Part 10

At this stage of growth when the birds are from two to four weeks old, especially with the early hatches when confined as they usually are during the inclement weather in winter, unless extreme care is taken, a sad mortality is sure to follow.

There is a great tendency at this stage of growth, when the birds are confined, to overfeed as well as to overheat in the brooders. This, coupled with too little exercise is sure to cripple the birds, weaken their legs and render them helpless. Even experienced growers sometimes get a little careless and lose whole hatches. We have numerous letters from all parts of the country in which people write "My ducklings are all crippled, cannot walk and are dying off fast. What shall I do?" There is only one thing; feed sparingly, and give all the exercise possible. Often, the want of grit will cause the same trouble.

(Our yards have been prepared for this the previous autumn, and are now covered with a thick coat of green rye five or six inches high.) To accomplish this, I make pens outside the building in front, ten feet long, and of a width to correspond with the pens inside. I simply use old boards a foot wide, tacking them together with wire nails, as it is only a temporary arrangement. When snow falls it must be shoveled out at once. Just as soon as the weather and the condition of the ground will allow, I set up the partition wire outside to correspond with the width of pens inside. This wire partition runs the whole length of the yard; and as the yards are 100 feet deep, it gives the ducklings a yard 6x100 feet. I always feed outside whenever the weather will permit. It is needless to say that the sanitary arrangements in this building are of the utmost importance. Indeed, it will require constant watchfulness and care on the part of the attendant.

The Sanitary Arrangements.

With several thousand ducklings confined in one building, the tendency is decidedly filthy. The capacity of the duckling for filth is wonderful, and he comes honestly by it. It is simply astonishing how soon he will manage to mix the contents of his water-tank with that of his yard and make both sloppy and offensive. The chick is nowhere in comparison. It is true, the duck is not so easily affected by it as the chick, but it will not do to presume too much upon that. At this stage the attendant will be kept busy every moment from daylight to dark.

Not only the regular feeding four times a day requires his attention, but the simple mixing of seventy-five to one hundred bushels of feed each day is quite a little job of itself, especially when the different ingredients should be exact. The water tanks also must be regularly cleaned and filled. The troughs should be carefully cleaned before feeding, as the ducks will readily eat all foreign matter together with the food. In short, the whole business must be systematized all the way through, and the attendant should understand that it is never safe to neglect a single detail.

I had always made a point of doing this duty myself. A few years ago, not feeling well and having other business requiring my attention, I engaged a man whom I considered competent to do this business for me. I took him over the yards, showed and told him just how the thing must be done; watched him to see that he did the work faithfully and complied with all its details. Things went on apparently well for a week or two, when, going home one day, I noticed a number of dead ducklings lying around, and looking under the brooder I found quite a number more. I at once interviewed the man and cautioned him. He insisted that he had followed the instructions to the letter. But the mortality did not abate, on the contrary it increased to an alarming extent; and I had lost more ducklings in one month than I had lost for ten years previous.

I watched him and found that the feeding-troughs were not cleaned at all, and when the birds scattered the sawdust in them the food was thrown on that, the ducklings consuming both. The food was thrown partly in the trough and partly on the ground; apparently a matter of perfect indifference to him. The water-tanks were not rinsed out. Instead of stepping over the eighteen-inch partition wires he stepped on them, breaking down the standards and flattening down the wire, so that the birds were all mixed together promiscuously,--ducklings two weeks old with those of six weeks. The little ones were trodden down by the older ones and almost denuded of their feathers, and there was no thrift to be seen anywhere. To say that I was indignant does not express it. I had often seen such a condition of things elsewhere, but not before on my own ranch; I was absolutely ashamed to show visitors around the yards as long as this state of things existed.

That man was promptly discharged, and I undertook the feeding myself. The birds were sorted out and returned to their own yards, the wire replaced, the feeding-troughs cleaned, the pens carefully disinfected. In four days double the amount of food was consumed and things were decidedly improved. But those birds never acquired that uniformity of size and appearance which had always characterized my market birds. The best material to use in the pens inside the brooding-house is dry, fine sawdust, if it can be obtained. It is by far the best thing I know of for the purpose. The next best is finely chopped straw or hay, tanbark, etc. The brooders, like the pens, require close attention. The top should be scraped off before it becomes offensive, and new material applied. This can be easily done by simply lifting the edge of the cover next the walk and drawing it over into the walk, when it can be taken in a barrow or basket.

The Necessity of Green Food.

It must be remembered that as the broods grow older the cleaning process must be repeated oftener, as their capacity for generating filth will always be in proportion to their size. Those unacquainted with duck-culture have little idea how fast these birds will grow; how soon they will successively outgrow brooders, pens and yards, and how soon every vestige of green will disappear from yards that were thickly covered with rye. But the ducklings must be kept growing at all hazards, and a vegetable supply must be procured from outside.

Rye comes first in the season (I always cultivate it for the purpose, and when coarse, it must be cut so that it can be readily eaten); then grass; and next corn fodder, which is best of all. It is astonishing how much of the latter these birds will consume--hundreds of pounds each day. It should be cut very fine, not more than one-third of an inch in length. Unlike the hen, the birds prefer the stalk to the leaf. Give them all they will eat, once each day. [But we have forgotten that empty machine. After the ducklings are taken out it will be found running at 85 to 90 degrees. I gauge it up to 102 and fill it with fresh eggs at once, not forgetting to fill one tray in the little tender.] There is one bad habit to which ducklings of four or five weeks old are addicted, and that is feather eating. First the down will begin to disappear from their backs; next, as the birds grow older, the quills which grow out from the end of the wings will disappear, and they are all exposed for tempting morsels.

These quills bleed profusely when disturbed, which, of course, seriously retards the growth and progress of the birds. This vice should be checked at once, for vice it is,--superinduced by idleness and close confinement. When the first indications of these troubles appear, the attendant should watch the birds closely for a few moments, when the aggressors can soon be detected. They should be removed at once and confined by themselves, or placed in yards with older birds already feathered out, which affords them no temptation to practice their newly acquired art.

If this is not done at once the vice becomes general, and disastrous consequences are sure to follow. If it has already attained headway, before the novice detects it, he must change them to new quarters; a grassy area is best, where they usually forget all about it. This can be readily done, as the operator should always have a spare roll of eighteen-inch wire netting on hand with which he can enclose a given area in a few moments. Too much cannot be said in favor of this wire, it is so cheap, portable and convenient. It can be taken up and removed in an incredibly short time to facilitate plowing and disinfecting the yards. While it effectually separates the birds, it affords little or no impediment to the attendant during the process of watering and feeding. I fasten this wire up to short stakes driven in the ground, using small staples for the purpose. When removed it can be rolled up, stakes and all, without disturbing the staples.

It is then ready for resetting or stowing away for next season's work. This wire is now the cheapest of all fencing for poultry work,--much more so, even, than lath-fencing; and has the great advantage of being portable and far more durable than any other material. Two-inch mesh, No. 19 wire, can be had now for three-quarters cent a square foot by the single roll, and proportionately cheaper by the quantity. Never purchase No. 20 wire, as it will prove unsatisfactory in the end. It is not self-supporting and can only be kept in position by boards, both above and below. There is great difference in the quality of this wire; that made by some firms being of so soft material that it will not stand alone. The squares soon become ellipses, and your eighteen-inch wire settles to a foot. The best I have ever used is that made by the Gilbert & Bennett Manufacturing Company, Georgetown, Conn.

Previous to this our oldest ducklings will have reached the extreme end of the brooding-house, and it will be filled to its utmost capacity. In order to make room for the successive hatches I drive the older hatches out and round to my cold buildings, two in number. These buildings are each seventy-five feet long, with contiguous yards one hundred feet deep. The slides in the buildings are left open, and the ducklings are at liberty to go out or in as they see fit,--a privilege of which they avail themselves as the state of the atmosphere inclines. These yards always have a thick mat of rye growing on them. The partition wires have been set up and the young birds are quietly driven to their respective quarters.

After ducklings reach the age of six weeks, it is not necessary to confine them in buildings during the night. Indeed, they are far better not, unless it is extremely cold, or there is danger from vermin. Even severe rainstorms will not injure them. They should be watched carefully, however, as they are apt, during their antics, to fall over on their backs, when, through suction from the wet and muddy ground, they are seldom able to turn back again. Prompt assistance should be rendered, or it will surely be too late, as the back of a duckling is his most susceptible part. After the birds are six weeks old it will not be necessary to feed more than three times per day, gradually substituting meal for bran, until the birds are eight weeks old, when their food should be, at least, three-quarters meal. There should also be a steady increase of animal food after the seventh week.

Careful Watering Even More Essential Than Food.

Particular care should be taken at this time to give the birds all they need to drink, or your food will be thrown away, as they require more water during the warm weather. They will consume and waste vast quantities, and the water supply should be made as convenient as possible, to facilitate the business. Our water is forced by a windmill into a two hundred-barrel tank, and leads from there through pipes into brooding and breeding houses, into the yards and mixing room,--all with a view to saving labor and time. The water-pans in the buildings are raised six or eight inches from the ground to prevent the birds getting in or wasting the water.

At this stage, during warm, dry spells, the dried excrement of the birds will accumulate on the surface of the ground. This, as a matter of economy, as well as a sanitary necessity, should be carefully swept up before a rain, as the birds will sometimes drink water from the puddles standing around, and it will often seriously affect their appetites, as both yards and droppings are very offensive when wet. Shade is absolutely necessary at this age during warm weather, as ducklings can never be made in good condition when exposed to the sun during the extreme heat of summer. It affects their appetites at once, reducing the consumption of food by one-half. It is always well, if possible, to locate your yards so that the birds can have access to shade. If not, artificial shade must be constructed to meet the ends.

My plan is to set up four stakes, about 6x10 feet, forming a parallelogram. Sideboards should be nailed on these stakes about two feet high. These can be covered with old boards, pine boughs, bushes, or thatched over with meadow hay,--whatever is most convenient to the grower. Great care should be taken in feeding by giving all the concentrated food the birds can be made to eat, and no more, as the largest of them will be ready for market when nine weeks old. Frighten and excite the birds as little as possible while sorting them. The best way to do this is to use a wide board some ten feet long, with two holes cut in the upper side near the middle. These holes should be two feet apart, and large enough to admit the hands for convenient handling. Fifteen or twenty of the birds should be driven in a corner and confined with this board. The birds should now be taken by the neck, one at a time, the largest and choicest selected for market, the rejected ones put in a temporary yard by themselves.

This process should be repeated until the whole hatch is sorted, when the culls can be returned to their old quarters. They will have a better chance than before, and in a few days will be as good as the others. The oldest hatches, which usually come out in February and March, are all sent to market. The price is too high to save for breeders, but from subsequent hatches, those that come out in April and May, we select our breeding stock.

How to Select Breeding Stock.

Even these birds will command a high price, but I cannot afford to wait longer. I am very particular in this selection. The birds must not only be of the largest size, but of the most perfect form. The contour of head and neck, size and shape of bill, length and width of body, all are taken into consideration. As a consequence, not more than one in ten will be found to fill the bill, and my 2,500 breeding birds will be selected from many thousands. The result of all this care and solicitude on my part has been extremely gratifying, as it has not only given me the control of the fancy market, but the birds have always commanded a higher price in the general market on account of their large size and fattening properties.

As the ducklings are now ready for market, it is necessary that the grower should make some arrangements for disposing of them. He cannot afford to sell them alive to the carts, for though this may be a great convenience to persons who grow a few fowls, the profits which enable these parties to run their collecting carts all over the country, and hire men to pick and dress their fowls, will be quite an item in the pocket of the one who grows on a large scale. The best plan for him is to hire an expert to do his picking for him, and if he cannot get one, to take lessons of one so that he can do it himself. This is a very particular business, as there is a great knack in it. Years ago I thought I knew something about picking ducks, but after watching an expert for thirty minutes I was enabled to double my day's work.

This usually has the same effect upon others. For though it may be weeks before the tyro will be able to do what would be called a fair day's work, yet if he keeps his wits about him, and is endowed with a fair share of energy, there will be constant improvement. I received a letter a short time since from a lady in Ohio, saying that she was very much interested in growing ducklings, and was satisfied that there was money in it, but that her greatest trouble was in getting them picked, as it cancelled a large share of the profits, and that she hired a woman for the purpose and paid her twenty-five cents apiece for picking; at the same time saying that she could not bear to pay the woman less, as it took her a half day to pick one duck.

Method of Dressing Ducklings.

A fair day's work for an expert is forty ducks per day, though I have had men who could pick seventy-five and do it well. The process is very simple. All that is necessary is a chair, a box 2x3 feet and 2 feet high for the feathers, a few knives, and a smart man to handle them. One knife should be double-edged and sharp-pointed, for bleeding. The bird should be held between the knees, the bill held open with the left hand, and a cut made across the roof of the mouth just below the eyes. The bird should then be stunned by striking its head against a post, or some hard substance.