Republican news item. [volume] (Laport, Pa.) 1896-19??, 1899-06-29
Successful Duck Breeding.

U. II. Pollard OF Massachusetts,
who is one of the largest and most
successful duck breeders in the United
States, in an address delivered recently
before the Rhode Island Poultry,
school said: Let us begin with the 10.
cation of the plant, and that may be
almost anything that you can get.
While water is one of the almost
necessary points, there are many
leading breeders who do not have
water running through their yards
and do not consider it necessary. In
establishing plant, if you could Sc
lect just what you wanted 1 should adj
wise you to choose place with a good
sizable pond or running stream of
water, for in that way you would gain
in the fertility of the eggs.
The Pekip duck we advocate alto
gether because of the deep keel In
the improved type the breast line
should be nearly parallel with the
back and the breast should be nearly
the same length as the back. The
old line bird is something the shape
OF Bartlett pear. OF course it is
possible with the old type of bird to
get heavy weight, but the weight
does not come in the right place; it is
mostly back of the legs, which is where
most of the waste comes, and there
is no frame to build on. In selecting
birds for breeding would choose pre-.
ferably birds that only weigh from
six to seven pounds apiece alive, and
mate them carefully with medium.
sized brakes. We used to mate five
ducks to one drake, but now should
like to mate up in single pens one
drake with five, six or seven females.
We feed them lightly until about
the 1st of November. when we gener-
ally mate them. am trying not to
force them this year, thinking that it
destroys the vitality of the birds and
the fertility of the eggs, and SO we
are feeding what we call harmless
food largely clover, perhaps one
part clover and three parts bran and
two parts corn meal, and we have not
fed any meat scraps yet. 1t is not
the question how many eggs they lay,
but what we get out of them. l have
never kept very accurate account of
the number of eggs, but do know
that they do not lay anything like 140
eggs, such as the records we often see
printed in the papers. AS rule we
get less than 100 rather than over. L
think that 80 is nearer what we really
get. Now if we get only 80, it is a
great point to get so good eggs, rather
than so many poor ones. 1t is not the
point to get large number of eggs,
but to get fertile ones. By forcing
we destroy the fertility, yet the eggs
are quite profitable if it does not take
too much out of the breeding stock to
get them. 1 would prefer not to have
them begin to lay before some time in
February. The first few eggs laid
will not be very valuable, they are al
most always infertile; perhaps the first
two or three eggs from each breeder,
and the first machinefuls do not aver.
age more than 40 per cent. fertile.
If you hatch 25 per cent. of them it
will be doing we'll. If you try the
eggs you will see that 35 or 40 per
cent. comes nearer the average. After
starting to hatch with hens and ma
chimes you will probably find that you
average more with hens than machines,
but if you average in either case so
per cent. you will be doing fairly we'll.
From the 40 per cent. you will natur.
ally except to raise IS to 80 ducklings,
and that is all that you can expect, and
Is per cent. will often cover those
raised by experts.
We feed the old breeding ducks, ha-
fore we begin to force them for eggs,
about third clover and sometimes
plain hay and the rest bran and meal.
The idea is to fill them up with some
thing bulky and when they begin to
lay we begin with five per cent. Of
beef scrap and work up gradually,
until in q week or go we will be Civ
ing them 10 or II per cent. We keep
water before them all the time. At q
season of the year when it is possible