Bismarck weekly tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, Dakota [N.D.]) 1884-1943, 1892-02-05
PEKIN DUCK.

iEhlN DLSN.
the place of chickens, have a place of
their W sufficiently we'll established
to warrant the farmer and poulterer in
raising them. 1. K. Felch, author of
"Poultry Culture" says that ducks can
be raised by artificial incubation with
far less danger from crowding than
chickens can. Mr.. Felch tells us in his
book how to raise the ducklings by use
of the incubator. Incubator ducklings
are ready to sell at from 9 to 10 weeks
old. They can be made to come in at a
time when the wild duck is not to be
had, and their flesh is not to be turned
away from even by duck shooters them
selves.
Ducks are voracious, not to say fero-
cious eaters, and unless they are well
managed will "eat three times their
value Of food" William Crozier, who
writes of their management on the farm,
says. The Pekin ducks are as large as
some breeds of geese. MI. Crozier's di-
rections for making ducks profitable on
the farm are as follows:
The old ducks are kept shut up at night til!
N~S NN SASA No6S hlSh SASy usually
do about daylight. They are then turned out,
and a wet, Inucky swamp, or Il green meadow
with bitches in it, provides them a very desir-
able feeding ground. At night when they
come in they should be fed, and at no other
time. Corn, oats, barley and buckwheat are
suitable food. The eggs are gathered every
morning and set under hens, giving nine only
to each nest. When the ducklings are Matched
they are left with the hen for a day or two,
and then put alone in small pens made of q
frame Of boards IL inches wide and about 1
feet square. They cannot escape from this and
are provided with a small covered shelter at
one corner, where they may be inclosed at
night.
The food should be at first boiled cornmeal
and oatmeal, with chopped lettuce and young
cabbage and onions. A shallow pan covered
with coarse wire netting so that they cannot
battle in it should be furnished with clean
water three times a day and the young ducks
must be fed every two hours. With this feed
ing they will weigh four pounds at twelve
weeks old, and sell for $1.5O to two dollars the
pair. They are then quite profitable, but every
day they arc kept beyond this weight reduces
the profit. The old ducks may be left to for
age for themselves until the winter, when
they may be fed with the geese upon chopped
turnips, oats and corn.
MI. Crozier writes of ducks on the
farm only. Mr.. Felch says that 'sgreen
ducks" raised by artificial incubation
are larger than those raised by tie
mother ducks themselves, and they GER
tainly mature earlier. When fattening
ducks for market, if you want to give
them the real wild duck meat flavor,
feed them on chopped celery as part of
their food during the last week you are
fattening them.
1t is an outrage, if the story is true
that some rascally meat dealers have
been trying to smuggle into Germany
hog products which do not bear the
United States inspectors stamp that
they have been examined and found free
from disease. The man who would de-
liberately do a thing like that, after all
the years Of waiting and all the pains it
has taken to overcome the German op-
position to American pork, would sell as
corned beef the meat of a horse that had
died in the street.