
ceive five cents 
for each duck. 
While _ inexperi- 
enced hands are 
satished to earn 
one dollar a day, 
those who have 
gained strength 
and _ expertness 
not infrequently 
pick forty and 
fifty ducks at a 
single sitting. 
Thousands of 
Ey 
Method of killing ducks. 
feather picking 
Weights hanging from the bills prevent violent 
movements 
GARDENS 
February, tot1 
dollars are distributed every season 
among the young women of the vil- 
lage where duck ranches thrive, the 
money in many instances contribut- 
ing materially to the family support. 
The picking of the ducks is a most 
disagreeable task. It is necessary to 
rise at 3 or 4 o'clock in the morning 
to prepare the ducks in time for the 
afternoon express. Then the naus- 
eating odors are extremely repellent 
to uninured olfactory nerves, while 
the uproarious quacking of the ducks 
is almost distracting. One of the 
most objectionable features, how- 
ever, connected with the work is the 
soaking through one’s clothes of 
water from the ducks. 
When the industry was new, keen rivalry existed among 
the raisers in the endeavor to supply the first of the season’s 
ducks to the market, as high as sixty cents a pound being 
then received for early shipments. The transferring of 
aS * 11088 
Ducks ready for marketing—ten weeks old 
ducks to cold storage in latter years, however, has practi- 
cally ruined the profits from this source. The middle of 
April generally marks the first shipment of ducks to the 
city markets. 
Each successive year witnesses an increasing deteriora- 
tion in the Pekin 
ducks as respects 
fecundity, a con- 
dition due prob- 
ably to the inter- 
breeding of the 
birds. Practically 
all. the B ekaen 
ducks in the East 
were _ obtainea 
from the same 
original breeders, 
and to introduce 
- new strains it will 
be necessary to 
import fresh 
stock from China, 
the home of the 
variety... - Vdvis 
deterioration, as 
well as the de- 
cline in spring 
