The record-union., 1891-04-08
FARM And ORCHARD.
Duck Questions and Answers.
How to Dress Ducks.
Selected Dairy Notes.-The New Olive
Law Has Received the Signature of
Stock Notes.
is the duck business profitable?

is the duck business profitable?
Yes; when rightly managed.
Which is the best breed of ducks, that
is, the most profitable breed to keep for
eggs, for market and for feathers?
The Pekins. Ducks of this breed viii
lay earlier in the season, lay more eggs III
q year, mature earlier, and are more do
mestic in their habits than are those of
other breeds, Their feathers are almost
equal to geese feathers.
How many ducks (Pekins) should be
mated with one drake?
Five or six.
How many eggs will duck lay in
year?
That depends upon the breed and the
management. Pekins, well cared for, will
lay from 100 to 150 eggs in a year.
Will picking ducks during the laying
season have any effect on the laying?
We tried it once, and the picked ducks
quit laying, while the others did not.
Is it absolutely necessary that ducks
should have access to a pond or stream of
water?
1t is not; any way, the Pekins are sort
of dry-land ducks, and can be protitably
kept where there is neither pond nor
stream Of water for their accommodation,
y
to drink.
Can breeding ducks be kept confined to
yards, or IS free range necessary in order
TO secure fertile eggs?
The most successful duck growers in
Southern Massachusetts keep their ducks
confined to yards for about nine months
in year-from November until August.
Those that are marketed when about nine
or ten weeks old are never out Of their
yards until they are taken out to be
dressed for market.
Can duck eggs be Matched in an incu-
bator?
OF course they can. Rankin, who
raises more ducks for market than any
other man in America, matches all his
ducks in incubators. 1t would be utterly
impossible for him, without the aid of in
cubators, to get out ducks by the thou
sand as he does, early enough in the sea-
son to have them grow to marketable
age and size in time to command the
highest price. Any one who proposes to
raise many early ducks for market will
find that one or more good incubators are
things that must be had.
How should breeding ducks be fed?
Do they need oyster shells as hens do?
Ducks that you want to lay about the
first of January should be fed in the late
fall and up to January, about as you
would henS-boiled vegetables mixed
with twice their bulk of cornmeal and
much ground meat scraps mixed in.
Green food once day, and corn, oats or
wheat at night. Oyster shells should be
kept by them all the time, and they
should at all times have plenty OF clean
water to drink. When the ducks begin
TO lay a greater proportion of cornmeal
and ground scraps should he given, and
the supply of green food must be regular
and plentiful until after the grass starts
In the spring.
How shall feed ducklings-or rather,
what shall l feed them?
For the first few days feed baked corn
meal cake (the inside crumbled dry-the
outside crust just softened with milk or
water) mixed with about one-tifth rs
much boiled eggs. After these first few
days feed seeded cornmeal and shorts
half and halt. When n week old begin
adding a little ground meat scraps, grad
ually increasing the amount until when
three weeks old one-tenth of the bulk of
soft food may be of meat scraps. After
they are a week old, add a big handful of
bOne-meal to pailful of food. If you
are TO market them at nine or ten weeks,
feed no bran for the last ten days-just
corn meal dough with ten or twelve per
cent. OF meat scraps, and green food once
day. Keep plenty of water by them all
the time.
Tell me how to dress young ducks for
market? | find it almost impossible to
with it.
Bleed the ducks by making cut across
the roof of the mouth just back of the
eyes. For this purpose you should have
a knife with a pointed two-edge blade,
and very sharp. After the bird has bled
freely for about thirty seconds, stun it by
striking a smart blow on the head, or
hitting the head against post or a hard
block OF wood: then set to work, and take
off the feathers as rapidly as possible.
They viii come easy then, but if you
wait until they 'Set" YOU will need the
patience Of Jobs wife to enable you to
pick that duck without getting ont of
temper To get off that obstinate
down. slightly moiSten the hand, hold
the skin tight, and rub it off. Have a
dull but thin -bladed knife to remove the
pin feathers that you can't get otherwise.
On nearly every one there will be some
down and some pin feathers that can
neither be pulled or rubbed off or ont
without tearing the skin, and these must
be shaved off, either with "a razor or Il
knife that is rs sharp as the sharpest
razor. One who understands the buSi-
ness viii pick from forty to fifty ducks
day.
The tops of the wings are not picked,
and the head is left on. the feathers being
removed about half way down the neck.
The birds are not drawn. After they are
plucked they should be thrown directly
into a tank of ice water to "harden.n If
packed without thus hardening them
they press out of shape, do not present so
attractive an appearance in market, and
consequently will not command so high
price as better looking birds.-Prai3ie
Farmer.
SELECTED DAIRY DOTS.
One pound of cheese contains more nu-
tTitive elements than two pounds Of beef.
Close observers say that skim milk is
worth twenty cents a hundred pounds for