February, 1911 
AMERICAN HOMES AND 
GARDENS 55 
A reservation of breeding ducks 
prices for ducks, may account for the smaller profits being 
realized by the raisers. 
The profits on a duck ranch depend in no small measure 
upon the character of the breeders, which are the choicest 
birds obtainable. About 200 of these are kept in an 
ordinary-sized ranch. One drake is allotted to every six 
or eight ducks. During the season each duck will average 
100 eggs, their timeliness, fertility, and vitality being more 
important than 
the quantity. 
There is, per- 
haps, no feature 
of the business 
more interesting 
and replete with 
suggestive in- 
struction than 
that representing 
the young duck 
through its vari- 
ous stages of de- 
velopment. The 
- fresh egg exhibits 
the future duck 
as a little germ 
spot, no larger 
than a wheat 
grain, which does 
Power oyster-shell grinding machine for duck not acquire the 
food is always in use power of receiv- 
ing nourishment 
with the mouth, or breathing atmospheric air, until a con- 
siderable period has elapsed. The little germ spot may be 
most satisfactorily watched by removing a fragment of the 
upper portion of the shell, when the germ will appear di- 
rectly under the aperture. The development of the duck- 
ling renders the manipulation easier, a few hours of warmth 
produces the first idea of the duck, which assumes the form 
of a little whitish streak lying across the egg and less than 
a tenth of an inch in length. During the course of 24 
A tray of Duck eggs 
Ducks hatching out in incubator 
hours the germ assumes a curved shape, resembling a mag- 
got in its general size and appearance. ‘The second day 
shows the heart, while on the third the blood vessels appear 
for the first time. The developing process proceeds until 
perfect bodily structure is attained, the feathers appearing 
about the twentieth day. A week later the little fellow may 
be heard quacking through the larger end of the egg, which 
it has pierced with its bill. Nourishment during confinement 
in the shell is re- 
Celvedsatirom ties ai “= 
yolk through the _ 
abdomen. The 
duck picks the 
shell in a circle, 
which is supposed 
to correspond 
with the course 
of the air vesicle 
and emerges as it 
were from the 
trap door there- 
by produced. 
Some sof ethe 
illustrations show 
a general view of 
the shore front of 
a duck ranch and 
a pen containing 
a group of ducks 
of the right size 
for marketing. 
Illustrations show another pen, where breeding ducks 
are kept, a young man conveying a tray of duck’s 
eggs to one incubator, and an incubator illustrating the 
hatching of young ducks. They break through the egg- 
shell on the upper tray, and drop through the netting to 
the compartment underneath, where they are observed 
huddled together. It is necessary that the breeding ducks be 
well fed with lime-producing material for eggshells, so a 
power oyster-shell grinder is kept continually in use. 
Selecting ducks for the market of the 
required standard 
Flock of half-grown ducks 
Feeding small ducks 
