Part 13

QUESTION 1.--Why do my ducks not lay? I feed them all the corn they will eat.

ANSWER.--Ducks will not lay on hard grain alone. They should have a mash composed of equal parts wheat-bran, corn-meal, and twenty per cent. low grade flour, with about one-quarter green food and vegetables; ten per cent. of beef-scrap, with grit and oyster shells.

QUESTION 2.--My ducklings are weak in the legs, cannot stand, and soon die. What is the matter?

ANSWER.--Your trouble is too highly concentrated food and too much of it. Feed on mash composed largely of wheat-bran, low-grade flour and about fifteen per cent. of corn-meal. Mix in plenty of green food, as green rye, clover, corn-fodder, etc. Ten per cent. of ground beef-scrap, or other animal food; five per cent. of coarse sand. This diet is absolutely necessary to properly develop the bird and form flesh, bone and feathers. Feed sparingly. This is essential, as it invites exercise, which is much needed during close confinement in inclement weather.

QUESTION 3.--My ducklings are troubled with sore eyes and do not seem to thrive, what can I do for them?

ANSWER.--This disease savors of filthy quarters, and yet it is not always attributed to that. Improper assimilation of food through want of grit and other ingredients will have a tendency in the same direction. A gummy secretion exudes from the eyes, hardening up among the feathers around them, seriously retarding the growth and development of the bird. Feed sparingly of light food with plenty of grit, and sprinkle a little ginger in their food. Remove the bird to clean quarters and a few days will usually effect a cure.

QUESTION 4.--I am losing my ducklings from diarrhoea. Have but twenty left out of eighty, and they are not ten days old. Please counsel me?

ANSWER.--This disease may have several causes, though I am convinced that the food has but little to do with it. It may originate through the degenerate condition of the parent bird, and consequent want of vitality in the egg from which the little bird comes out in no shape to live; or from the extremes of heat and cold to which the eggs have been subjected during the process of incubation; or from the same cause after the little duckling has been placed in the brooder. I am convinced that with a careful selection of the proper ingredients in feeding the old bird, and a reasonable control of the heat in the incubator and brooder (if they are good ones), there need be but little apprehension from this disease.

QUESTION 5.--My breeding birds have the gapes. They stretch their necks and gape, eat nothing, and die in a few days. Can you diagnose the case and help me?

ANSWER.--This is undoubtedly a lung trouble, for on dissecting the birds, I have always found the lungs not only highly inflamed but nearly gone. For years I had supposed this disease incurable, and incidental to bird and clime, but later experience has convinced me that it is not only largely under control but easily anticipated. First, I never knew a case in summer or early spring, when the birds were not confined to buildings but had free and open range, and only when confined during inclement weather, so that it is more or less a denizen of foul air and filthy quarters.

I would much rather have my breeding houses freeze a little than to have them filled with foetid air, and the birds breathe over and over again the ammonia arising from their own excrements. It is one thing for the birds to be confined over their own ordure, their nostrils but a few inches from it, but quite another with the attendant in the walk with his nose six feet away. He may think his buildings quite clean and free from noxious gases, but could his ducks speak they would tell him a different story. This disease, if taken in the early stages, can usually be cured. Isolate the bird with the first appearance of trouble, in a warm, dry place. Feed on food formula for little ducklings. Mix a little cayenne pepper in the food, a little Douglas Mixture in the drinking water, and a large proportion of the affected birds may be saved. Keep your breeding birds dry and clean when confined.

QUESTION 6.--I turned my ducklings out in a grass plot today and have lost nearly one-third of them. What is the cause?

ANSWER.--This may result from two causes. Ducklings from two to four weeks old are ravenous birds and will devour all manner of insects within their reach, which they do not stop to kill. Bees, wasps, hornets and beetles of all descriptions are acceptable, and the little birds, themselves, often pay the penalty with their lives. Again, at that age, they are extremely sensitive to the heat of the sun, and they must have shade. Years ago, we sometimes lost twenty birds out of a hundred in thirty minutes, before we knew the cause.

QUESTION 7.--How many birds should constitute a breeding-yard?

ANSWER.--Twenty-five is enough unless the birds have free range, then fifty may run together with safety.

QUESTION 8.--How shall I proportion the sexes for the best results?

ANSWER.--Five ducks to one drake. Later in the season, six or eight ducks to one drake.

QUESTION 9.--How can I distinguish the sexes?

ANSWER.--It is easy for the expert to detect the sex of the bird when very young. The drake has a longer bill, neck and body, with a more upright carriage. At two months old the duck may be distinguished by her coarse quack, the drake by a fine, rasping noise, and later on by the curled feathers in his tail.

QUESTION 10.--How soon will a young duck begin laying?

ANSWER.--At about five months old, often at four and a half months old. At present, September 1st, we are getting some three dozen eggs per day from our young birds, and we are trying to hold them back all we can by light feeding.

QUESTION 11.--Which will lay first, old or young birds?

ANSWER.--Young birds will usually lay from two to three weeks before the old ones, but as the first eggs of the old birds are usually more fertile than eggs from the young ones, there is very little discrepancy in the result.

QUESTION 12.--How many eggs will a Pekin duck lay in a season?

ANSWER.--About one hundred and forty. Their fecundity is wonderful, excelling that of any other duck. We have birds in some yards with a record of one hundred and sixty-five eggs to each bird.

QUESTION 13.--To what age is it profitable to keep a duck?

ANSWER.--We have kept them till four years old with good results. If not forced they may be kept longer to advantage.

QUESTION 14.--Is there a market for their eggs, and at what price?