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NATURAL
AND
ARTIFICIAL
DUCK CULTURE
JAMES RANKIN
_Price 50 Cents._
FIFTH EDITION, REVISED AND ENLARGED
SOUTH EASTON, MASS.
1906
Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1906, by
JAMES RANKIN,
In the Office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington, D. C.
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
DESIGNED AND COMPILED BY
H. A. SUMMERS
BOSTON, MASS.
[Illustration: BIRDS-EYE VIEW MAPLEWOOD FARM. JAMES RANKIN,
PROPRIETOR.]
INTRODUCTION.
Our original motive in publishing this little book, was one of
self-defense, to relieve ourselves, in a measure, of a correspondence
which was becoming much too large for the time at our disposal. After
reading from fifty to one hundred letters per day, from people, asking
all manner of questions concerning the hatching, growing and marketing
of ducks, in detail, there were not hours enough in the twenty-four to
answer them. This book was published to send out with our machines to
meet these queries and give our patrons our method of growing, supposing
it would cover all the points in duck-culture, but it does not as yet
answer the ends. The questions still come in far beyond our ability to
answer, and as our fourth edition is about exhausted, we now publish a
fifth, revised, enlarged and illustrated; also adding a Question Bureau,
which will answer many of the questions which have reached us during the
past few years concerning the growing, as well as the diseases to which
the Pekin duck is subject. Though we have been in this business for
nearly forty years, and have been eminently successful, we do not claim
to know all about it; but by persistent effort, careful selection and
breeding, have succeeded in developing a mammoth strain of Pekin ducks,
which, for symmetry, precocity and fecundity (experts who have visited
our place from all parts of the country tell us), stand unrivalled on
this continent.
Many of our customers write us that their birds average from 150 to 165
eggs per season. We would say that there is no domestic bird under so
perfect control, so free from diseases of all kinds, or from insect
parasites as the Pekin duck. From the time the little bird is hatched
until it is full grown and ready to reproduce its own species, it is
under the perfect control of the intelligent operator, who can produce
feathers, flesh or bone at will, and even mature the bird and compel it
to lay at four-and-a-half months old. There is no bird in existence that
will respond to kind treatment, generous care and feed as the Pekin
duck. On the other hand, there is no bird more susceptible to improper
feed or neglect, and a sad mortality is sure to follow among the little
ones, where proper food and system are wanting. It may surprise some one
to know that the predisposition to disease may exist in the egg from
which the little bird is hatched, or even in the condition of the parent
bird which produces the egg. Strong physique in animal life, as in man,
are like exotics, requiring the most assiduous care and cultivation, and
are the most difficult to transmit.
Defects, like weeds, seem indigenous to the soil and will reproduce with
unerring regularity, and will often crop out in all directions,
generations after you think you have wiped it all out. So it is one
thing to produce an egg from good, strong, vigorous stock during the
winter in inclement weather, when all nature is against you, and so
poorly fertilized that if it hatches at all, will hatch a chick so
enfeebled in construction that no amount of petting or coaxing can
induce it to live, but quite another to produce an egg so highly
vitalized, that it will be sure to hatch a healthy young bird, bound to
live under all circumstances. But this is not all the danger. The
operator, though he may have good eggs, may be neglectful or ignorant,
and the health of the young birds seriously injured during the hours of
incubation; or he may have a defective machine which under no condition
can turn out healthy birds. With healthy, vigorous parent stock,
judicious care and food, there is no reason why good hatches of strong,
healthy young birds may not be obtained, and the same matured with very
little loss.
Natural and Artificial Duck Culture.
It is only within a few years that the public at large have become awake
to the importance of the poultry interests in the country. Formerly it
was supposed to be of insignificant proportions compared to the beef and
pork product. But recent statistics show that the poultry interests in
magnitude not only exceed either of the above, but are vastly on the
increase year by year. Yet, strange to say, the supply, enormous as it
is, does not keep pace with the demand. As a natural consequence, we are
obliged to import millions of dozens of eggs from Europe, and carloads
of poultry of all descriptions from Canada. (December 21, 1888, a train
of twenty refrigerator cars loaded with dressed poultry, aggregating 200
tons, arrived in Boston from Canada,--$50,000 worth of dressed poultry
at one shipment.) Still the demand goes on. Our large cities, which form
the principal market for poultry and eggs, are growing larger every
year. The rich men who inhabit them are growing richer and more
numerous, and are always ready to pay the poulterer a good round price
for a first-class article. Good poultry has not only become an every day
necessity to the well-to-do classes, but is a common article of diet at
least six months of the year on the workingman's table. It is everywhere
recognized by physicians as the best and most palatable, as well as the
most wholesome and nutritious, of all our flesh diets.
Duck Culture an Important Industry.
Duck culture now assumes a most important part in the poultry business,
and yet, until within a few years, people did not suppose that ducks
were fit to eat. But now the public appetite is fast becoming educated
to the fact that a nice, crispy, roasted duckling of ten weeks old is
not only a dish fit for an epicure, but is far ahead of either turkey,
chicken or goose. As a natural consequence, the demand for good ducks is
rapidly increasing. One of the principal poultry dealers in Boston
assured me that his sales of ducks had nearly doubled each season for
the past five years. Twenty years ago, when growing less than 1500 ducks
yearly, I was obliged to visit the city markets personally and tease the
dealers to purchase my birds in order to secure anything like
satisfactory prices. Now, with a ranch capacity of nearly 20,000 ducks
yearly, I cannot fill my orders.
Pond or Lake Not Necessary.
The reason is very plain. Formerly people supposed that ducks could not
be successfully grown without access to either pond, stream or coast
line. As a natural consequence, a large share of the birds sold in the
markets were grown on or near the coasts, fed largely on fish, partially
fattened, and were anything but a tempting morsel. For years there have
been large establishments on the Long Island shores devoted to
duck-culture. Large seines and nets were used regularly to secure the
fish on which the young birds were fed and fattened. These birds grew to
a large size and attained a fine plumage, but, as might be surmised,
their flesh was coarse and fishy. Occasionally a person was found who
relished these birds, but the majority of people preferred to eat their
fish and flesh separately. Now this is all changed.
Duck-culture of today is quite a different thing from the days of yore.
Then, the young birds were confided to the tender mercies of the old
hen. Now, the business is all done artificially. The artificially-grown,
scrap-fed duckling of the interior is a far different bird from his
fishy-fed brother of the coast. He has been educated to a complete
indifference to water except to satisfy his thirst. Taught to take on
flesh and fat instead of feathers, his body is widened out and rounded
off, and, when properly denuded of his feathers, is a thing of beauty.
Ducks In Great Demand for Food.
This sudden popularity of the duck in our markets, the great demand for
them on the tables of our epicures, together with the immense profits
realized from growing them, has naturally created quite an interest
among poultry men; so much so that I am constantly flooded with letters
filled with inquiries as to which is the best variety to raise, which
are the best layers, if they can be hatched in incubators, what kind of
buildings are necessary, the amount of profit realized,--in short,
wishing me to give them the whole thing in detail, which, were one
willing, it would be completely out of one's power to do. As there seems
to be no work published in the country to meet this case and answer
these queries, in pure self-defense, and through earnest persuasion of
many friends, I shall, to the best of my ability, through this little
treatise, endeavor to answer them, together with many other points which
will naturally suggest themselves.
I shall confine myself almost entirely to an exposition of the
artificial method, giving my own experience in the business for the last
thirty years in detail. In doing this, the most approved buildings will
be (both for brooding and breeding) described in full, together with
cuts of the egg in different stages of incubation, and the living and
dead germ compared, and how to distinguish each, plainly told. Just here
let me say that a great deal of skepticism prevails among people in
general and farmers in particular. They do not believe in the success of
artificial poultry growing, or, indeed, of growing it in large numbers
in any other way. As a proof of their assertions they will tell you that
more than three-fourths of the people who attempt the business on a
large scale make a complete failure of it. And it is the plain truth.
There are few communities in this country, large as it is, but that, at
some time in the past, has had a bogus incubator within its limits, or a
good one that has been badly managed. The unfortunate experience of
these men has spread for miles in all directions. There is but one
verdict. The man is never condemned. The system is so denounced that a
strong prejudice exists against all incubators, which it is difficult to
combat. Every town, too, has had its representative poultry man who has
erected extensive building's with a view to growing poultry on a large
scale in the natural way. He, too, has met with disaster. Failure has
attended his efforts, and the community is still more embittered against
the whole thing, and the emphatic "It can't be done," meets you on every
side.
Now, there is a cause for all this. Where is it? In the men. They do not
comply with the conditions of success, and failure is the result. We
will endeavor to give some of the reasons why: Nearly three-fourths of
these people come from the city. Now, city people have unfortunately
imbibed the impression that the necessary amount of brains and executive
ability required to successfully run a mercantile, manufacturing or
broker's business in the city is largely in excess of that required to
run a successful poultry or agricultural ranch in the country.
Raising Poultry in the Country.
Men who have impoverished themselves by repeated failures in the city
come out to retrieve their fortunes by raising poultry in the country.
They visit your place and see thousands of young ducklings of all sizes
and ages, each one vieing with the other as to which will consume the
most food. They are completely carried away with the sight. They
question you closely in regard to the profit derived from the business,
and then openly avow their intention of doing the same thing themselves.
You advise beginning small, and meekly suggest the possibility of
failure through inexperience. The incredulous smile that plays over
their features informs you that advice is wasted. "Why, haven't I read
up all the poultry journals and got the whole thing down fine?"
Others, still, who, from close confinement at sedentary work in the
city, are anxious to engage in a business which promises equally to
restore their health as well as to provide them a livelihood. These
invalids come out with their exhausted energies and dilapidated
constitutions to engage in a business which, to insure success, requires
a minuteness of detail and intensity of application second to none. They
are unequal to the six or eight hours required of them on a revolving
stool in the counting-room in the city, but are equal to the fourteen
and sixteen hours indispensable to the poultry business in the country.
Is it strange that a large proportion of these men fail?
Others, still, come to us wishing to engage in the business, at the same
time candidly acknowledging their complete ignorance and inexperience.
They frankly state their circumstances. They are poor, with families to
support, and are not afraid of work, throwing themselves, as it were,
upon one's mercy. They seek a good, healthy and fairly profitable
occupation in which they can cultivate the physique and morals of their
children away from the temptations of city life. Now you take kindly to
such men; readily forfeit any advantages which may accrue to yourself
through want of candor on your part, gauge their calibre, and to the
best of your ability measure their chances of success, and give them the
best advice you can, which advice usually is to begin small,--say with
one machine, buildings in proportion, and increase their plant as their
experience and judgment dictates.
Raise Ducks and Chicks.
But the reader will say: "What has all this to do with duck-culture?"
Simply this: It is to give the would-be poultry enthusiast some idea of
what he has to contend with before he begins. To convince him that this
is no child's play--that the care of young ducks and chicks means early
hours and late. The closest confinement and application is required for
at least six months of the year, and if he is at all afraid of hard work
or of soiling his fingers, he had better stop where he is. The theory
that the poultry business furnishes a good occupation for little boys
and girls, superannuated old men and invalids, has long since exploded.
We advise people to secure a fair share of health before they begin and
then they will be sure to keep it. As an inducement to all, I would say
that there is nothing in the way of farm industry or any other
legitimate occupation which will at all compare with the profits
obtained from poultry when artificially conducted. There are, however,
a few notable exceptions in favor of watered railroad stock, bogus
mining shares, patent medicines, and the business done by our bank
cashiers when guaranteed a safe transit through to Canada. I would
advise all contemplating the poultry business to combine the growing of
ducks and chicks together, for the reason that more profit can be
realized from both than from either alone, because they do not
necessarily interfere with each other, and the same buildings and
machinery can be utilized for both. The brooding-house should be filled
with chicks in November and December, which they will have outgrown by
February, when the building will be required for ducklings. The
ducklings, strange to say, though two months younger, will be ready for
market as soon as the chicks (provided the latter are held for roasters,
as they should be) and they will both be in the market in time to
command the highest prices. This is what the poulterer should always
cater for, and machinery alone will enable him to do it. He who expects
to incubate with old hens during the winter will surely get left. But
more of this hereafter.
Select A Good Site.
The first thing for one to do (if he is not already located), is to
select a good site. It should have a gradual slope to the east or south,
enough for natural drainage. No matter how poor the land, it will be
rich enough before your fowls get through with it. I need not say that
in those regions where snow lies upon the ground four or five months of
the year, the conditions are not as favorable for the poultry grower as
near the coast line, where snow, though a frequent visitor, remains but
a few weeks or days at a time. In the one case it means close
confinement to the fowls a great part of the winter, with want of
exercise and consequent want of action in the digestive organs. The food
is not assimilated, the fowls become debilitated, and though they may
give a fair share of eggs, these eggs can seldom be depended upon to
hatch. It is true, the active poulterer may overcome this in a measure
by clearing away the snow for ten or fifteen feet in front of his
buildings after each storm, and by a free use of barn chaff and chopped
straw induce his fowls to go out on sunny days, but all this increases
his work and makes the conditions against him. I simply mention these
facts, assuming that where a man has his choice of locations, these
hints may have their proper weight in the matter.
Advantages with Ducks.
The same rule holds good in a measure with breeding ducks, though not in
so great a degree. For instance, your hen when closely confined seems to
lose her ambition, and spends a large part of her time on the perches,
apparently indifferent to all sublunary things. Not so your duck. She is
in constant motion, no matter how small her quarters. No meditation for
her. Indeed, the days seem too short for her to exercise in, and so she
keeps it up through a great part of the night. Her greatest ambition
seems to be to distribute the few quarts of water you have given her for
drink, evenly all over the pen you have just covered with dry,
finely-chopped straw, and make it as sloppy as possible, and it is
astonishing in how short a space of time she will succeed in doing it.
Again, snow and ice are the aversion of the hen.
She cannot be induced to step in either except under pressure of
circumstances. Not so your duck. She likes nothing better than to be out
in a snow bank during a thaw, and if she can only work it up into the
color and consistency of mud it suits her exactly. She does not mind
the cold if she can only keep her feet warm. She is clothed with an
impenetrable coat of feathers and an equally thick coat of down. She
does not take kindly to confinement in a building and will utter her
constant protest, and like the average school boy of ten prefers to
suffer from the cold outside to being comfortable in. Therefore, the
main point in breeding early ducks and erecting buildings for the same,
next to supplying them with the right kind of food, is to keep their
feet warm. Cold feet affect the winter laying of the duck the same as a
frozen comb affects the hen. It stops the egg production at once.
Locate Near a Railroad.
Your plant should be located on a line of railroad, in direct
communication with one or more of our great city markets, and not too
far from the station, as you will necessarily be in frequent and close
communication with that.
Arrange the Buildings.
to secure good room in front, also good drainage, and especially with a
view to reducing the labor to a minimum, both inside and out. Always
remember that the labor is the most expensive part of the poultry
business. Now is the time for forethought and caution--save all the
steps, all the work you can. You will never suffer from want of
exercise, if your fowls do. I never knew a case of gout in a man in the
poultry business in my life. It is well, also, when arranging a poultry
plant, to make provision for future contingencies, so that should one in
the course of time and experience wish to increase his plant and the
size of his buildings longitudinally he will have plenty of room to do
it, by simply moving the end of his building out as far as he wishes
and filling in between. I have been obliged to do this several times in
the course of my experience, and have the past Fall built a double
brooding house 250 feet long by 16 feet wide.
One important point in erecting poultry buildings is the difficulty in
building them,
Warm, Cheap, and Rat-proof.
Formerly I built stone foundations on which were placed the buildings,
cementing the stone work to the sill carefully inside and out. This
proved in the end not only an expensive but a very unsatisfactory
arrangement, for cement it as one would the action of the frost would
always part the sill from the foundation and admit the cold air from all
around just where it should be kept warm. I have since hit upon a plan
which has not only met the case but is comparatively inexpensive. Place
posts, with one square side to them, about four feet apart, on which
place the 2x4 inch sill. Set these posts in the ground so that the tops
rise but one inch above the surface, with the flat side exactly
horizontal and perpendicular to the inside of the sill. Then sink a
hemlock board twelve or fourteen inches wide into the ground inside of
the building, and immediately in front of the two-inch sill, until the
upper edge is flush with the upper side of the sill, nailing it firmly
thereto, filling up inside nearly to a level of the top of the sill.
This gives a warm, cheap foundation on which the frost does not act.
Hemlock, too, seems to have an affinity for moisture and will last in
that condition from eight to ten years, when it can be easily renewed.
This arrangement is also comparatively rat-proof, as a hemlock board is
a rat's aversion. It does not agree with their teeth. They cannot
possibly dig under during the frozen months of the year, and as it
affords them no concealment they do not care to, during the warm season.
The Outside Plan of a Breeding and Brooding House
with the exception of a little more glass in the latter, should be
precisely the same both for ducks and ducklings. The internal
arrangements can be made to suit. As I shall give a full description
with cuts of this building later, I will now merely give the manner in
which it should be arranged as a good breeding-house for ducks. This
building should be fifteen feet wide and any length required. It should
have an uneven double roof, five-foot posts in the rear and four foot in
front. About one-quarter of this front should be glass. There should be
a walk the entire length of the building three and one-half feet wide.
The main body of the building should be divided into pens twenty feet
long, by either lath or wire two feet high.
The walk should be separated from the pens by laths three inches apart,
to allow the birds to feed and water from the walk. This method
simplifies the labor very much, as it enables the operator to load his
barrow, travel the whole length of a 200-foot building and feed and
water 500 ducks in a few minutes. This arrangement has many other
advantages besides, as it permits the birds to feed and water readily
from the walk without being able to waste either, or mix the contents of
food and water-dishes with filth. It also prevents the birds from
sopping the straw in the bottom of their pens, or of soiling their white
plumage, both of which they are bound to do if possible, and as the
duck, especially the Pekin, is a very timid bird, this plan familiarizes
her with the appearance of the attendant without bringing her into
actual contact with him.
Use Half the Pens for Feeding Purposes.
One-half or ten feet of the twenty-foot pens should be utilized for
feeding purposes. The lower board of this slat partition should not be
more than three inches wide and should rest upon the ground so the birds
can readily feed over it. As this ten-foot partition is but two feet
high, the attendant can readily step over it to pick up a stray egg
occasionally. Six feet of this partition should be portable and secured
with a groove or button so it can be easily removed to allow the
entrance of a barrow in cleaning out the pens; this should be done when
the birds are out, never when they are in.
The remaining ten feet of the pen should be used for nest boxes, which
can be fifteen inches square and one foot high. A board four inches wide
may be fastened in front to prevent the nest material from being drawn
out. This latter may be composed of finely cut hay or chaff. This must
be perfectly dry, as the duck while laying will work it all over and
cover her eggs carefully, which as they are pure white, become easily
soiled and stained; this will necessitate washing unless things are kept
dry and clean. This is a vital point with us, as it never did seem as if
a filthy egg would hatch as well as a clean one. I abominate a machine
filled with filthy eggs; it actually hurts my feelings to handle them.
These nests should be covered closely and the partition above them be
correspondingly high, as the birds will often mount upon the boxes. The
back of the nest boxes next the walk should be closed with a board
hinged below so that the attendant can let it down readily and secure
the eggs from the walk.
The Room for Mixing Feed.
Some twelve feet of this breeding-house may be utilized as a cook and
mixing room, and must necessarily be a little higher posted than the
rest of the building,--say, two feet higher. This cookroom, with boiler,
is an essential thing in a duck-house. Unlike hens, they do not take
kindly to hard food and whole grain. Their digestive organs, in many
points, are different from the hens, and they do not assimilate hard
food readily. They require more vegetable food, and those vegetables
must be cooked,--but more about this hereafter.
Of course, this building should be sweet and clean, and must be well
deodorized; for, though ducks do not generate vermin like other fowl,
and are not subject to as many diseases, or as readily affected by
thermal changes,--in fact, a good driving rainstorm is their
delight,--yet they will not thrive when confined in filthy quarters. It
engenders a morbid appetite, impairs digestion, and your bird is poor
before you know it. This, of course, arrests the egg production at once.
I wish here to impress upon the breeder the absolute necessity of the
careful handling and feeding of his birds; and, when necessary, handle
very gently, always taking the bird by the neck. This is very essential,
because the bones of a well-bred, well-fatted duck seem wholly
disproportioned to the size and weight of his body, and we have often
seen a wing broken or a leg disjointed by the convulsive efforts of the
bird to escape when caught by those members through the carelessness of
the attendant.
The timidity of the Pekin is proverbial. You should move quietly among
your layers if you would have them thrive, as constant agitation and
disquietude will surely debilitate them and reduce their flesh. I have
known a pair of heavy exhibition birds to lose a pound per day during
their confinement the first four days of exhibition, and to be eight
pounds lighter than they were ten days before when started for the show.
Their recuperative powers are equally wonderful. I have often seen
Pekin ducks, after having produced one hundred eggs in nearly as many
days, on evincing a desire to sit, and being somewhat reduced in flesh,
when shut up in a yard with drakes and well fed, in less than a week
commence her regular contribution of an egg per day.
Water Not Needed.
The majority of people have the impression that water to bathe in is
essential to secure fertility in duck eggs, but it is a great mistake.
My ducks never see water, the year round, except to drink. They are
confined in yards 24x100 feet, some forty in each yard, twenty-four feet
being the size of the pens inside of the breeding house. They are
confined in these yards for nine months, or till August 1, when they are
removed in order that the land may be disinfected. This is done by
plowing and growing a crop of barley or rye, when the land is ready for
the ducks again.
Free Range Unnecessary.
I am constantly experimenting to see if there are defects in my system.
A few years ago I had thirty breeding-yards devoted to ducks. I wished
to ascertain the difference in egg production and percentage of
fertility between ducks yarded close and those with free range, the feed
and other conditions being the same. One lot of fifty ducks were allowed
the range of a five-acre lot, in addition to their own yard. They ranged
in common with our cows, there being plenty of grass. Another lot of
seventy-five were allowed the range of the whole premises, with the same
feed and care as the eight yards confined. The latter were liberally
supplied with all the green and vegetable food needed. The egg
production and the fertility of each were carefully noted. I was much
surprised to find that the difference was very little, and that in favor
of the birds confined.
The Mode of Feeding.
differs with the season of the year. During the autumn and early winter
months feed twice each day about equal quantities of corn-meal,
wheat-bran, and boiled turnips and potatoes, with about ten per cent. of
ground beef scrap thrown in. At noon, give a small amount of dry food,
composed of equal quantities of cracked corn, oats, and wheat. When the
birds commence laying, as they will about January 1st, gradually
increase the quantity of meal and animal food, proportionally decreasing
the amount of bran.
The Pekin Duck.
is my favorite. I have experimented carefully during the last thirty
years with all the larger breeds, crossing them in every conceivable way
to obtain the best results, and am perfectly satisfied with the Pekins.
I am now through experimenting, and as I grow nearly 20,000 ducklings
yearly, can hardly afford to guess at it, as one cent per bird makes a
difference of over $200. in my receipts,--one cent per pound, a
difference of over $1200. It is readily seen that I can only afford to
use the bird that will grow the greatest number of pounds of flesh in
the shortest space of time. Nor is this all. It must be the bird that
will give you the first eggs of the season, as this will enable you to
get your birds on the market when they will command the highest price,
as there is more clear profit from one early bird than from three later
ones. This will be the more readily understood when it is known that the
maximum price paid for early birds is thirty cents per pound in Boston
and New York, the minimum price for late ones eighteen cents, the cost
of production being the same for both.
[Illustration: PEKIN DUCKS.]
The Pekin Combines the Best Points.
The Pekin is the only bird that will cover all these points. It has two
slight defects,--its extreme timidity and its heavy, coarse voice, which
it does not scruple to use when congregated in large numbers. The former
can be easily overcome by careful handling. But to off-set these defects
the Pekin will not only produce the first eggs of the season, but by far
the greatest number of any of the breeds, with one exception, the Indian
Runner. They mature earlier, are more hardy and domestic in their
habits, never wandering far, and always returning to the coops at night.
They are not mischievous, and require less water than either of the
other breeds.
My birds have for generations been bred in dry yards, with simply water
to drink, and all desire for it for other purposes seems to have been
bred out of them. When allowed their freedom in the fall, the flocks
never visit the brook, fifteen or twenty rods distant, and when driven
there occasionally for the purpose of purifying their feathers, get out
again just as soon as possible. Indeed, after a water bath their
feathers cling to their bodies, and they present the same bedraggled
appearance that the old hen did many years ago after one had immersed
her in a water-barrel to cure her propensity for sitting.
A wealthy New Yorker ordered a dozen of my best ducks, a year or two
ago. In a few weeks he wrote that he wished to return them, as they did
not answer his purpose; "for," said he, "I have an artificial lake on my
lawn, near my piazza, and I wanted these ducks to disport in the water
for the pleasure of my wife and children, and they will not go in the
water at all unless I drive them in with a whip, and I have to stand
guard over them all the time, as they get out the moment my back is
turned." I wrote him in return that had I known he wanted the ducks for
their aquatic performances, I should have recommended the common puddle
duck, when he would have had as much trouble to get them out of the
water as he had to get the Pekins in.
Feathers are Pure White.
Another advantage of the Pekin over the other breeds is their pure
white, elastic feathers which are largely mixed with down. These
feathers readily command from forty to fifty cents per pound, and as the
reader can see, are no mean source of income, especially when the birds
are grown in large numbers. These birds, as their name indicates,
originated in China. They are large, beautiful birds, of a proud, erect
carriage, with pure white plumage outside. The inside feathers are
slightly cream colored. The neck is long and gracefully curved; the head
long and finely shaped, with a full bright eye. The legs and beak are of
a very dark orange, and form a fine contrast to the pure white
feathers. The minimum weight of our birds when matured is about fourteen
pounds per pair, while the very heaviest will tip the scales at
twenty-two pounds. My first experience with ducks commenced more than
forty years ago. We used the common puddle ducks and grew them for the
city market. The ducks were very small and so were the profits. They
were fed but little and allowed full range, consequently the home ties
were not strong.
Those ducks followed the little brook in the pasture through swamps and
marshes for half a mile in either direction, wholly regardless of farm
limits. If we expected any eggs from those ducks they should have been
safely housed at night. This task devolved upon the boys. Now our
paternal head, though a kind and indulgent parent (unfortunately for
us), had the impression that boys were made to work, and work we did.
Now, what boy of ten or twelve years had not rather chase ducks through
the mud in the swamp than to wield the hoe among the weeds in the corn
field? It was our recreation, our chief solace and delight through those
long, hot summer days--the anticipation of that duck hunt in the
evening. I think our extraordinary love for the duck hailed from this
date. Later on we used a cross between a Rouen and Cayuga. This cross
made a much larger and better market bird. The flesh was better
flavored. They produced more eggs and began earlier in the spring,
consequently prices and profits slightly improved.
These birds did not stray as far, but were as fond of mud and water as
their little predecessors. It was a pleasing and comical sight to see
three or four hundred of these ducklings of all ages, when first let out
in the morning, run down the hill in their eager haste to reach the
swamp, a part of them right side up, then rolling over and over on their
broadsides; others still reversing themselves end for end down the
steep incline, apparently a matter of supreme indifference how, so long
as they reached the mud first.
These ducklings always returned at night with their numbers more or less
depleted, as they were the legitimate prey of skunks, minks, weasels and
mud turtles; and if we reached the summer's end with sixty per cent. of
the original number we were well satisfied. All this has been changed.
We have learned a number of points on duck culture since then. First,
that all losses by vermin can be easily avoided by yarding your little
birds at home and keeping them under your own eye. Second, that mud and
water externally applied are not essential to their growth and
well-being, and that in fact they will thrive better without.
Ready for Market 3 Months Earlier.
Third, that it is not necessary to keep your birds till they are six
months old in the fall and then put them on the market when it is sure
to be glutted, but much better to market them at ten weeks, when they
are nearly as heavy, and you are sure to get more than double the price,
as well as save three or four months extra feed. There are many other
points connected with this thing which the novice must ponder carefully
before he begins, as a slight mistake in the beginning often means a
great loss in the end. As pioneers in the business we have for many
years been carefully experimenting with the different breeds, different
treatment and variety of food. We have met with many failures, suffered
some loss, but with a gradual improvement through it all, which has been
very encouraging to us, and though we do not claim perfection, yet we
are now reaping a rich harvest compared to which our former losses are
simply insignificant. It is a source of gratification to know that
success has at last crowned our efforts.
When we look back forty years--when year after year chronicled failure
and our best efforts met with loss--when we were the butt, ridicule, and
laughing stock of the whole community; when we were assured again and
again that we were fighting against nature and never could succeed, and
repeated failures only seemed to confirm that assertion,--and compare it
with the present, when we can grow our birds by the thousands, regulate
the growth, control the mortality, and grow flesh or feathers at will;
have shortened the precocity, increased fecundity, and even educated the
birds to an aversion for water, which was formerly their home; we have
completely reversed the order of things and taught our birds to
reproduce at a season of the year when all nature is against them, we
can safely feel the victory is won. We hope that our readers will not
only benefit by the experience we shall present, but that many of them
will be able to take this and carry it on where, according to the
natural course of things, we shall be obliged to leave it. We are no
longer young, the infirmities and decrepitude of age are slowly creeping
upon us and admonish us that our days of research are nearly over, and
we find that our life is all too short. But there is a satisfaction in
knowing that others will take this thing up where we leave off and carry
it on to the end.
The Superiority of Artificial Poultry Growing.
We predict a great future for artificial poultry growing. It is yet in
its infancy. The time will come when it will gradually supersede many of
the regular farm crops on the sterile soil of New England, when every
farmer will have his proper complement of poultry appliances, and when
you can prove to the average farmer that the capital necessary to run a
poultry plant (which will with less labor ensure him a greater income
than that from his whole farm) is less than one-fourth of that required
for any other farm investment. You will begin to see him scratch his
head to evolve ideas. The beginner in starting, should recollect that
this is a business of detail and that small things must be taken into
account. It is not only a very essential thing to choose the best
breeding stock that can be had, but, all other conditions being the
same, to select the color of their feathers.
We have always had a predilection in favor of white birds, for the
feathers (which are no small item in ducks) command nearly double the
price of colored ones, and are always more saleable. Again, we must
cater for the market with young birds, and every one knows that young
birds are more or less addicted to pinfeathers, many of which it is very
difficult to remove, as they have secured a lodgment just under the
skin, but have not found their way through. Now a dark pinfeather is a
blot upon the fair surface of a fine chicken or duck, and the thrifty
housewife in selecting her dinner will always leave the pins behind. She
does not like a variety of colors in her duckling, if she does in her
dress. The dealer, aware of this peculiarity of the ladies (who, by the
way, form a large share of his customers) will, if he buys at all, cut
you on the price.
Unfortunately we started in with dark birds, but it did not matter at
that time, as the Pekin had not been imported, and there were very few
Aylesburys in the country. We were surrounded by vermin of all kinds.
Our young birds disappeared mysteriously, and in such large numbers that
we were nearly discouraged. Hawks do not trouble ducks, but rats,
weasels and minks developed such a fondness for them as to completely
atone for any neglect on their part. We made a free use of steel traps,
guns, and phosphoretic poison. The battle raged for two years; at the
end of that time I think it would be difficult to find one of the
above-mentioned vermin one-fourth of a mile from the place. It was a
great relief; our ducklings could range at will, even be left out during
the night, and still the full complement appear at the dough-troughs in
the morning.
Do Not Have Neighbors Too Near.
Another source of discomfort was our neighbors' cats. Now, we are
eminently social in our disposition, and enjoy our neighbors' company
very much. We like to spend a social evening with them and have them do
the same by us. But not so their cats. We never interchanged civilities
with them, their visits were too ill timed and frequent. Our ducklings
were carried off in large numbers, and in pure self-defense we shot the
cats.
Of course, this made trouble in our neighbors' families, especially the
female portion, by whom it was promptly resented. The principle of
"touch my dog, touch me," was illustrated here in all its force. No
amount of provocation ever justified us in their eyes in killing their
cats. With pater familias it was different. His affections were not
engaged. He recognized the necessity of the thing, laughed it off, and
said it was all right. Now, cats breed fast and are very prolific, and
our neighbors were plenty, and we are unwilling to state the amount of
our losses from those sources, for fear our veracity would be doubted.
We endured this sort of annoyance for some twelve years, but made up our
minds that if we ever selected another poultry ranch we would locate our
neighbors at a distance. We have done so, and now have no trouble from
this source.
We found that the Cayuga duck was a more precocious bird than the Rouen,
and were better layers. The eggs were more fertile. They were also much
hardier, and, as a consequence, there was less mortality among the
young. But they were rather small in size, dressing only seven to nine
pounds per pair. The Rouens were nearly four pounds heavier, but had
their disadvantages. They were not so productive in eggs, and those did
not give us the same percentage of hatch, while the mortality among the
little ones was much greater. We do not like to condemn any variety of
birds on one trial, as we may be unfortunate in our selection of a
strain, but our subsequent experience with these birds fully confirms
the above; and though they are a large, attractive bird, we do not
consider them as hardy as either Pekin, Aylesbury or Cayuga.
[Illustration: CAYUGA DUCKS.]
We conceived the plan of crossing this bird with the Cayuga, with a view
of increasing the size, not knowing whether the good or the negative
qualities of the two birds would prevail. We were very much pleased with
the results of this cross, as it gave us all the good qualities of the
Cayuga with the largely increased size of the Rouen. It gave us also a
good table bird, the flesh of which was far better flavored than that of
the puddle duck. We made the duck business then supplementary to that of
growing chickens. Our chicks were hatched out early in the winter in
order to secure the high prices. Our ducks during the spring and summer
were not marketed until fall. We did not expect those ducks to lay till
the first of April, and they did not disappoint us. If anyone had told
us that young ducks could be made to lay at four or five months old, and
that we could have our young broods out by the thousands at that time,
we should have called him insane. We then gave our ducklings free range,
and, as a consequence, lost large numbers of them from eating injurious
insects, which, in their haste, they did not stop to kill, and paid the
penalty with their lives.
[Illustration: ROUEN DUCKS.]
Now, the genuine duckling is proverbially stupid. He has an immense
faculty for getting himself into trouble, without the first idea as to
how he shall get out. As, for instance, we had taken up some old
fence-posts one day, and carelessly left the holes (some two feet deep)
unfilled. When feeding time came at night we missed many of our little
ducklings, and, at the same time, heard a great squeaking, which we
could not locate. We finally traced it to the post-holes, which we found
nearly full of young ducklings, not much the worse for the adventure.
When we look back at the difficulties with which we had to contend, and
the losses we sustained in consequence, I often wonder that we were not
discouraged. It was blunder after blunder, repeated always with the same
results. We had very little idea of the systematic care and regular food
required to ensure against loss and enable the young birds to attain a
weight in a few weeks which we supposed required almost as many months.
We still had the impression that water was essential to the welfare of
the birds, both old and young, and that eggs would not be fertile unless
copulation took place in the water. So we built a tank for use during
the dry season of the year (which held about a hogshead), and cemented
it thoroughly.
This tank we laboriously filled with water for the birds to sport in,
but it did not work, as it soon became so offensive that we were obliged
to renew it at least every three days, so that we soon became tired of
it, and once more allowed the ducks the liberty of the swamp. We never
obtained more than half of the number of eggs that we now get from our
Pekins. About this time the Aylesbury duck came under our notice, and we
procured a number of them at once, as they came highly recommended, but
they did not meet our expectations. They were a very pretty bird to look
at, and their feathers were more valuable, but there the advantage
ended, for the strain we obtained was a trifle smaller than the mongrels
we had been breeding,--rather more delicate to rear, and, worse than
all, we found it almost impossible to pick them. In all our experience
before or since we have never seen anything to equal those birds. The
tenacity of those feathers was exasperating. Every one was bound to
retain its complement of flesh. Of course the birds were so disfigured
that the most of them were retained for family use. It was no use to
think of scalding them,--that would not only seriously injure the
feathers, but would completely spoil the birds for Boston market, as
scalded birds are rejected at once and classed with cheap Western fowls.
While going the rounds of Boston market one pleasant June day, shortly
after our experience with the Aylesburys, we noticed some fine young
birds nicely dressed, that had evidently snow-white plumage. As this was
before the advent of iced poultry, we supposed the birds had come from
the regions of the far South, and our curiosity was excited. We
interviewed the dealer and was surprised to learn that the birds were
grown to the north of us, and that they were the Pekin ducks we had
heard of for a year or two, but had taken no stock in. Yet here they
were in the market, while ours were toddling about at home less than
half grown. Here was a revelation. We procured some eggs of this party,
at once, and in due time hatched out sixty lively young ducklings. They
were tended with the utmost care and not one was lost. We were very much
interested in these little fellows, they were so hardy, and you could
fairly see them grow. It occurred to me at this time to try and
experiment with these ducklings, keep a correct account of all food
consumed by them, and ascertain what they cost per pound when ready for
market. The average weight was taken from the rejected drakes which we
did not need for breeding purposes, and which were culled out and sent
to market at ten weeks old. We were very much surprised to find the
cost to us (exclusive of the cost of eggs) was about 4-3/4 cents per
pound. We could hardly credit our own eyes. The calculation was made
again and again with the same result. The same calculation was made a
year later on two yards of some three hundred ducklings with a result
obtained, when ready for market, of 5-1/4 cents per pound, including
cost of eggs.
[Illustration: AYLESBURY DUCKS.]