Greene County herald. (Leakesville, Miss.) 1898-current, 1903-10-23
DUCKS FOR THE MARKET.
Best Ones Are Those That Never Saw
q Duck Pend. 4

SSst SHcS ARE nose Hat never saw
q Duck Pend.
The little ducks that come to mar
ket nowadays" said a wholesale dealer
in West street, land even the little
ducks that stay at home, are as differ
emit from the ducks we used to sell
four or five years ago as dried figs are
different from the fruit fresh from
the vines. 1t seems an almost un-
natural thing to think of a duck with
out a duck pond, but the latest and
best ducks We sell now never saw q
duck pond.
Duck farming is still a compare
lively recent thing, but it is develop
Ing along new lines all the time. Ex-
perience has taught that ducks al
lowed only sufficient water to quench
the thirst, and not a dirty, muddy pond
to wallow and swim In, are more tooth
some for the table, and bring higher
prices In the market. Where there
Is d pond there are fish of some sort,
and the ducks will eat the fish. That
gives their meat a ishy flavor. of
which housewives complain.
There is as much, II not more,
money in raising ducks than In rails
ing chickens. But as 1t takes more cap
tai to start a duck farm than it does
to build a hencoop. there are fewer
persons in the business. And ducks,
unless they have a pond and are al
lowed to roam at their own sweet will,
are more troublesome to take care of
than chickens. There is not much va
Ration In the food of a duck fattening
for the market. 1t is fed regularly
three times a day, and it gets mash for
every meal. Nothing else agrees with
a healthy duck like mash. About one
a week a little cracked corn is thrown
in by way of variety, but the ducks do
not seem to care whether it Is there or
not.
Breeders have an odd way of get,
ting around the natural craving OF
ducks for animal food. II takes a long
time to cure the birds of this, and they
are very irritable during the process.
Breeders make a stew of animal flesh
and ground bones, mixed and strain off
the water. This is mixed with the wa
ter given the ducks to drink, and also
to moisten their bran. The compound
gives to their mash a meaty flavor that
gratifes their appetite and adds
to 1t a substance that makes them
strong.
I'm ~fattening ducks breeders try to
make them eat as much as they can;
and it is astonishing how much a
healthy duck can eat. Some ducks will
easily dispose of four pounds of food
a day without having Indigestion
enough solid material to sustain a
handwriting longshoreman. If a duck
refuses to eat more than enough to
satisfy its appetite the breeder thinks
1t Is sick.
ION a farm the ducks are not allowed
to mix at will. They are kept in pens
in flocks of so or 70, according to their
condition for marketing. The greatest
care must be taken with their bedding.
Fresh hay and straw every other night,
and at certain seasons of the year
every night, is imperative for healthy
ducks. They do not sleep in houses
like chickens and turkeys do. Ducks
prefer to huddle together and sleep in
the open. But their feet must be kept
warm. A duck with cold feet is usual
~ o dead duck.
"The proportionate returns from
Matching ducks eggs, as compared
with hens eggs, is ridiculously small.
About one-half the eggs sent to hatch
are sheer waste. In fact, it does not
pay the breeders in New York and
New Jersey to raise from eggs they
a buy h%ereabout. 1t is cheaper for
them to buy and raise young ducks
shipped from the west. This industry
has become SO large that cas- are
build especially for the duck trade, and
men sent along who know how to feed
and take care of them."-New York
Times.