The Yale expositor., 1903-06-05
DUCK cuLTUaE.

/
From Farmers Review: The most
important thing is 10 have good
healthy parent stock that Is not In.
bred. What we mean by inbred Is
using male birds from your own eggs
for breeders several years without
/ getting new blood from some other
source. Our practice is to get some
other breeder 20 exchange eggs with
us from which We hatch and raise our
own brakes for breeding for next
season. In raising stock for breeding
we start from the time the parent
stock Is Matched. These arc selected
from the April and May matches and
are not forced same as ordinary stock
for market. They do not come TO ma.
turity In four weeks. As soon as they
get their feathers Except the wingsl
we sort them. picking out all the most
promising ducks for breeders. The
brakes are put back in pens and fat.
tened for market. For breeders We
select the mcdium.size ducks. with
brakes just little understood. These
we think are more active and eggs
are more fertile As soon as We have
our breeders sorted We turn them out
to pasture In flocks. say 200 on about
two acres with plenty OF shade and a
creek running through the lot They
are fed sparingly on n light feed com.
posed OF three-quarters bran with the
rest equal parts corn meal. low grade
| nnnF wrnffnI
scrap; also one.third OF entire mix.
ture, cut clover rowen Of second crop
clover cut very fine. with all long
stems screened ont. or green corn
fodder cut every day very fine. Feed
all they will cat mp clean quickly
Keep them purposcly n little hungry.
They are kept here until Nov. 20
10. according 90 weather. Then they
are again sorted and put In pens l2N
100 with l0xl0 pen Inside house. 81
ducks and . brakes 90 a pen. Each
pen has n feed trough l foot wide 6
inches deep. l2 feet long. with an.
other for water feet long outside.
Inside they have a feed trough same
as others with a 10 quart pail for
water not over i inches high. This
pen is kept bcddcd with fine planer
shavings preferred. u has a box for
oyster shells and gravel slzo OF wheat
or corn. Here the feed Is all changed
10 equal parts: corn meal, bran. low
grade flour. ground oats and stale
bread or crackers. Il can be had. 10
per cent beef scrap and one.third en-.
tire mixture. fine cut clover Steam
the whole mixed thoroughly with
warm water. not sloppy. but In n con.
dition SO IL crumbles. Feed inside In
stormy weather and outside II the
snow IS on the ground. They should
start laying by last Of December or
first OF January. The eggs are gath.
cred FIRST thing in the morning.
when one can see TO get them; also
again at Q and IL o'clock. This IS
TO keep them from getting chilled.
Later when II Is warm or 10 o'clock
viii do. as The pens are kept beddcd
the eggs which are laid on the floor
are most all clean. Those that are
soilcd are washed lightly. We set our
eggs twice or three times n week
never using eggs over ono week old.
They are run IN the incubator four
weeks az 1903. being turned on wire
trays half over every twelve hours.
We never oren machine from time
they start 10 hatch until all arc out.
Machine IS provided with nursery
under trays below into which they fall
a. fast as Matched and are out OF the
way Of others that are coming out.
when they arc all dried OF we take
a bushel basket and line with paper.
then put in soft cloth. first warming
a.: into this we place the little
downy fellows. cover them up and
hurry them on TO the broodor house.
w. p. Curtiss. Niagara County. New
York.