1062 
THE RURAL NEW-VOKKER 
November 12, 
SELECTING AND FEEDING DUCKS. 
To be successful in the duck business 
it is important to start right. Anyone 
who wishes to succeed at raising must 
have his ducks in market at the age of 
10 weeks. At that age they should, if 
properly cared for, average at .least five 
pounds apiece. It | is a good plan to pick 
out your stock ducks, at the same time 
(10 weeks) selecting the finest shaped 
and active ones. Arrange to have the 
males at least one month older than the 
females, and keep them separate. Give 
them a stronger feed, with about five 
per cent, scrap; they will require it. 
With the females it is different, for they 
do not need a strong feed, but a light 
bulky feed. If they are picked out in 
May at the age of 10 weeks and fed on 
strong feed they will start to lay in 
September, which is too early; the mid¬ 
dle of November is about right. A good 
feed for them is something like this: 
By measure, four parts of bran, four of 
middlings or red dog, one of corn chop, 
one-half part sand, and one-third of the 
whole amount of some kind of filler. Use 
what is at hand, almost any green vege¬ 
table, second crop clover and Alfalfa. 
This mixture makes a good light feed, 
and if fed properly will give good re¬ 
sults at this time when muscle-forming 
is the main object. 
By all means get them on a clover 
plot, keep visitors out and keep them 
quiet. In case a clover plot is not ob¬ 
tainable, then manage to get some kind 
of greens for them to pick at; it will 
aid digestion. Supposing they are se¬ 
lected by the 20th of May, then they are 
fed the above feed judiciously up to 
September 20, then use the same kind of 
mixture, but give them all they can get 
away with, being careful not to overdo 
them, and you will find by October 20 
they will^ be shed pretty well. The 
regular list of each hatch kept, follow¬ 
ing the brood from yard to yard, so that 
it can be seen at a glance the age of each 
yard of ducks, and they are killed during 
the tenth week of their age. 
The manner in which they are pre¬ 
pared for the market is at follows: At 
the picking house there is a large en¬ 
closure which will hold about 500 ducks. 
They are driven to this pen at the proper 
age, just as they run. Connected with 
this yard there is a narrow passage 
leading to the killing room, where it 
terminates in a pen 2x10 feet, where 
they are easily picked out and killed, 
and washed, mouth and feet. They are 
scalded and picked by women. There 
are 17 of them, and two of them pick 
100 each per day. The number picked 
varies from 3,000 to 4,000. They usually 
pick up to Thursday noon. The feathers 
on this plant alone amount to close 
upon $3,000 per year. It requires two 
teams to deliver the feed. There is a 
grove on this farm containing 14 acres, 
where the ducks are put after they reach 
the age of six weeks, to put the finish¬ 
ing touch to them. At times during 
the season the whole grove is a white 
sheet, with about 30,000 ducks. They 
use 100 incubators, 300 duck eggs’ capac¬ 
ity, to turn these ducks out. 
G. A. M’FETRIDGE. 
Scouring Cow—Indigestion. 
1. I have a cow that has been scour¬ 
ing more or less since turned into pasture 
last April. I have tried powdered char¬ 
coal, had a so-called country “cow doctor” 
look at her and give her medicine, and 
gave her two cups a day of wheat flour for 
live days and two teaspoonfuls of burnt 
cork after that, two days apart, all to no 
avail. I first fed her dry bran, then 
changed to wheat middlings and back to 
bran ; kept her out of pasture for a week 
or 10 days at a time, but still no change. 
She is getting poor and gives onlv about 
one quart of milk a day; was fresh April 
25 last. She eats well. Can you give me 
• 
b* * 
SCENE ON A BIG DUCK FARM. Fig. 452. 
drakes, of course, are in a separate yard, 
and can be fed more corn chop and 
about ten per cent beef scrap after Sep¬ 
tember 20. 
Supposing they have shed all their 
feathers, wings and tails, as they will by 
October 20, and their Winter quarters 
are all in shape, then comes the mating. 
To every five ducks put one drake; you 
can put 20 ducks and four drakes to¬ 
gether safely, although I have seen good 
results when mated up to 150 in each 
yard. I find it to be a good plan to 
keep some extra drakes at the start and 
distribute them among the rest; then by 
keeping track of your yards you may find 
one or more yards that fail in fertility; 
a change of drakes will be all that is 
required. After mating them, a more 
substantial food can be fed, as follows: 
By measure, two parts bran, four parts 
middlings, two parts corn chop, four 
parts whole corn, four parts cut second 
crop clover, one part sand, one-half part 
oyster shell, 10 per cent of beef scrap 
(not counting clover). You will notice 
that they will not eat near so much of 
that feed as they do when fed the 
former, but it is a great egg producer, 
and you can control the egg output by 
increasing or dimmuishing the whole 
corn and beef scrap. 
Right here I would say that I have 
come in contact with quite a number 
who can give me a stiff argument upon 
the feed question. I am acquainted with 
men who raise fine-looking poultry who 
feed nothing but whole grain, and brand 
such mixtures as given here as a 
waste of time, notwithstanding the in¬ 
sects and vegetables the birds get by 
having a free range of the farm. On the 
other hand, we wi\l take the Yardley 
duck farm, where they market around 
70,000 ducks each year, which are yarded 
in a limited space where vegetation can¬ 
not exist any length of time. Here is 
the time where the filler comes in. We 
manage to feed acres of rape during 
Summer, and tons of second crop clover 
in Winter. On this farm there is a 
any advice in the matter? 2. I also 
have a mare that foaled April 14, appar¬ 
ently in good condition; colt nice, spry 
and in fine condition. Mare worked well 
and appeared to be all right until past two 
weeks; now if she works hard she gets so 
tired at night I can hardly get her along; 
won't even stretch her traces. She eats 
well and is always ready for feed and 
water, no matter how tired. She is poor, 
although I feed her well (five quarts oats a 
meal, in addition to an ample feed of No. 
1 hay). Here and there all over her body 
and head she has scabs which peel off. 
They are dry aud not sore. Can you give 
me any advice as to what to do for her? 
Pennsylvania. c. a. f. 
1. It is (juite likely that the cow has 
“Johne’s disease,” which is incurable and 
invariably fatal after long continuance and 
gradual emaciation and debility of the 
animal. It is spread by the manure, so 
that this cow should be isolated. It is 
possible for a trained bacteriologist to de¬ 
tect the presence of this disease from acid- 
fast bacilli in pint-kings of the mucous 
membrane lining the rectum, aud sometimes 
from examination of the thin manure. Re¬ 
port the case to the State Veterinarian and 
tell him of this suspicion. He should have 
the case investigated. The disease was 
discovered iu Pennsylvania by the late Dr. 
Leonard Pearson. 2. Have the mare 
clipped and cut the grain ration in half 
and add one-fifth part of bran at each 
feed. Work her lightly for half a day at 
a time or turn her out without work. Give 
her half an ounce of Fowler’s solution of 
arsenic, night and morning, after a few 
smaller preliminary doses, and if necessary, 
increase to three such doses a day after 
a week or 10 days of treatment. When 
she is in good condition gradually discon¬ 
tinue the medicine. I>o not stop it sud¬ 
denly. Have her teeth attended to by a 
veterinary dentist. a. s. a. 
Depraved Appetite. 
I have a brood sow that farrowed for 
the first time September 2. Since that time 
she has eaten scarcely anything except a 
few boiled sweet potatoes. She seems to 
have a craving appetite for something 
filthy. At first I let her out in the lot and 
she would go about and. pick all the chicken 
droppings she could find. I thought it best 
for her not to ha me it, so I put her in pen. 
What can I do for her? J. L. B. 
North Carolina. 
Give the sow a full dose of physic to 
purge her and then add a few drops of 
dilute hydrochloric acid to each drink of 
water she takes. Add lime water to slop 
or milk at rate of one ounce per quart 
after she takes food again. Do not give the 
acid on days lime water is used. The sow 
should be allowed free range on grass. Feed 
roots in addition to ordinary foods. 
A. S. A. 
120 lbs. Milk Daily 
My cow, Lunde Korndyke, H. F. 
now under official and year test made 
118 lbs. milk daily. As she did not 
seem to relish the feed I changed to 
Unicorn Dairy Ration and she made 
120 lbs. on 28 lbs. of Unicorn Dairy 
Ration. I consider it the best feed I 
ever used. 
J. J. LARABEE (H. F. Ass’n.) 
Demster, N. Y. 
Unicorn Dairy Ration not 
only makes records but 
makes milk at the lowest 
cost. Write us today asking 
how to increase your net 
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BUFFALO, N. Y. 
‘How to Raise Calves Cheaply and Successfully Without Milk'' 
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The | 
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