33 
of 75 quarts for the day’s portion, or three-fourths of a quart to each 
duck a day. Another raiser allows 400 quarts, fed in halves, twice a 
day, to six hundred breeding or laying ducks, averaging two-thirds 
of a quart to each duck a day. 
There are many patterns of feed troughs in use, hardly any two 
being alike. They are simple affairs, the simpler the better, as they 
are more easily kept clean. The designs given for water troughs are 
equally as good for feed troughs and answer the purpose very well. Each 
pen of birds should have two troughs, one for water and the other for 
feed, built proportionately to suit the age and size of the birds they 
are intended for. Make them of sufficient length to avoid crowding, so 
that all the birds in each pen will have ample room to eat at the same 
time. 
OYSTER SHELLS AND GRIT. 
Grit in some form is essential to ducks and should be kept before 
them at all times. Many overlook this fact and do not seem to under¬ 
stand that it is of as much value to them as it is to chickens. The sand 
used in the mashes tends to supply a certain amount of grinding mate¬ 
rial or grit to them, but does not fully satisfy them for digesting their 
food. On a farm where more than ten thousand birds are raised annu¬ 
ally, and where disease is practically unknown, it was noted that in 
every pen there was a box of grit and a box of crushed oyster shells. 
This raiser states that he considers grit and oyster shells an abso¬ 
lute necessity for ducks, and he attributes the healthy appearance of 
his stock to it. His birds eat it freely and the supply is never allowed 
to run out. 
KILLING AND DRESSING FOR MARKET. 
There are two methods of dressing ducks for market, by dry picking 
and by scalding. Both of these methods are good and are being suc¬ 
cessfully employed by the largest raisers. Some have a preference 
for dry picking and others for scalding, and it becomes only a matter 
of taste which method is used. When birds are dressed by scalding 
they should be dipped several times, or until the feathers come out 
easily. The back should be dipped in the water first. After scalding, 
wipe them as dry as possible with a sponge and pick the breast feathers 
first. A bird when dressed for market has left on it the feathers on 
the wing, the tail feathers, and the feathers on head and neck, as shown 
in fig. 27. The legs are left on, and the birds are not drawn. 
The process of dry picking is considered the simpler of the two 
methods, and one who is accustomed to the work can readily dress 
3 dozen birds in a day. The picker’s outfit consists of a chair, a 
box for the feathers, and a couple of knives, one knife being dull and 
the other being sharp pointed and double edged, for bleeding. The 
bird is taken between the knees, the bill held open with the left hand, 
and a cut made across the roof of the mouth just below the eyes. The 
0839—No, 04-3 
