The Columbus journal., 1903-06-10
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From FarmerS Review: The most
important thing b to have Oood
healthy pareat stock that u not IN
bred Whist Wo mean BY inbred =
using male birds from your own eggS
for breeders several years without
getting new blood from some other
source. Our practice - to get some
other breeder 10 exchange eggs with
- from which NO hatch and raise our
own brakes for breeding for next
season. lA raising stock for breeding
Wo start mon the time the parent
stock = hatched. These are selected
from the April and Nay hatches and
arc not forced same as ordinary stock
for market They do not como to ma
turity IN four weeks. Az soon - they
get their feathers (excspt the winss)
We sort them, picking out all the most
promising ducks for breedera The
brakes arc put hack In pens and tat
tened for market For breeders We
select the medium-size ducks, with
brakes inst little under-sized. These
We think are more active and eggs
arc more fertile. As soon a We have
our breeders sorted We turn them out
to pasture in aocks. say 200 on about
two acres With plenty Of shade and .
creek running through the lot. They
are fed sparingly on . light feed COM
posed Of three. quarters bran With the
rest equal parts corn meal. low grade
-four. ground oats, s per cent beet
scrap: also one-third of entire mix
ture. cut clover rowen Of second crop
clover cut very fine. with all long
stems screened out, or green corn
fodder cut every day very hne. Feed
all they will eat up clean quickly.
Keep them purposely . little hungry.
They are kept here until Nov. to
Is. according to weather. Then they
arc again sorted and put in pens 11x
100 with 1Ox10 pen inside hovse. 20
ducks and brakes to . pen. Each
pen has . feed trough foot vide s
inches deep. II feet long. with an
other for water feet long outside.
Inside they have . feed trough same
AZ others with . Is quart pail for
water not over II inches high. This
pen is kept bedded with fine planer
shavings preferred. 1t has box for
oyster shells and gravel size Of wheat
or corn. Here the feed Is all changed
to equal parts: corn meal. bran, low
grade -four. ground oats and stale
bread or crackers. It can be had. 10
per cent beef scrap and one-third en-
tire mixture. 1ine cut clover Steam
the whole mixed thoroughly with
warm water, not sloppy, but in con
dition 90 1t crumbles. Feed inside in
stormy weather and outside II the
snow is OF the ground. They should
start laying BY last Of December OF
first Of January. The eggs are gath
cred first thing In the morning.
when one can see to get them: also
again ut 3 and II O'Clock. This is
to keep them from getting chilled.
Later when 1t is warm 9 or 10 O'Clock
will do. L-s the pens are kept bedded
the eggs which are laid on the floor
are most all clean. Those that are
soiled are washed lightly. We set our
eggs twice or three times . week
never using eggs over one week old.
They are run in the incubator four
weeks at 103. being turned on wire
trays half over every twelve hours
We never oren machine from time
they start to hatch until all are out.
Machine Is provided with a nursery
under trays below into which they fall
as fast as hatched and are out Of the
way Of others that are coming out
When they are all dried of we take
. bushel basket and line with paper
then put in soft cloth, first warming
It; into this We place the little
downy fellows. cover them up and
hurry them OF to the bro0der house
w. p. Curtiss, Niagara County, New
York.