379 
Chapter XLIV. 
DUCKS. 
One of the queerest anomalies of the present day, is that of healthy persons standing around and complaining 
that there is nothing for them to do which will pay, while at the same moment the public is waiting for eggs, 
t'owls and Ducks. In the latter business no one need fail of securing remunerative returns for his labour 
and capital. Only the very grossest carelessness and neglect will put a stop to profitable production in 
duck-raising, not only neglect in feeding too short a ration, whereas it may signify just the opposite, and, 
if strict business principles are followed in the management, a good measure of profit will be assured, 
and duck-farming carried out in a methodical and business-like manner, will pay as well, or better, than 
any other business, for the same amount of capital invested and labour bestowed. In America duck-farming 
is extensively followed, and we know of some half-dozen well-managed duck farms in this country, from 
which the proprietors derive their sole income, and a good one at that. The magnitude of the duck farms 
of America are quite in keeping with the huge notions of that country, two of these farms in particular being 
worthy of mention, that of Weber Bros., Wrentham, and Messrs. Gernerd & McFetridge, Criesmerville. 
The working plant, buildings, etc., of the former are valued at _^4,ooo. This business was first started in 
3889 with TEN Ducks, and the success attached to the enterprise is marvellous. It is a big jump from ten 
Ducks in 1889 to the raising of nine thousand in 1895, and keeping through the winter for breeding some 
six hundred head. At a fair estimate there are quite one thousand running feet of houses, two long 
hot-water pipe brooding houses, two incubator cellars containing sixteen 600-egg incubators of the 
"Monarch" type, a house for killing and picking, an engine pumping house, etc., a// made out of raisin}^ 
Ducks for market. On this farm rows of apple and peach trees are grown for shelter during the hot 
weather, and between the rows of trees are " shelters " of rough boards spread over poles wired to stakes 
driven into the ground, shade being an important aid to increase size in growing Ducks during the hot 
summer, as much as one to two pounds extra growth per pair being gained by providing good shelter from 
the sun. This firm marketed about 50,000 pounds weight of Ducks dressed during the 1895 season, the 
feathers alone returning the substantial sum of ^60 per year. 
The Duck farm of Messrs. Gernerd & McFetridge is eight acres in extent, a creek running through the 
whole length of the farm. This enables the stock Ducks, some four hundred in number, to follow their 
favourite pastime. The hatching house is a frame structure 34 x 74 feet ; on the first floor are fifty-six 
incubators, each of 300-egg capacity. The temperature is maintained by means of oil lamps in each 
machine, controlled by a thermostatical boiler. The interior of these incubators has two compartments. 
On the lower floor are scattered fine shavings ; the eggs are laid on wooden bars forming a second storey. 
Six days after the eggs are put in they are tested, and the bad eggs taken away. The vacancies thus caused 
are replaced by other eggs. The novelty in this two-storey incubator is that, when at the expiration of the 
twenty-eighth day the ducklings pick their way out of the shells, they drop to the lower floor through the 
bars, and waddle around on the shavings. When the ducklings are twenty-four hours old* they are taken 
out of the incubator and removed to a building at hand. This is the brooding house, of frame construction, 
measuring 20 x 216 feet, and has sixty-six pens or divisions, each of which will hold one hundred ducklings. 
An even temperature is maintained by means of a Royal hot water service. The second floor of the 
hatching house is filled with feathers, which are treated at a temperature of 120 degrees Fahr. to make them 
suitable for filling piflows. These feathers sell at a fair price per pound ; a thousand Ducks will yield one 
hundred pounds of feathers, and during the year an average of seven thousand Ducks are killed, plucked, 
