American Agriculturist 
THE FARM PAPER THAT PRINTS THE FARM NEWS 
“Agriculture is the Most Healthful, Most Useful and Most Noble Employment of Man ”—Washington 
Reg. U. S. Pat. Off. Established 1842 
Volume 112 For the Week Ending September 1, 1923 Number 9 
Ducks By the Acre 
“Here a Quack, There a Quack; Everywhere a Quack, Quack’’ 
I F you want to see commercial duck 
farming- of the most successful type and 
on the highest scale production, take a 
motor -trip from New York City along 
the south shore of Long Island. Here and 
there on the banks of the small streams you 
catch glimpses of such farms. If you want 
to get a close-up view of one of them, you 
must turn off into some side road which leads 
along a stream not entirely given over to 
summer residences, where you are almost 
sure to find a full-fledged plant. You will be 
greeted on all sides with 
a hoarse chorus of alarm. 
The brooder houses are 
crowded with soft downy 
ducklings just out of the 
shell and with ungainly 
growing ducklings in vari¬ 
ous stages of develop¬ 
ment. The yards are 
white with those waddling 
about and quacking at one 
another. Even the water 
is plentifully sprinkled 
with web-footed acrobats 
alternately swimming or 
standing on their heads 
searching the bottom for 
special tid-bits. Hun¬ 
dreds of ducks! Thousands 
of ducks! Ducks by the 
acre! 
These farms are com¬ 
paratively small in area, 
many of them not more 
than ten acres, but their 
output is large. An an¬ 
nual crop ranging from 
twenty to thirty thousand 
ducklings is common, 
while some of the largest farms market 
100,000 or more. This me^ns, of course', 
that the land is heavily stocked and the 
methods used decidedly intensive. It is 
partly on this account that the farms are 
located on Long Island for the sandy soil 
there is well suited to such intensive stock¬ 
ing. Easy access to the New York City 
market where fat young ducklings are in 
great demand and bring a good price, is 
another reason for the development of duck 
farming in this section. 
The men who operate these farms are 
specialists. Their only crop is ducks and 
every effort is bent toward producing duck¬ 
lings in as large numbers as possible and 
in growing them to market size and standard 
in the quickest possible time. On their suc¬ 
cess in these particulars depends the profit 
which they make. 
Long Island ducklings are a well-known 
product. From the time the baby duck 
breaks its way out of the shell it displays an 
astonishing appetite. Handled and fed prop¬ 
erly the growth which these web-footed lit¬ 
tle gourmands make is in proportion to their 
appetites. At ten to twelve weeks old they 
weigh from five to six pounds each and are 
ready for market. Rapidly grown and well 
fattened,, they possess a tenderness of flesh 
By R. R. SLOCUM 
and a richness of flavor which make roast 
Long Island duckling a dish never to be for¬ 
gotten once it has been tasted. 
The Pekin is the only breed kept on com¬ 
mercial duck farms. It is a large white duck 
which by long use has proven its unques¬ 
tioned superiority for the purpose. The 
qualities which give it this superiority are 
large size, good egg production, rapidity of 
growth, ease of fattening and attractive ap¬ 
Along the streams on the southside of eastern Long- Island, where the famous “Long Island 
Duckling” 
that appears on the menus of high-class restaurants comes from 
pearance when dressed. I visited the duck 
farm of Robert A. Tuttle at Center Moriches 
which, among others, proved to be a good 
typical plant. Many of the methods in use 
there are described in this article. It is not 
the largest duck farm on the island, consist¬ 
ing of ten acres and having an output of 
about 30,000 ducklings, nor is it the most 
elaborate, but it is extremely practical and 
successful. Its arrangement is carefully 
planned and its buildings and equipment, 
while substantial and very suitable for the 
purpose, are designed to give the results re¬ 
quired of them at the lowest possible cost. 
The proprietor is a practical duck raiser of 
many years experience and very accomodat¬ 
ing about giving information. He is a native 
of Eastport, L. I., and spent many seasons 
working on duck farms in that vicinity. At 
Eastport there is a country club which 
Governor Flower of New York used to 
visit each season for the fishing. During 
his stays there the Governor was intro¬ 
duced to roast Long Island duckling at its 
best and became so fond of them that he de¬ 
cided to have a duck farm of his own near 
his home in Watertown, N, Y. He cast 
about for some one well qualified to build and 
operate this farm for him and eventually 
selected Tuttle for the job. 
“How much capital is required to establish 
a successful duck farm?” I asked Mr. Tuttle. 
“That’s hard to say with any degree of 
exactness,” he replied. “Estimating roughly, 
I should say that for a good practical plant 
without frills, an investment of about $1,000 
for every 1,000 ducklings marketed would 
be sufficient. In addition to this some work¬ 
ing capital, probably six or seven thousand 
dollars, would be required to buy feed, pay 
for labor and meet the other running ex¬ 
penses until the returns from the sale of 
ducklings began to come 
in in sufficient amount to 
take care of these items.” 
At the Tuttle plant the 
breeding ducks, about 800 
in number, are run in 
flocks of 200 each with 
one drake for every seven 
or eight ducks. These 
breeders are secured each 
year by selecting out the 
best of the ducklings 
ready for market during 
June and July. The young 
breeders are placed in 
yards where they have ac¬ 
cess to water in which 
they can swim and are 
fed largely on whole corn 
and plenty of green feed 
until about the middle of 
November. At this time 
a laying ration consisting 
of a mixture of ground 
grains together with green 
feed, vegetables, beef 
scrap and cooked fish is 
fed to bring the ducks 
into lay in December. 
At first the ducks do not lay heavily, but 
they gradually increase until by February 
they are in full lay and this production con¬ 
tinues until hot weather comes. From then 
on the laying drops off until by July first or 
soon after, not enough eggs are produced to 
pay to hold the breeders longer and they are 
shipped to market. Each year all the breed¬ 
ers are marketed and their places taken by 
young ducks as the latter are better layers. 
The breeders must be sheltered in com¬ 
fortable houses which afford protection from 
the rain and wind. Good ventilation is neces¬ 
sary and this is provided by windows or by 
openings in the fronts of the houses, which 
can be closed with curtains during stormy 
weather. The houses have dirt floors which 
are raised above the outside ground level to 
make them dry. A heavy bedding of straw is 
used on the floors and fresh straw is added 
frequently to keep the houses clean and dry. 
No interior equipment is required, not even 
nests, as the ducks lay their eggs in the straw 
on the floor. 
Ducks lay early in the morning. If given 
the chance, they are likely to lay while in the 
water and this results in the loss of eggs. 
Consequently, during the laying season the 
breeding ducks are confined to their houses 
{Continued on page 145) 
