DneKS AND Sfheir Smportance in the ^poultry Sndustry. FULLY ILLUSTRATED. ^^ i^ m ^^*> <^^ •>^^^$.^^^»9 VIZ ALBERT R. MANN LIBRARY New York State Colleges OF Agriculture and Home Economics AT Cornell University THE GIFT OF Paul Pomeroy Ives 2D in Memory Paul Pomeroy Ives Cornell University Library SF 505.R4 Ducks and geese.A valuable collectio 3 1924 003 085 143 The original of this book is in the Cornell University Library. There are no known copyright restrictions in the United States on the use of the text. http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924003085143 ooo 0000^1^0 ooo oooo A VALUABLE COLLECTION OF ARTICLES ON BREEDING, REARING, FEEDING, HOUSING AND / MARKETING / THESE.... PROFITABLE ....FOWLS. CONTRIBUTED TO BY THE BEST AUTHORITIES IN AMERICA. ^\^t St POULT/? jT^ VtSEY ST, FULLY ILLUSTRATED. 4^ ^iT^j PRICE 50 CENTS. Copyright May IS, 1900, by The Rbi ^^^^ra^ra^l H^^IHBflS^Hi^'ll ' ^"jESBiHffBgSi^ \ 1 ^& S^Hfia^^^iffi^*, ■ ; '''^^^ ^^^^A Wm ^^R "^M ■Hi||ra^ifti^^ ^sR ^Ne^ ■"^ "'"^^^^^ mm :(-■*■■■ ON THE RELIABLE POULTRY FARM, QUJNCY, ILL, of Peking exhibited by Mr. Newman weighed twenty-six pounds, the drake weighing fourteen pounds and the hen twelve pounds. Mr. Newman is the owner of a sixty-acre farm on Staten Island, fronting on salt water. Twenty acres of this farm are given up to Pekin ducks, and the past season he raised and marketed between 12,000 and 13,000 ducklings. All ducklings raised for market are sold when between eight and ten weeks old. Such ducks as Mr. Newman breeds then weigh, on an average, five pounds each. At a point between eight and ten weeks of age Peking weigh more than they do a little later, after their first molt, as feather-production de- creases their weight. They are, therefore, marketed just before they begin to drop their first coat of feathers. Mr. Newman begins to hatch out ducklings in January and continues steadily through to the middle of July. Six- teen incubators are used on his farm, ranging in capacity from 200 to 800 eggs. He keeps 520 layers, or breeders, and these, only, are given the freedom of water. Young ducks are never allowed by him to "go swimming," or to get to water in any way except to reach it with their bills to drink. Swimming is often fatal to very young ducks, and prevents their laying on flesh as rapidly as is desired for marketing. Brooding houses heated by the Bramhall, Dean «& Co. hot water pipes are used, from twenty-five to forty duck- lings being allowed to each pen, the indoor pens ranging in size from 4x14 feet to 10x14. Connected with these pens are outdoor runways ranging in size from 4x20 to 10x20. Boards one foot wide, stood on edge, are all the fence required to confine young Pekins. On this farm soft food is fed, no whole grain ever being given to either old or young. The food used consists principally of vegetables, including turnips, beets, potatoes, cabbage, green rye (so long as it remains tender), clover, green corn, etc. Green corn is a favorite food in season. It is sown in rows and cut down when knee high. It is put through a clover cutter and fed with other foods, in the form of a mash. It lends a tenderness and fine flavor to the flesh. Besides vegetable food, a dry-wet mash, consisting of cornmeal, bran and middlings, is fed, together with meat scraps. This dry-wet (not sloppy) mash is fed to ducklings the first week. After the first week meat may be added with safety. Spratt's dried meat is used exten- sively by Mr. Newman, also mixed in the food each day, and oyster shell is fed to both old and young. Said Mr. Newman: "Tell your readers to feed young ducks five times a day during the first ten days. After this feed them three times a day. The old ducks feed twice a day, morning and evening. Give them all they will eat up clean, but no more. Never leave any food before young or old. As soon as they walk away, clean out the troughs and give them what remains with the next feed. "Use troughs ten to twelve feet long. Use a foot-wide board for the bottom, with four-inch sides. Build a lath fence twelve inches high and nail this to the sides and ends of the trough, leaving the top open. Have the laths far enough apart to allow the ducks to get their heads through to eat. Have your water vessels close to the feed troughs, as nearly every time a duck takes one mouthful of food it wants about four swallows of water to wash it down with. I use six inches of the bottom of a barrel for a water vessel, setting it down in the ground half way. Place laths over the water troughs to keep the ducks from getting in with their feet. "We feed our old ducks, our breeders, the same as the DUCKS AND GEESE. 29 young, only heavier. You can get breeding duolcs too fat by feeding whole corn. Feed no whole grain at all. Pish food is excellent for ducks, that is, for breeding stock, but not for young ducks intended for market, as it will taint their flesh. "Ducks and ducklings are surprisingly free from dis- ease. Our one trouble is leg-weakness, caused by cold or over-feeding— too much cornmeal. In case of leg-weakness, feed less cornmeal, more grain food, and give them plenty of bonemeal. Do not give young ducks milk in any form, ex- cept when mixed with other food, as they will dip their heads in it and get it in their eyes, causing sore eyes, and thus disfiguring them. "In the indoor pens use sand or chaff for litter and use enough of it, and change it often enough to keep the quar- ters clean. We clean out thoroughly once a week. Use lit- ter in the outdoor yards also, for your pens must be kept in a healthful condition. "Yes, the greenish colored eggs are all MARKET right; the older ducks are more liable to give DEMAND, you these eggs, but we get mostly white ones. The green eggs often hatch out the largest ducks. "Never handle ducks or geese by the feet, always by the necks. Their legs are very tender. Ducks are extra timid. Do not frighten them. Speak to them whenever you go near them and they will become accustomed to you. Never go to them at night if you can avoid it, and in case you do, leave your lantern behind. To catch them, drive them in a corner and use a bent wire, catching them by the necks, the same as a farmer's wife catches chickens by the legs. "All our ducks that go to market are dry picked. We hang them up by their legs, insert a knife in the root of the mouth, cutting the big veins, then stick the blade into the brain to end their suffering, and pluck the feathers while the body is struggling. At this time they let go of the feathers easily. "As a rule we secure our best prices in April and May. We then get as high as 40 cents per pound, the price running down to 12 cents in August. The average price last season was 18 cents per pound. Our ducklings average five pounds each when dressed. It costs us to raise a duckling to mar- ketable size — well, simply say that after fifteen years' ex- perience, I bear witness that duck farming is, in my judg- ment, the most profitable branch of the poultry industry. The market is certain. My farm is not the largest in the east, not by considerable; there is one farm that markets 35,000 ducklings a season. Not many years ago there was a small demand in the eastern cities for ducks. The people did not then know what a rare morsel an eight or ten weeks' old duckling is. A paying business can be worked up in a short time in any city. I have seen it tried with success. Chicago ought to have near it half a dozen duck farms; so ought St. Paul-Minneapolis, St. Louis, New Orleans, Buffalo, Cleveland, Cincinnati, and many smaller cities. I would be willing to be the first to start in near any one of them.'' PEKIN DUCK FARMING. Facts on Buying:, Breeding, Feeding and Caring for Pekin Ducks Prom One Wlio Raises Them Successfully. BY CHARI,F,S F. NEWMAN, HUGUENOT, S. I., NEW YORK. HE Pekin duck (I speak only of the pure Pekin) is, in my estimation and experience, the most profitable of any variety and, in- deed, the only profitable duck. It grows the largest, matures the quickest, has the finest plumage, lays the most eggs and dresses the easiest and nicest for market. Its color is a glossy, creamy white. Station erect, neck not extremely long and slightly curved, head well formed, broad orange beak and dark, bluish gray eyes. An impor- tant point is the breast, which should be protruding, large, broad and deep. The back is slightly curved and wide. The body should be long and wide to the stern, not running out peaked toward the tail. The wings are short, only covering the back, with wing points ending about at the beginning of the tail, which ought to be short— on drake slightly turned upwards, and when in good plumage showing two curly feathers on top. The average weight of the drake is about 9% pounds. The duck is shaped like the drake, only she is deeper in the stern, full and square. At the laying season, when in good condition, the back part of the body will very nearly touch the ground. The feet of both duck and drake are red without any black. The American Standard of Perfection requires a clear orange beak without any black, which is a hard thing to se- cure and it is rare to find such even in the largest fiocks of the best specimens. In drakes black on the beak ought to be a disqualifica- tion, but in ducks it is unavoidable, a little black streak on the beam will show on 95 per cent of ducks when mated or when they lay their first eggs. You will find this so in the largest and best specimens, while, the small ones will keep their clear beaks the longest. The weight of the duck ought to be eight pounds on the average, but I should add that the weight depends on the time of year. In mating time the vigorous drakes will prove considerably lighter, while the old and lazy ones will hold their weights. At this particu- lar time the ducks will keep the average weight and exceed it until they have been laying some time, when they will lose weight. I will now consider the selection of SELECTION OF breeding stock, as the time is at hand BREEDING when this should be attended to. If you STOCK. intend to purchase ducks for breeders, or if you wish to mate those yon have, now is the time to do it. By waiting you lose both time and money. The birds want to mate from now on, and make themselves at home if put into new quarters. By moving them from one place to another later on you will stop them from laying for some time. If you purchase ducks for breed- ing see that you get early March and April hatched ones — not any later, as the former will give you the best service. Mate this year's ducks to yearling or two year old drakes. A good breeder will always select his breeding stock from the earliest hatched litters without regard to the tempting 30 DUCKS AND GEESE. market price for the young stock, for we want them to lay as early as possible, as it is early spring ducks which bring best prices. I have received as high as 46 cents a pound and as low as 14 cents. I will explain why we select the earliest hatched for breeders. When a hen starts to lay in the early spring she lays the greatest number of fertile eggs and the germs are strongest. These are the eggs from which you and I want to hatch our breeders. Later on more eggs are infertile and the germ is weaker and the young which we do hatch are not as good by sixty per cent as those first hatched. As it is with the chicken hen so it is with the duck. The latter will begin to lay in December or January and her first twenty-six eggs are seldom fertile, but after that they are good and more fertile than hens' eggs. I am now going to step on somebody's toes, I fear, but the truth must be told. If you buy breeding stock at $1 to the eggs when she leaves the nest, or another duck lays in the same nest and she is soon followed by another, so the eggs do not have time to chill. Now, about seven o'clock in the morning, FEEDING you should have their feed and water ready for THE them in an outside yard, close to the duck DUCKS. house. Open the duck house and during the time they are eating gather the eggs*. Keep the ducks in this inside enclosure, with the door of the house open until eight o'clock, and then if you want to give them their liberty let them go, as they will have all laid by that time. When we run a large number together we allow one drake to four females, it is better to have a few extra drakes in the early part of the season up till about March. Then reduce the number of drakes; I generally take away the LAYING HOUSE FOR DUCKS . PESIGNED BY CYPHERS INCUBATOR CO. WAYLAND N.Y. U.S.A. COPYBIOHTEO 1899 Section 6t ReAP '7, , 5boLuing Trap Door ////^ "for tf\roiuinj out //]•/{■■ Litter .■■,'''/.'/ 1H1 Sectional l/iew H lll~ a front Elevation eFT — > 6 Lql 9 X IJ. WINDOW TD SLIDE. Ground Plan $1.50 each, you may make up your mind you are throwing away your money, as no man can afford to sell you early hatched, selected birds at such prices, at this time of the year, for they would have brought him that much money when ten weeks old and he would get nothing for his care and feed for eight months. Nobody is in this business, now- a-days for pleasure alone or "for his health," and those who have gotten rich in the poultry business faster than a walk, you will have to search for with a lantern. As it is the season for the selection of the breeding stock I will write of them first. Ducks do not need a warm house, a dry, well ventilated shed with plenty of litter on the floor will answer the pur- pose very well. It is their feet that need protection to keep them warm. Their bodies are covered with a thick coat of feathers, with plenty of down, and housing a lot of them to- gether, enables them to keep warm. As they always lay their eggs during the night or early in the morning, you need not fear they will be chilled, as a duck in most cases will make a nest in the litter and cover most vigorous ones. Later on take away more until you have six or seven ducks to one drake. Now the drakes which you have removed from the pen and which you wish to keep over should be moved away out of sight of the ducks and for a time put on half rations — no meat or corn meal, only bran, middlings and plenty of vegetable matter. If confined together and fed a strong diet they will kill each other. Avoid going near your ducks at night, particularly with a lantern, as ducks are very timid and it will make them uneasy for the whole night. Keep rats and other vermin out of their houses, for they are bitter enemies of ducks. A fox terrier is an excellent dog around a poultry house, as he will keep the place clear of rats. If you wish to catch ducks drive them into one corner of the pen, use a hook made of strong wire and hook them around the neck, pulling them toward you. Always handle ducks by the neck, never by the legs or wings, as you can easily wrench or hurt them by doing so. The feed should differ at different seasons. I advise you not to feed ducks whole grain of any kind. Always give DUCKS AND GEESE. 31 them a mash. At this season of the year feed the breeders twice a day, giving them a mash composed of equal parts of bran and middlings, one-half part each of cornmeal and ground beef scraps, or meat of any kind. Take 15 per cent of this mixture and plenty of boiled potatoes, turnips or mangle-wurzels mashed and mixed all together in a dry- wet mash. Use the feeding rack which is illustrated on this page, and you will find it very convenient. It is made by taking a twelve-inch board, about seven feet long, for the bottom. Nail four-inch wide strips on the sides and ends, making it like a box. Cut common laths, which are four feet long, into three parts and nail them up and down, about three inches apart. The ducks can only get their heads between the laths and cannot get in to dirty, waste or pack the food down. You can, in the same way, make a water trough for both young and old, except that for young ducks you will have to put the laths closer together. Once more I say do not feed whole corn to ducks, as it is not the food to set them laying, and if they do lay, their eggs will not be so fertile. Feed plenty of meat, or fish, if you can get them, to breeders, but do not feed any fish to young stock intended for market, as the least bit of fish will impart a fishy taste to the duck meat and hurt your sales in the market. It is' rather late now, but you should always see to it that you have a piece of rye or clover sown for early spring use for young and old stock. Feed old ducks twice a day, morning and night. Please mark this advice. Never feed your ducks whole grain. Al- ways feed soft, mixed food. If you have a flock of ducks which will consume at each feed ten quarts of food, mix as follows: Three quarts of cornmeal; two quarts bran (fine) or feed fiour; four quarts vegetables; one quart beef scraps. Never leave any food around where the ducks, either young or old, can pick at it between meals, as they in this way lose their appetites. Feed them at regular times, morn- ing and night, and dish out only what they will eat up clean. Should any food be left in the feed troughs, take it away and save it for the next feeding. Do not have your food sloppy and wet, only a dry-wet, so when you squeeze the food the food in your hands it will stick together and no water run from it. Do not think you can keep your ducks in good condition by giving them corn. It is the greatest mistake you can make, as you will have them fat and good for nothing, and you will not keep them alive very long. Your fat ducks will look healthy and nice one day, but the next day you may see them dragging themselves over the ground in agony, boring their beaks into the ground and they will soon die. An ex- amination will reveal the fact that they were too fat. If it is during the laying season the females will be found full of small eggs, all of about the same size, that would never have developed or been disposed of. Feed your ducks bone meal twice or three times a week, about one quart to the above mixture. Ducks do not need as much grit as chickens, for they are shoveling all day in the ground. The ducks that are used as breeders should not be plucked, that is, robbed of their feathers, and so robbed of their strength. If you wish good breeders they must not be used to make feather beds. A duck that is plucked will lay only about half as many eggs, and the eggs it does lay will be weakly fertilized. Ducks naturally shed their feathers every four to six weeks, but this is done gradually and they need the best of care right at this period in order that they may gain their lost strength speedily. The Pekin ducks are very timid and you cannot make pets of them, but they do learn to trust the person that feeds them. When you go among them, go carefully and speak to them. If you wish to catch a duck, tlrive them into a corner and catch him by the neck, using a stiff wire hook. Catch this hook around the neck and get the one you want without disturbing the others any more than is necessary. Never catch a duck by the legs, as they are easily broken or sprained. During the laying season, keep your breeders penned up till about eight o'clock in the mornings, as by that time they will have all their eggs laid, but they should be fed and wat- ered at the regular time. Have an enclosure in front of your duck house; 18-innU wire will keep them in all right. Your duck house should be dry and well ventilated, but not too warm. Old ducks enjoy rain and snow, and should be let out in all kinds of weather. FEEDING RACK FOR DUCKS. During the breeding season we mate one drake with tour ducks until the last of April, then diminish the number of drakes, putting one drake with five ducks, but this de- pends on the number you have running together. When you notice the drakes biting the ducks too much around the neck, it is time to thin them out. I do not know of any sickness common to ducks that is worth speaking about. If one duck gets lame, separate it from the others for a few days, when it will be all right. We keep ducks until four years old and then in the fall we dis- card them; they are in their prime during the second and third years. Ducklings hatched early in the spring will lay four or five eggs in the fall and begin again in January fol- lowing and continue constantly until hot weather. Duck eggs are more fertile than hens' eggs. Select your breeders from those hatched earliest in the spring, as they are the most vigorous and strong. The ones kept for breeders should be fed the same as the old ducks and given the lib- erty of the place. You cannot keep duck eggs as long as hen's eggs, but they can be kept in a cool place for three weeks by being occasionally turned. Whether to be used for market or for CAKE OF breeding purposes, my stock are all hatched DUCKLINGS, alike, in incubators, and are all raised in small quarters. The first eight or ten hours after coming out of the shell, they receive no food, then I feed them hard boiled eggs. The ones tested out are good for this purpose. Mix this up with a little cornmeal and fine bran. For the first week give light food consisting of pota- toes, turnips, beets, cabbage, etc., green rye, clover and green corn, which has been sown in drills and cut with the chaffing machine. These should be mixed with stale bread and fine bran, and a very little cornmeal and beef scraps. Mix as described for old ducks, dry-wet. If you use pota- toes, turnips or beets, they should be boiled and mashed. After the second week gradually increase the amount of corn 32 DUCKS AND GEESE. meal and beef scraps. Feed ducklings three times a day and be sure to have plenty of fresh water near when feeding and be particular that no food is left in the troughs. Ducklings should never be allowed to swim in water until fully feathered out, as it makes them weak and re- tards their growth. Between feeding hours give them weeds or some green stuff. They should weigh five pounds when ten weeks old if properly cared for. I have had some that weighed a trifle over six pounds at this age. Keep your feed troughs clean. Prepare feed troughs as described elsewhere in this journal. They will keep your young and old ducks out of the troughs and no food is wasted. Do not forget to add bone meal, or dry ground bone to your food regularly. If this is neglected the duck- ling will be lame. Should they become lame, diminish the amount of cornmeal and beef scraps and feed more bone meal. We raise our ducklings in small inclosures, the pens in- side the brooder house being from four to eight feet wide and twelve feet long, the outside runs being from five to twelve feet wide and twenty feet long. These pens accom- modate from twenty-five to forty ducklings. The pens must be well cleaned and aired and kept free from odor. When the weather gets warm the ducklings (when six weeks old) can be kept in pens protected only by a roof. Young duck- lings sometimes get the habit, when setting their feathers, of pulling feathers out of each other. Those thus inclined should be placed in a separate enclosure. If you have the right kind of Pekin ducks they will bo fully feathered at the age of nine or ten weeks and are ready to go to market. If they are not marketed at this time you will have to wait four weeks longer, as they will begin to shed their first coat of feathers and get pin feathers and cannot be dressed. Well-dressed ducks bring good prices and find a market at any time. Poor, shabby-looking stock is not often wanted at any price. We pick our ducks dry. They are then placed in ice water for two or three hours. After this they are placed in barrels, iced, and are ready for the market. As we only save the good feathers (not the wing or coarse feathers), we get from fifty cents to sixty cents per pound for them. To kill a duck, hang it up by the feet, cross the wings over the back and then stick a sharp knife through the beak into the neck and give a long cut. Then stick the knife into the brain and give it a twist. Begin plucking the feathers immediately, as it can then be done easily. The ducks may be distinguished from the drakes by their cry. The ducks make a sound resembling "walk-walk- walk," while the drakes give only a whistling sound. As I have said before, in my estimationduck culture is the most profitable branch of the poultry industry. There is always a market for young ducks at a good price, but there are a great many people who do not know what a delicacy a ten-weeks-old duck is. Now, you raise some, kill and dress them properly, roast or broil an hour and invite your friends to dinner, and I tell you I would hate to be the per- son who comes late! Another way to introduce them at home is to send a few nice ones to people whom you know will appreciate a good thing and will know it when they get it, for their Sunday dinner, and put your tag on it. Do this and see if you do not have twice as many to send next Sunday. CHARLES F. NEWMAN. ROUEN DUCKS. Description of the Standard Male and Standard Female— Defects to be Overcome in Mating— Money in Duck Farming:. BY RUCKER BROTHERS, LITERBERY, 1I,L. OUEN ducks are said to have been originated from the wild Mallard, which they much re- semble in color. The domestication of them has increased their size. The drakes are of com- manding appearance, are decked with the most beautiful plumage, and are larger than the females. In color there is quite a difference. The drake's head and neck are a lustrous green, extending to a pure white band which ex- tends nearly around the neck, with the ends terminating at back of neck. His bill should be long and fine and in color a greenish yellow, except the bean at the tip, which should be black on both male and female. The color of bills is one of the most important points. A breeder should be very careful in selecting his breeding birds, as they have a tendency to run rather dark on bills. You will notice, if you look close, that most of the birds on exhibition are at fault in this respect, and it creeps out very often if the breeder is not particular in mating his birds. The breast of the drake is a claret color extending well under the body. The under part of the body is a beautiful gray, extending toward the tail and growing lighter as it extends back to posterior, and ending in solid black under tail. The back is ashy gray mixed with green and growing to a lustrous green as it extends to the rump. The wings have different shades of color, grayish brown, green, purple, blue and white, which gives them a striking appearance and at- tracts the attention of all admirers of water fowls. The primaries should be dark brown. This is another important point to look after, for there is a tendency to white feathers, which is a disqualification. This defect will crop out more than any of the other disqualifications and breeders should select breeding birds with good dark wings. This will de- crease the defect a great deal, and if kept up for several years it will not crop out very often. The tail should be dark brown, except in the old birds, which may be edged with white. The three center feathers should be curled. The shanks and toes should be orange colored, with a brownish cast. This description gives the most important points of the drake and will furnish all interested persons an idea of what produces such beautiful birds. The female presents a plainer appearance, yet is exceed- ingly attractive when viewed from a fancier's standpoint. The plumage is brown, richly penciled with a narrow ribbon of light brown, the more distinct the better. The female^ DUCKS AND GEESE. 33 are Inclined to run a little light on neck, which should be guarded against, as any approach to a white ring is a dis- qualification. This and white feathers in the wings will perplex the breeder more than any other defects. Another noticeable thing Is the two pale brown stripes on each side of the head, running from front to rear of the eyes. ■ The Rouens are not as popular as the Peking, and the breeder when wanting to get any has got to scan the poultry papers very closely to find breeders to write to for prices and descriptions. Why they are not more plentiful is a wonder to us, for we have bred and raised both side by side and fed them on the same food and same quantity, and gave both the same attention In every particular, and after all this we were un- able to see any difference to amount to anything. The Peking are favored in having only one color of feathers, which command a little better price than colored feathers do, but the Rouens are favored in weight, which the Stan- dard places at one pound heavier than the Pekins. This brings them about equal in good points. As a fancier's fowl the Rouens are ahead, as it takes more care and precision to breed and keep them up to standard requirements. This is the fancier's delight and highest ambition. Amateurs in breeding the Rouens should study the Stan- dard carefully, and in go doing they will become interested, which will make the breeding of them a pleasure as well as profitable. There is a wide field for the raising of ducks, as the demand for good stock is increasing, and the breeders who produce good birds will find ready sale for them and their eggs at good prices. There is money in the raising of ducks if rightly managed. Take a look through your poultry papers and read of the immense duck-raising establish- ments that are springing up in different parts of the country, as well as the old established firms that have been running for years. Would these firms keep running if there was no money in the business? We think not. There is money in raising them, and there is plenty of room and many good lo- cations for the breeding of them all over this wide country of ours. In breeding ducks have good, comfortable houses or sheds for them, with yards attached so that you can confine them in the mornings until they have deposited their eggs. Ducks generally lay early in the morning, but some will drop their eggs anywhere they forage. It is a good plan to keep them in until 8 or 9 o'clock. After this time there will be but a few eggs scattered round. Give them plenty of range, so that they will get needed exercise and a variety of food, which are very essential to health and to make them lay well. Ducks prefer a nest on the ground. A good plan is to stake a narrow board around the nest. This will keep the eggs from rolling around. Use plenty of straw in the house. In setting eggs many prefer the common hen or incuba- tor, as ducks are not the best sitters, and many of them prefer not to sit at all. After the young are hatched feed them lightly for a few days and keep them from getting wet, which is very destructive to them while young. Take 12-inch boards and stake them so as to make a pen around their coops on a green knoll. After they are a week old they may be turned out when the weather is fair, but look out for hard showers, which are destructive. After they get feath- ered out there is not much to look after but to see that they get suitable feed and plenty of it. This they must have if they make good, large birds. Young ducks eat more feed than young chickens, but they will grow more than twice as fast and be ready for market much sooner. If you will put ducks and chicks side by side and give both the same care and attention you will be surprised how fast the ducks grow. They will grow right away from the chicks. This gives the ducks the advantage, as you can raise two lots in the same time you are raising one of the chick- ens. After the ducks get started there are but few that will not grow to maturity. RUCKBR BROS. QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS. Selected Pages from the "Questions and Answers" Department of the Reliable Poultry Journal—A Department Set Apart for the Use of Its Readers. Questions on Ducks. Sun Prairie, Wis. Editor Reliable Poultry Journal: Seeing that you open your columns to questions, I would like to ask a few about Pekin ducks. George H. Starring. Q._-With good care, how many eggs will they lay per year? A.— From 80 to 110, depending on the feed and care. If improperly cared for and improperly fed, they will lay very few eggs per year, and under gross mistreatment they will scarcely lay at all. Q.— What is fair or good treatment for ducks? A.— Recent back numbers of the R. P. J. contain much valuable information on the proper treatment and feeding of ducks. Generally speaking, they should be yarded in lots of thirty-five or less, the lots ranging from a quarter of an acre upwards; should be given all the fresh water they will drink, and be fed three times a day on food large- ly made up of bulky substances, like vegetables, bran, and a moderate supply of cracked corn or cornmeal. No whole grain should be fed to ducks. Like geese, they will live on vegetable food, grass included, if nothing else is within reach, though they are very fond of grain in any form. Both ground grain in moderate quantities and meat food of some kind are recommended. All food fed to poultry of any kind should be free from mouldiness — in fact, it is well to have food fed to fowls in a condition fit for human beings to eat, so far as wholesomeness and cleanliness are con- cerned. This is especially true of little chicks, poults and ducklings. We may be a little extreme in this advice, but it pays best to err on the side of cleaufliness. Q. — If hatched in incubators, can they be raised In brood- ers as well as chicks? A. — Yes, and they are easier to raise than chicks, as a general rule. This has been our experience. On all tno big duck ranches in the east, as well as on those now in opera- tion in the mid-west, thousands of ducklings sold annually on the market when ten to twelve weeks old are hatched in incubators and raised in brooders. When at George H. Pollard's duck ranch, Pawtucket, R. I., last year, he told the writer that he had lost during the season just closed only three per cent of the total number of ducks hatched, and he succeeded in raising 5,000 on two acres of ground. Q. — What temperature must the brooder have for either? 34 DUCKS AND GEESE. to 95 degrees, an average of 90 degrees A.— From 85 being preferred. •.,, t»,o,„? Q —Will ducks begin to lay without males with them . A._Yes. The male has nothing to do with their lay- ing. He simply fertilizes the eggs. Q_How many ducks to how many drakes? A -One to four early in the season; one to five later in the season. The season begins in .January and ends when the ducks stop laying, or in July and August, when they go into the molt in good earnest. Q.-How can the male be distinguished from the fe- male? ,, , „ „>,„ A— It is the duck that goes "quack,' quack. ine drake makes a low, whistling noise, but never quacks. Furthermore, the drake has two small feathers on the back, just in front of the tail, that curl up. Ducks do not have those feathers. Q— How much does it cost to keep a duck a year . A —This depends on your location, and on the price of the different grains and vegetables; also on the economical habits of the owner or feeder of the ducks. They will eat a man out of house and home if he will throw the stuff to them. Then on the other hand, ducks can be boarded cheap- ly if the owner is "onto his job," as the saying goes. Every fall and winter we buy inferior cabbage at $1 per load, the load consisting of a farmer's wagon with the side-boards on and the cabbage well stamped down into this large box. The past year we have used on our farm probably one thousand bushels of small sized, cull potaotes, bought of near-by farmers and gardeners at 15 cents per bushel. Both the cab- bage and potatoes are fed liberally to ducks and chicks alike. We boil the potatoes. For meat food for ducks and chicks- chicks especially— our man goes to the slaughter house, taking with him two five-gallon milk cans, and for 15 cents he induces the butcher to set these cans under the cattle hung up for slaughter, the blood from their cut throats flowing into the cans. In other words, we got from sixty to seventy pounds of blood in this way at a cost of only 15 cents, blood that is worth 10 cents per pound to us, if a cent. After this blood coagulates we boil it in common gunny sacks. These sacks of blood are put into a large cooker and boiled for two hours or such a matter. Pieces of fire wood are placed on the bottom of the boiler to pre- vent the sacks of blood adhering thereto and burning. These sacks are then hung up and the water drained out of the blood. When the blood becomes cold it is a crumbly mass. We salt and pepper it, and mix it with soft food, and feed it to the ducks and chicks, both old and young. It is a superb egg food and a fine feather and bone maker. We doubt if boiled blood can be improved on for these purposes. Ob- tained as we obtain it, it is the cheapest good egg, bone and feather food obtainable, so tar as our knowledge goes. What Per Cent of Eggs are Fertile? This varies with the season, with the location, with the treatment, with the feed and with the ducks. Everything that is good for ducks must conspire to produce fertile ggs; anything that Is against ducks, their health and general well-being, will show itself both in the number of eggs laid and a lack of fertility. Ordinarily, and under fair treatment, duck eggs are as fertile as chicken eggs, ranging from 75 to 90 per cent, or even better. Eighteen hundred and ninety- six was a good season for fertile duck eggs. The season of 1897, judging by many reports received from different parts of the country, has not been a good season for fertile duck eggs. Ducks are very sensitive to changeable weather. In February or March a snow storm or downfall of sleet will stop the egg supply within twenty-four hours. Even as late as April and May, extreme changes in the temperature ren- rter the egg supply irregular. Last year duck eggs on the RelilbL PoultrrFarm ranged from 75 to 80 per cent fertil. This year they ranged from 60 to 70 per cent fertile, and of these, ten per cent were poorly fertilized, the germ not being strong enough to hatch out the duck. Hatching Ducks For Early Market. Withee, Wis. Editor Reliable Poultry Journal: I have received several letters from a New York com- mission house, also from a breeder of Pekin ducks in Mas- sachusetts, stating that they usually begin marketing nine to ten weeks' old Pekins about March 15 to April 1. To do this it is necessary to start incubators about December 7 or 8. I have a lot of first-class Pekin breeders, but they do not begin laying until about February 15. In what months must ducks be hatched to be laying fertile eggs the latter part of November, and is there any special care required in raising them, other than that given incubator chicks raised in brooders and warm houses? H. W. Mr. A. J. Hallock, Speonk, L. I., N. Y., who, through his extensive experience in breeding Pekin ducks, is well qualified to advise in the matter, writes in regard to the foregoing inquiry: "We have had Pekin ducks lay when but five months old, but they can not be depended on to lay regularly before they are eight months of age, and then, if it is cold weather and there is much snow, it is difficult to get them started, and when they do begin to keep them at it. Cold feet are detrimental to egg-production with Pekin ducks, and unless their house is large, it will not do to con- fine them. Ducks in confinement fret, will not eat their food and will lay infertile eggs, or stop entirely. Ducklings will thrive with the same care that it requires to raise chickens. The farms that market ducklings the latter part of March or the first of April keep hundreds of breeders, and a few of them lay early enough to produce a few ducks by April 1. This season many of the farms on Long Island did not ship any before May (much later than last year), which we believe is due to the unusually heavy fall of snow on this section of the island." Ducks Fed Too Much Corn. Merritt, 111. Editor Reliable Poultry Journal: I write you for your opinion as to what is the matter with my ducks. In the first four weeks several have died. There is a dimness of the eyes about two days before they show any other symptoms. Next, the craw is puffed full of wind. Some get weak and totter around and refuse to eat, but will drink all the time as if they were feverish. Others get helpless as if hurt in the back. The discharge from the bowels is white and greenish and very thin. They live about seven days after taking the disease, which has been fatal in every case. The symptoms are the same in each case, except the weak back, they can't walk, while the tottering ones go around until they die. They were in the best of condition until they got sick, when they die nothing but the frame is left. They have pure water to drink and corn to eat. If you have a remedy for the disease will you lease let me know? W. F. Stone. We sent the above letter to Charles F. Newman, of Huguenot, Staten Island, N. Y., who has had a great deal of experience in the care of Pekin Ducks, asking him to locate thet trouble and suggest a remedy. His reply is as follows: "The trouble with your ducks beyond doubt is too much corn and overfeeding, causing them to die with apoplexy. Give ducks a mash and plenty of vegetable matter. Whole grain is not good for Pekin ducks." The successful duck raisers of the country do not feed whole grain of any kind. Ducks thrive best on bulky food. DUCKS AND GEESE. 35 Breeding' Toulouse Oeese. Southgrove, 111. Editor Reliable Poultry Journal: Can you inform me through the columns of the R. P. J. if a person can raise more geese from the large, Toulouse geese, or can he do better by crossing the Toulouse with some other kind? I should like to know what variety is easiest to raise. I have had some trouble this year to keep my stock healthy. I lost most of my young stock this year. They were from ganders and old geese. They would go lame when they were about a month old and die. Will the cross breeds be subjects to lameness? Which would make the better cross, the Toulouse geese with the Egyptian ganders, or the African geese with the Toulouse ganders? Joseph Hodgkinson. In reply to the question asked by Mr. Hodgkinson, Mr. J. H. Lewis, of Hanlin Station, Pa., whose geese the editor saw and told of in his write-up of eastern breeders last sum- mer, has this to say: "My experience is that Toulouse geese bred in their purity are the easiest of any kind to raise. I raise almost every one I hatch out, barring accidents. I have raised several varieties, but prefer the Toulouse. I have had no experience with lame goslings, but I think the trouble complained of is due to the fact that the geese are either too closely inbred or the goslings are allowed to roam about too much and have too muct water in which to swim. I never allow my goslings to go swimming until they are about full grown. I give plenty of water to drink, feed often when they a-e young and give plenty of grass to pick at, with grit before them all the time and a little salt in their food once a day. If this plan. is followed and the stock is not weak from being inbred, I think the trouble complained of will be remedied. "We would prefer the African goose and Toulouse gan- der cross to the Toulouse goose and Egyptian gander. The best cross to be made is to cross Embden ganders with Toulouse geese." Ducks, Markets, Etc. Rockville, L. I., N. Y. Editor Reliable Poultry Journal: Q. — When is the best time to put duck eggs in the incu- bator to raise ducks for market? A. — Just as soon as you can get the eggs. Ducks on Long Island will not begin laying before January 15th or February 1st to any great extent, and the first eggs will give you your poorest hatches. Do your best to get eggs early and to have these eggs well-fertilized. In the duck busi- ness, as in other walks of life, "the early bird catches the worm.'' Long Island duck men begin marketing their ten week's old ducks April 1st to .15th, and get 35 to 40 cents per pornd for the first shipments. This price holds out for a few days, when it drops to 30 to 35 cents, where it remains for a month or so It then gradually declines, until by Aug- ust 1st to 15th the bottom price is reached, which during the past three or four years has ranged from 9 to 13 cents. There is money in ducks at even these low prices, but the duck men feel pretty blue if the price goes below 11 or 12 cents. Q. — How old and heavy should young ducks be that are sent to market? A. — Get them as heavy as you can at ten weeks old. The leading duck men now produce green ducks, as they are called, that weigh from ten to twelve pounds per pair at ten weeks old. Some get them even heavier than this, but we are giving the average for the best strains. Will Kun Themselves to Death. Piqua, Ohio. Editor Reliable Poultry Journal: Last spring we purchased Pekin duck eggs from relia- ble breeders. We got excellent hatches and raised some fine ducks. Fifteen were kept in a small yard about 20x50 feet, well grassed. Soon after they were full feathered they were allowed their freedom, and within a half hour four were dead, seemingly with apoplexy. A few days later when again allowed the range, the same thing was repeated, and this in quite cool weather. Wherein did the trouble lie? They were raised on cracked corn and bran mixed with curd and sour milk, cracked corn about two-fifths by measure, no meat or bone, but plenty of grass, potatoes, etc. They were never fed more than about what they would eat up clean twice a day, with plenty of water and grit. They were not too fat. Very truly, "Subscriber." We are of the opinion that your ducks ran themselves to death. A number of times our men at the farm have tried the experiment of turning half grown ducks into larger lots, thinking it would be better for them. As often as they have done this they have had to return the ducks to limited quar- ters, for within half a day's time they would pick up several that could no longer stand on their legs, owing to exhaus- tion from running about and being run over and trampled on by the flock. Where ducks are given full liberty from the time they are hatched, they do not seem to "run wild," as above de- scribed, but they do seem to go crazy when turned out from narrow limits upon a range, or into a large lot. If they did not run themselves to death it would still not be a prac- tical plan to follow, for at best they run off much of their flesh, and it takes twice as much feed to have the desired results. WILL POULTRY THRIVE ON GRAIN ALONE? Abstract of Bulletin 149 of New York Cornell Station— Experiments Decisively in Favor of Animal RatioDS- Relative Efficiency and Economy of Animal and Grain Foods, BY JAMES R. COVURT, OF THK U. S. DBPARTMRNT OF AGRICULTURE, WASHINGTON, D. C. ILL Poultry Thrive ou Grain Alone?" is the title of the popular edition ot Bulletin No. 149, recently issued by the New York Cornell Station, one of the stations conducting experiments with poul- try. It gives in simple language the details of an experiment in feeding poultry in which animal and vege- table protein are compared. The author says: "In feeding poultry, as in feeding other animals * * * the nitro- genous compounds are the most expensive * 'r * lu cat- tle feeding, the shifting prices of the various by-products allow us to discriminate to our advantage in the purchase of protein, and a still wider difference separates the cost of the nitrogenous materials in the many poultry foods. Fowls I.OT A — SHOWING REfVLTS ttV FEEDING ANIMAL FOOD, and ducks naturally eat considerable animal matter as well as vegetable foods. Can we economize here? Is the cheap protein of pea meal, oat meal, wheat bran, or linseed meal as efficient as that in the more expensive animal meal, dried blood, or fresh bone?" In the complete bulletin we note that "the natural animal foods eaten by fowls contain us- ually a high percentage of nitrogenous matter and not a large proportion of fat. * * * For instance, both earth worms and grasshoppers contain nearly ten times as much protein as fat, while ordinary fresh cut bone contains about equal amounts of protein and fat." The time covered by the different experiments was di- vided into periods. In the trial with ducklings the periods were seven days each, except periods 1, 11 and 12, which were 5, 35 and 28 days respectively. The animal meal ration was composed ANIMAL AND of the following feeding stuffs in the pro- VEGETABLE portions named: Corn meal, twelve parts; BATIONS. wheat flour, four; ground oats, two; wheat bran, one; wheat middlings, one; pea meal, one; old process linseed meal, one; with wheat, corn, animal meal and fresh bone. The vegetable food ration consisted of the following: Pea meal, six; old process lin- seed meal, four; wheat bran, two; ground oats, two; high grade gluten meal, two; wheat middlings, one; and corn meal, one; with wheat, corn, and skim milk or curd. The animal meal ration had a slightly wider nutritive ratio than the vegetable ration; but about two-fifths of the protein in the animal meal ration was derived from animal sources. The amount of protein in the different rations was practi- cally the same. The trial with ducklings showed most clearly the ad- vantage gained by the use of animal meal. The trial began as soon as the ducklings had learned to eat and was con- tinued nearly fifteen weeks, by which time growth had become very slow. Lot A received the animal ration and lot B the contrasted vegetable ration. The author of the complete edition says: "From the start the ration containing the large proportion of animal food gave much the better re- sults, although during the first week not so much difference was manifest. * * * Dur- ing the first ten weeks two and one-third times as much food was eaten by lot A as by lot B and the total increase in live weight was about four times as great. * * * The cost of food for each pound of gain was about 3.7 cents for lot A and 7.2 cents for lot B, a difference not far from 95 per cent in favor of lot A. The use of the animal meal in- creased the cost of the one ration, for while it constituted less than one-fifth of the total food beside the alfalfa, it represented considerably over one-third of the total cost of the ration. While the ducklings in lot A were thrifty from the start, at all times free from disease and made an even flock, those in lot B made an uneven growth and several died. The unevenness of size in the flock was very notice- able. At ten weeks of age the birds in lot A seemed to have reached the limit of the most profitable growth, for during the next five weeks the growth was slow, and growth at the same rate could not generally show a profit over the cost of food. * * * The average weight of one pound was reached by lot A three weeks sooner than by lot B, the aver- age weight of two pounds over five weeks sooner and the average weight of three pounds over eight weeks sooner. At seven weeks of age the average weight for lot A was over three pounds, and for lot B less than one pound. At nine weeks of age the average weight for lot A was about 4.5' pounds, and for lot B about 1.5. At eleven weeks of age the average weight for lot A was five pounds and for lot B it was two pounds." _ [Note— These experiments prove the advantage of using animal food in conjunction with vegetable food, and are not intended to suggest that the vegetable food should be dis- pensed with.— Ed.] DUCKS AND GEESE. AVERAGE RESULTS OF COMPARATIVE EEEDING TRIALS WITH DUCKLINGS. Lot A, Animal Meal. 37 PERIOD. Average Weight per Fowl at End of Period. Total Food per Day. Cost of Food per Day. Approx- imate Nutritive Ratio. Average Gain in Weight per Fowl. Cost of Food per Pound of Gain. Pounds. Ounces. Cents. Ounces. Cents. 1 .2 .3 .4 .9 1.5 2.2 3.1 3.5 4.4 4.8 5.6 .2 .9 1.4 2.8 3.5 5.3 5.6 5.2 7.2 8.7 7.0 .00 .05 .12 .15 .20 .35 .39 .32 .37 .48 .39 1:4.2 1;5.1 1:3.1 1:4.5 1:4.6 1:4.2 1:3.8 1:3.5 1:4.3 1:4.0 1:3.6 .6 1.6 2.3 8.1 9.0 11.5 13.9 5,8 14.6 6.9 14.8 1.6 2,6 5.8 2.4 2.5 3.4 3.2 6 2 2 3 4 5 6.. : 7 8 9 2.9 7.7 14 1 10 11 Lot B— Ve getable Food. PERIOD. Average Weight per Fowl at End of Period. Total Food per Day. Cost of Food per Day. Approx- imate Nutritive Ratio. Average Gain in Weight per Fowl. Cost of Food per Pound of Gain. Pounds. Ounces. .2 .4 1.0 1.3 .9 2.1 2,7 4.5 4.7 6.1 6.8 9.2 Ccuts. Ounces. Cents. 1 .15 .2 ,2 ,4 ,5 ,7 ,9 1,2 1.5 1.5 3.0 5.0 .01 .02 .05 .07 .04 .14 .20 ,34 .25 .30 .34 .47 1:3.8 1:5.8 1:5.8 1:4.5 1:4.7 1:2.9 1:2.6 1:2.7 1:2.6 1:3.0 1:2.8 1:4.0 .5 .8 .1 2.2 1.8 2.9 4.4 4.4 4.0 .5 19.7 32.4 .8 - 2 2.7 J 3AJ 2.5 1 3 4 5 6 5 5'| 7 5.2 J 8 8.6^3 7.0J 6.5 9 10 11 12 The author of the popular edition, referring to this trial, says: "Before the experiment had been long under way it was noticed that the animal meal birds were doveloping rapidly and evenly; but the grain-fed ducklings were be- coming thin and uneven in size. It was sometimes almo.st pitiful to see the long-necked, scrawny, grain-ted bifds. witli troughs full of good, apparent- ly wholesome food before them, standing on the alert and scrambling in hot haste after the unlucky grasshopper or fly which ventured into their pen; while the contented-looking meat-fed ducks lay lazily in the sun and paid no attention to buzzing bee or crawling beetle. The thirty-two meat-fed birds lived and thrived; but the veg- table food birds dropped off one by one, starved to death through lack of animal food, so that only twenty of the thirty- three were alive at the close of the fifteenth week of con- trasted feeding." In conclusion it should be noted that the chief advan- tage in using animal meal is the rapid growth induced by it, and the cost per pound of gain of fowls fed on it is also in its favor. JAMES R. COVERT. LOT E — SITOWTXG RBSULTS OF OMITTIXC .\NTMAL FOO0. BLUE SWEDISH DUCKS. BY TIIUO. F. JAGER, LEBANOM POULTRY FARM, LEBANON, PA. The first lot of Swedish Ducks, so far as is known, were imported into this country in 1884 by the writer. Later im- ports were made in 1899 and several since. The duck has a silver gray plumage. The back is sky blue; head and upper part of neck dark blue; throat pure white. The head shows a green sheen. The main flights are pure white. The long and stout bill is green with a black bean, and the feet are orange color. The Swedish duck weighs from seven to eight pounds in breeding condition, the drake often touching the scale at ten to eleven pounds. The duck is a very active bird, always on the lookout for insects. The young may be prepared for market in eight weeks, when they will weigh from four to five pounds each. The Swedish duck excels both as a market fowl and an egg producer. THEO. P. JAGBR. PAIR OF BLUE SWEDISH DUCKS PEKIN DUCKS FOR MARKET. How to Grow Them Successfully— Where to Sell Them Profitably -Farm Raised versus Artificial Production — The Nursery, the Brooding: House, the Laying Pen— Diseases — Stock Ducks and Layers— Foods and Rations. BY H. B. MOSS, KANSAS CITY, MO. T WOULD seem almost superfluous to add anything further to the present supply of In- formation printed in both pamphlet and per- iodical form on this* subject were it not for the fact that so large a number who embark in the business, and to whom this literature is available, fail to secure the results anticipated. The writer has been called upon so many times to answer the question, "Why do my ducklings die? If they keep on dying at this rate I will have none to market," that he feels it a duty as well as a pleasure to render what assistance he can to those who are contending against difficulties which are so easily remedied. There must be obtained in order to suc- ceed in the business, an absolute knowledge of the funda- mental requirements as well as the details of their execu- tion. There are a few essentials and they must be supplied, or losses follow. Losses come very quickly and without warning and nowhere is the ounce of prevention worth so many pounds of cure as in the duck raising business. The successful raising of Pekin Ducks is one of the eas- iest, simplest and surest operations in the entire poultry business. This statement I am aware is contrary to the opinion prevalent among the fraternity and especially among those who have attempted it and failed. Neverthe- less it is a fact. There is but one right way to do anything. The right leads to success, the wrong to failure. The begin- ner is no more liable to guess at the right way than he is to win a prize in a lottery. Whether he proceeds according to his own ideas and judgment or gathers fragments from the columns of advice and instructions that are published daily he is sure to omit or neglect one of the essentials and to suffer in a greater or less degree in consequence. The raising of Pekin Ducks for market is WHERE successfully and profitably conducted on many TO SELL, large farms in the eastern part of this coun- try. There are many plants marketing every season from ten to forty thousand ducklings. They are scattered from Norfolk, Va., to Bangor, Me., and all are each year called upon to face an increasing de- mand. The largest consumers are found among the best hotels, the high priced restaurants, railroad dining cars, clubs and summer resort hotels. The wealthy^ classes in the large cities, the coastwise, and trans-Atlantic steamships, are all steady purchasers from the beginning to the end of the season, the general public indulging only at intervals as they do in the case of any luxury which this may be prop- erly called owing to the comparatively high prices at which they are sold. The masses cannot afford to pay the retailer twenty cents per pound for ducklings, which was the lowest price they could be purchased for in New York or Boston at any time during the summer of 1899. The hotels, etc., are compelled to serve them to their guests as soon as obtain- able regardless of price. The Boston dealers were so eager for early shipments in the spring of 1899, that they paid sixty cents per pound for three-pound ducklings from the first hatch of one of the largest New England growers, and while they were not in any condition for killing the impor- tunity of the dealer prevailed and the grower supplied him. This is simply in evidence of the demand for, and popular- ity of the brooder house duckling. The farm-raised duckling is not to be compared with it in flavor and delicacy. We are what we eat. This applies to all animal creation. Take our wild ducks for example. The canvas back is the most highly prized, and those killed on the Chesapeake Bay sell at enormous prices, the same canvas backs are killed on our western lakes, but are no more desirable or valuable than a Red Head or Mallard. Some years ago the writer shipped numbers of them to eastern markets with this result; The reason was soon made plain. The Chesapeake bird feeds on a wild celery that grows in the shallows in the beds of the streams and in the various inlets and tributaries to the bay, This food flavors the meat and to a degree that makes it highly prized. Just as flsh fed to ducks gives them an un- desirable flavor and renders them almost unsaleable when known. The farm raised duckling, as a ruie, farm: versus has to take his chances with the young ARTIFICIAL chicks and live and grow on food that is PRODUCTION, suited to the chick, but not the duck. He has also unlimited range and in an en- deavor to satisfy his natural desires for certain kinds of food he travels from daylight until dark. He may live and thrive so far as health and vigor are concerned by this en- forced exercise, but his growth will be slow. In three months he may weigh three pounds, which will consist of frame work, internal organs, and well toughened muscles. When served at a table he is a delusion and a disappoint- ment. One for each guest is not too liberal a portion if your guests carry appetites with them. The brooder house duckling has the very best of food, in the right proportions and quantity, and is restricted in his exercise, which enables him to accumulate flesh and fat, and of the finest fiavor obtainable, as he receives the very best material for its pro- duction. The business of raising Pekin ducklings on a large scale is one of considerable detail. Many little and appar- ently trifling things all unite in bringing about a successful result, and any of these trifies neglected or omitted Is as sure to bring disastrous results as a leak is to sink a ship. Always remember these facts: That we are trying to conduct a natural process artificially — not only this, but we are reversing the natural order of things— demanding sum- mer results in mid-winter when everything that nature pro- vides to encourage, stimulate and sustain, is locked under ice and snow. Now, if we expect to be successful in enforc- ing our demands we must duplicate the conditions that are DUCKS AND GEESE. 39 absolutely essential. The two essentials are TEMPERA- TURE and FOOD. I will add another— BRAINS in the man who is undertaking to supply the other two. It requires just as high an order of talent and brains to conduct a duck farm successfully as it does for any mercantile pursuit. And most of the failures in the business can be attributed to a lack of this essential in the man. In the first place he must be in love with his business and if he is he will become so well acquainted with his birds that he can interpret their wants at a glance. He will not only see quickly what is necessary, but will take hold and do it at once. The suc- cessful duckman of this country, no matter how large his scale of operation, is he who LEADS. Whether he has one or a dozen men working for him, when any thing is to be done he leads and orders his men to follow. Whatever help he has is help in the full sense of the word. They help him to do what he could not accomplish alone. As soon as he becomes the help and his men take the lead, it is an easy matter to predict the final outcome. I have visited most of the large duck BKAINS ARE farms in this country and while an excep- NECESSABY. tion to this rule may be a possibility, I have found the successful men in this busi- ness are men who are systematic and orderly in everything pertaining to their business. They not only plan and direct every detail, but keep at the front themselves and see that their orders are obeyed to the letter in the routine work assigned to their men. They know the temperature of every heated building on the place at all hours of the day and recording thermometers, set each night, enable them to know whether the night watchman is attending to his duty. Breeders must furnish the brains to run the business. If they have no brains of their own and start out with the be- lief that they can always hire them, and make that their intention, the word failure is written on the front page of their book. If there is any poultry plant in existence that is an exception to this rule I should like to be advised of it. I want to see it in operation. Many good men have failed for another reason, that being — a lack of knowledge of the business to start with, which necessitated a continued series of losing experiments. They have been qualified otherwise, but have lacked capital to fall back on while they were los- ing money and gaining knowledge — and by the time the knowledge has been acquired the capital has been ex- hausted. They have gone to what they considered reliable sources of knowledge, and secured what they supposed they could rely on, only to be disappointed. A case in point: Several months ago I was visiting one of the large eastern duck growers. Our conversation drifted to this subject, and turning to his desk he handed me a letter just received, and asked me to read it. The printed heading showed the writer of it to be a large manufacturer of vehicles and harness In a neighboring state. He contemplated starting a large duck farm and propounded a series of questions, which, if ad- dressed to any one in any other line of business, would be considered exceedingly impertinent. He said to me: "Do you know how I feel like answering this man?" and then went on to state: "I ought to write him and tell him that I have some intention of going into the vehicle and harness manufacturing business, and that I would like him to tell me what profits there were to be made in it, how much he paid his men, where he bought his material, what he paid for it, what profit he made on each vehicle, where he found sale for them, how to turn them out for the least money, etc. That would be just as proper as for him to ask me these same questions, and yet every man engaged in any agricul- tural pursuit or any branch of it is supposed to give just such information to the public in general, and every indi- vidual in particular who asks for it." The point was well taken, for in his position he feared the competition and the injury it would cause him if he were to give the other man a club to fight him with. Fortunately for the beginner we are not all placed in the same position, although some who are and have not the honor and consistency to decline to answer such pertinent questions rather mislead the enquirer which he eventually discovers to his sorrow. I stated at the beginning that raising Pekin FEEL ducks is one of the simplest, easiest and surest oper- YOUR ations in the poultry business, and in what follows I WAY. shall endeavor in as brief a manner and as concisely as possible to give such instructions and directions as will enable any one of average intelligence to compre- hend, follow, and succeed. My advice to every beginner is to feel your way the first year, start on a small scale — one hundred, or one hundred and fifty stock ducks if all you should attempt to handle. After you have run one season you will have the confidence in yourself, which is absolutely necessary to operate successfully on a large scale. Of course, with a flock of this size the labor expended will figure up greater in proportion for each duckling marketed than it would on a larger scale, as the larger the output the less the cost per duckling for labor, provided you arrange the plant so as to minimize the labor by providing all pos- sible conveniences for handling all materials that come to or leave the place and for feeding and watering the growing stock. Plan to save labor wherever possible, as this is the principal item of expense. The feed they consume is con- verted into flesh, but any surplus labor attending the dis- tribution of it is simply wasted. In the chapters which follow I wish to call the reader's attention to one thing, and that is where I advise a certain course and say it is necessary or must be done I mean just what I say and that to give all the reasons for the assertion, or why I arrived at this conclusion, or what it cost me to learn some of the lessons, I will not undertake to state or explain. They are facts and some of them were very costly to me. If you doubt them and wish to experiment on your own account there is no objection to your proving any theory you may have, but under no circumstances try it on the whole fiock at once. Take a few in a pen by themselves and do your experimenting on them. If the results are un- favorable it will not be a serious matter. You will soon learn that it is best to be content with whatever method pro- duces the highest attainable results and any effort to accom- plish Impossiblities is useless. When you can market duck- lings that average over five pounds each at nine weeks you are doing all that is desirable or necessary, therefore hold on to that which you know to be good. The writer has proven these things many times over and knows what he is advising to be correct. Before your ducklings begin to hatch you are supposed to have provided yourself with a suitable nursery as well as other necessary buildings, which become necessary as their growth progresses. This nursery is the most impor- tant building you operate. By most writers it is called a brooder house. This is rather misleading, for in it you are going to care for one of, if not the most, tender of all newly hatched fowl. The first ten days decides their fate; this is the critical period of their existence and if properly nursed and cared for during their stay in this building their future is practically assured — and it will take a sharp knife to kill them. I will try to describe this building so that any intelli- gent carpenter may construct it. The length can be modified to suit any capacity and it is well to arrange in the building of it so that you can extend it at any time. It should face south. Do not provide for any yards outside. Do not build on brick or stone foundation, but set the sill on posts or boulders that rise, say four inches above the ground, and let 40 DUCKS AND GEESE. their inside faces come flush with the sill. Sink a twelve- inch board on the inside and spike it to the sill. This makes a tight joint that no wind can enter. Fill inside with dirt to raise the floor up to the sill. Make the front or south side four feet high and the rear six feet high and the building ten feet wide. Use barn siding. Paper the sides with a good quality of paper that will stand the weather and make every lap tight by nailing a two-inch furring strip over it. Be particular to get it tight under the eaves. Shingle the roof. On the south side place a sash in each pen with six 9x12 lights up at least twelve inches from the sills and hinged at the bottom. Your ten feet of width divide up as follows: The rear three feet reserve for a walk; then two feet for the hover, and flve feet for the pens. Locate your heater which, for economy, should be a water jacket stove in one end, in a walled pit dug to receive it. Run the flow pipe from the heater Into a header with three 1%-ineh openings; from two of these openings run 1%-inch pipes the full length of the building and ten inches above the floor, with gradual rise of 4 to G inches to the end opposite the heater, so as to allow the heated water to ri.se and start the circula- J_ Hamery for Bucklings. mi lO-fi. L tion. Make the return, and place the two return pipes be- side the flow pipes, where they will have the corresponding fall. Run them back to the base of the jacket or heater, where they enter a header and then the heater. This gives you a double loop in the hover. Now run a single loop along through the pens against the wall under the windows The flow pipe being the uppermost. This loop can be given more pitch. At the extreme end of each loop and from the upper side there must be inserted a piece of gas pipe, which should rise perpendicularly almost to the roof and be open at all times to allow any accumulation of air to escape from the pipes. If this is not provided for, a trap will form and stop the circulation. Each of these headers should have an additional opening for half-inch pipe. Prom the one in the return run a pipe to the bottom of an expansion tank, to which it must be tightly connected and from the flow header run a similar pipe to the top of the expansion tank; bend it over to empty in it. This tank need be but two feet higher than the heater provided. The ends of the loop do not rise above the level of the water in the tank, for in that case the pipes would not be filled when the tank would be overflow- ing. The bottom of the tank should be higher than the loops. Suppose the nursery to be 100 feet SIZE AND long. Two feet west of the center build TEMPERATURE, a cross partition with a door in it, as we wish to maintain a lower temperature in the eastern half. Divide this 48 feet into 12 pens 4x.5 feet (which will accommodate 75 ducklings each), running the partitions under the pipes and letting the pipes rest on them. Close the rear of the hover next to the walk, as shown in the diagram. Fig. 1. Make a batten of common dressed boards two feet wide and the length of each pen; lay it di- rectly on top of the pipes. This leaves the entire front of the hover open, which it should be, except during the most severe weather, when, if the full capacity of the heater should fail to hold the entire building quite up to the re- quired temperature, the hover can still be kept up to the mark by hanging a curtain in front. The western end as now divided will leave room for eleven pens and eight feet of space for the heater. To hold this nursery at a nniform temperature is of the utmost importance, and in order to do so you must use the best appliances obtainable in addi- tion to the usual watchfulness. In about the center of the west division select one of the hovers and on the partition fasten a small thermostat arranged to send an electric cur- rent through each point of contact, connect this with bat- teries and a clock-work damper regulator connected with the heater. At the side of this thermostat place a tall thermom- eter with the bulb on a level with the ducklings and the scale projecting above the cover of the hover, so it can be read in passing. Beside this, place a smaller maximum thermometer. This is a thermometer in which a small piece of steel is pushed in advance of the column of mercury, and it records the highest point reached. The steel is daily drawn down with a magnet. The damper regulator will control the heat fairly well but much depends on whether the Are is ashy or clean and it may need assistance to obtain quick work either up, or down. Adjust the device so as to hold the temperature under the hover in the western section at 80 to 85; this will give you about 75 degrees in the pens. Adjust ventilation so as to hold the eastern section at 75 to 80 under the hover, and 65 to 70 in the pens. These tem- peratures must be kept uniform within the limit specifled, no matter how cold it is out of doors. This, of course, ap- plies only to the season of the year when artiflcial heat is necessary. The high summer heat is not dangerous if all ventilation is open. Variable heat in the nursery has caused the death of more chicks and ducklings than all other causes combined, therefore watch closely. If the nur- sery could be lathed and given one heavy coat of rough plaster it would be all the better for it and require less fuel. Surround the thermometers under the hover with wire net- ting in such a way as to prevent a false reading, by the ducklings lying against the bulbs. Keep the ducklings down at least eight inches below the. pipes. Bed the hover and pens with an inch of planer shavings, turner's chips, chaff, cut straw or dry sand, but never sawdust. Prepare a drink- ing fountain of the tomato can type for each pen. Have everything warm, even the drinking water must have the chill taken off in cold weather. You are now ready for the ducklings. If NEWLY they have been out of the shell for thirty- HATCHED six hours they are ready to transfer to the DUCKLINGS, nursery. Do this in a box or basket, well covered with a blanket, to prevent chilling them. Turn them into the hover, set a board about a foot in front of the hover, so they can not stray far from the heat and bunch up on the outside. Do this for several days until they learn to seek the hover for warmth. Place feed and water within this space, and for forty-eight hours keep a supply before them day and night, after which feed regularly four times a day — at 6 and 10 a. m. and 2 and 6 p. m., but not not before daylight or after dark during the short days. The nursery feed consists of one measure of cracker or stale bread crumbs, one measure of middlings, one-half measure of bran, five per cent of grit, wet with water or milk to a dry, crumbly state. Keep hands off of hard boiled eggs. I fail to see why any one should recommend them, unless they assume that because the yolk is the first food DUCKS AND GEESE. 41 supplied by nature to start them In life, with the entire egg boiled hard must be an ideal food. There is a vast difference between the digestibility of a raw yolk and the hard boiled albumen and yolk. The one can be safely eaten by an in- valid where the other might kill him. Keep it away from ducklings. Some might survive it. They might also sur- vive a moderate dose of poison, liut that is no argument or reason why we should feed it to them. Be particular to keep the drinking vessels clean. Rinse them out at each feeding. Keep the pens dry. They will distribute much of their water over the pen. Fresh additions to the bedding and occasional cleaning and renewal are necessary. Feed just what they will clean up quickly at each regular feeding hour. It is better to underfeed a trifle and keep them looking for more than to overfeed. If they should be given more than they will clean up in short order, gather it up at once. Feed in flat troughs and keep them scraped clean. A grain sack an- swers the purpose as well as anything to feed on in the nursery, but should be lifted after each feeding and kept clean. There will be a rapid accumulation of filth around the fountain, scattered feed, droppings and water. This rap- idly sours. Remove it dally, otherwise they will dig in it, eat portions of it sicken and die. At the end of five days move them into the east division and continue the nursery feed and keep the lower temperature uniform. The best plan would be to have separate smaller heaters for each half of the building, but by careful management one large one can be made to serve the purpose and at less expense. At the end of the second five days move them into a brooder house. The Brooder House. The brooder house should be a double one as shown in Fig. 2. In this the pens are longer and wider. The building should be 22 feet wide, which allows 2 feet for hover and 9 feet for pen on each side, the top of hovers being used for a walk. 'Sixty-five degrees is the temperature at which this hover should be held; two loops being run under each side and none in the pens. Feed and water out of doors when- ever the weather will permit and use V troughs for feed and water as soon as the ducklings are large enough to eat out of them. The pens in this building should be 6 feet wide with yards 30 feet long divided by wire netting 18 inches wide, 1 inch mesh. * If there is no natural shade provide artificial. Make it cheap but effective. On a large plant, in order to save labor, a windmill and pump with large tank from which a water supplycan be piped to the various buildings is a necessity. A line of pipe should run under the yards with a branch ris- ing In each to which a pet cock can be attached and adjusted to drip a regular supply of water in each trough. Clean these troughs daily and keep a supply of water constantly before them during the day and always feed before watering in the morning, if they have not had access to any during the night, otherwise they drink excessive quantities while the digestive organs are empty and colic and cramps ensue, which result in death in most cases. At the end of five weeks your ducklings can be moved into unheated buildings or sheds where they can be protected from storms. They must be kept dry until they are fairly well feathered, which will be at seven weeks. After they leave the nursery they are fed the growing feed four times a day, composed as follows: Four measures of bran. Three measures of middlings. One measure of corn meal. Three measures of cut green rye or two of cut clover, scalded. Five per cent sharp sand. Five per cent scrap. Wet this with water, but do not make it sloppy. You will notice the small percentage of corn meal. We have lit- tle use for it until we are ready to fatten. Thousands of ducklings die every year from its injudicious use. We are now feeding for a large frame. At the end of seven weeks we move them into the fat- tening sheds and here corn meal is the principle element of diet. These sheds can be cheaply built. They must have a good roof and dry floor with good bedding. Cold is not in- jurious, but provide so as to prevent storms from blowing in, which can be done by keeping the eaves close to the ground, as shown in Fig. 3. Both sides should be a series of doors hung at the top which remain open except during severe cold or storms. As the ducklings grow very rapidly they need more room in the pens, which must be enlarged accordingly. The fattening feed consists of Two measures corn meal. Two measures middlings. One measure bran. One measure green stuff. Ten per cent scrap. Five per cent sand. ' Wet with water to a dry, crumbly state. This is a rich and concentrated ration and must be care- fully fed or it will glut their appetites. Gather up at once any food left in the troughs leave nothing for them to nibble or lunch on between meals and they will come up to the troughs hungry and greedy at feeding time, which now is morning, noon and night. Keep up a strong appetite; this is important. At nine weeks they are ready for market and you will find them weighing from four and one-half to six pounds dressed. Don't hold them a day over ten weeks. In locating your buildings plan for extensions and additions. Your feed-mixing room should be placed where the mixing trough can be pushed out on a track and along an alley between the ends of the yards where a man with a shovel can feed both sides very rapidly, and by the arrangement suggested no water need be carried in pails. A further econ- omy is an engine and a mill for grinding grain, cutting green stuff and pumping water. A great deal can be accom- plished by working it one day in a week. Water for swimming is not to be permitted growing ducklings under any circumstances. There is no objection to having a pool or tank of running water in the yard next the killing house and two days before killing drive the flock into it and let them wash themselves thoroughly. This renovates the feathers and makes them more saleable. In the foregoing feed formulas I have desig- rOOD nated beef scrap to supply the requisite animal IN protein in the ration. I have done this because GENERAL, it has been so largely used and has been sup- posed to be the cheapest source of supply. For my own use I prefer and use dried blood altogether. I use 42 DUCKS AND GEES'E. but one brand of it however, which I know to be absolutely pure and dried while perfectly freeh. The commercial dried blood purchased on the open market is indifferently made and intended for fertilizer only and is all right for this pur- pose, but contains putrid matter and would be fatal to ducks. Of the blood I have been using sixty pounds is the equivalent of one hundred pounds of scrap and as it contains but 2.5 per cent of fat as compared with 33.8 per cent in scrap, as the following table will show, it is easy to figure the advan- tage it possesses. It is also much richer in protein and con- tains practically no waste matter. The excess of fat in scrap is what causes looseness of the bowels. This danger is entirely avoided by using the blood. I also keep crushed dry bone, oyster shells and coarse sand in all the pens except the nursery, and they can consume it as they like. The nat- ural food of the duck in its wild state, if analysed, will show that the bulk of the protein is contained in the animal food it secures and the carbo-hydraiet; or fats in the vegetable. This order must be maintained. It is useless for us to attempt to secure any degree of success by trying to improve upon nature's established laws. We can only stimulate the processes by supplying an abundance of such food and re- ducing the waste of energy made necessary in securing even a moderate supply in the wild state. The following table shows the feeding value of the prin- cipal feed stuffs used for poultry, and will be valuable to those who figure their ration and have a working basis: Composition of Feeding Stuffs. Water. Ash. Protein Fiber. Hydr- Kther FOODS. Per Per Per Per ates. extract Cent Cent. Cent. Cent. Per Ct. Per Ct. Corn . . . ■. 10.6 l.S 10.3 2.2 70.4 s.o 15.0 1.4 9 2 1.9 68.7 3.8 10.7 11.1 4.0 2.5 9.8 9.8 4.1 3.8 64.0 64.5 7.4 Hominy Chops 8.3 Gluten Meal 8.2 0.9 29.3 3-3 46 5 11.8 Wheat. 10.5 12.1 1.8 3.3 11.9 IS. 6 1.8 4.6 71.9 60 4 2.1 Middlings 4.U Shorts 11.8 4.6 14.9 7.4 56.8 4.5 Oats 11.0 3.0 U.8 9.5 59.7 5.0 Oats— Rolled 6.3 3.2 16.0 67.8 6.7 Oat Hulls 7.3 12.6 6.7 2.0 3.3 10.0 29.7 8.7 52.0 64.5 1.0 Buckwheat 2,2 Millet Seed 14.0 3.3 11.8 9.5 57 4 4.0 Kaffir Corn 9.3 1.5 9.9 1.4 74.9 3.0 Dried Blood 8.5 4.7 84.3 2.5 Meat Scraps 5.4 2.4 58.4 ,13.8 5.1 ■2<).7 28.6 24.0 40. U 20.2 io.i 16.2 Cut Green Bone 26.1 Skim Milk 90.4 0.7 3.3 4.7 9 Potatoes 78.9 1.0 2.1 0.6 17.3 0.1 Hens' Hggs 73.7 0.8 15.0 10,5 It is not a difficult matter to supply the essentials I have described. If one is equipped to carry out all these details all will run smoothly, but neglect any, and trouble, labor and anxiety begins. The labor is increased while the profits decrease. There are practically no diseases to DISEASES which ducks are subject. They can be sick- AND OTHER ened and killed either through ignorance or TROUBLES. carelessness by compelling them to sub- mit to improper food or conditions, and when from any cause you have induced sickness don't waste time or feed on the affected ones; use a hatchet at once, it is the cheapest way out of it, for when once affected there is no profit to be made out of them as market birds, nor have you any time to fuss with and doctor them. Their develop- ment and growth would be checked and they would never fully recover. During the early spring when the days begin to grow quite warm at noon and it is necessary to open the windows (but still cool enough at night to make it necessary to keep the fires going in the brooder house) close the front of the hovers to shut them out during the warm portion of the day. ;.l.lierwise they will lie under the pipes and allow themselves to become half roasted. Their blood seems to dry up. The next day they lose the power of balancing and stagger around like drunken men. Their eyes and nose become watery and the down about the eyes gummed. It has in- duced distemper or catarrh which is contagious and is com- municated by the discharges from the eyes and nose. Most of those affected will die and those that survive will be of little acount. They will never be able to walk steadily; some will have crooked necks or backs, and there is no profit in keeping them. Diarrhea is another source of trouble. In the brooder house it is often caused by an excess of scrap and can be promptly checked. In the nursery what is called, and to all appearances is, diarrhea, is really a clogging of the vent caused by feeding hard boiled egg or an excess of bran and is always fatal. The solids are retained and the liquids pass, and the appearance of the bird justifies the name. Remove the cause and you have the remedy. One of the most serious evils we have to FEATHER occasionally contend with is feather pulling. PULLING. It is claimed that crowding them too closely In the pens induces it. My experience does not justify this conclusion. I attribute it wholly to a desire of the birds to gratify its craving for the elements it can obtain in the quills It pulls from its neighbor and devours. It is hard to rid them of the habit when once begun. Catch the guilty ones, which is best done right after feeding, when they are playing at the water trough; take a sharp knife and shave the point of the bean on the bill off evenly so as to prevent them from taking a strong grip on a quill. Place them in a pen by themselves. Now correct your feed at once. There is a lack of scrap and green stuff in the feed; increase your proportions and you will see no new cases, but those who have acquired the habit never forget it until their companions are full feathered, when they can't practice It successfully. I have seen five thousand ducklings on a sin- gle farm almost denuded, causing serious loss to the owner as it takes many dollars worth of feed to grow a crop of feathers on that number of ducklings and at the same time to put flesh on them, and if forced to grow two crops of feathers the fiesh must suffer and the scales will reveal the extent when you come to market them. The importance of keeping the ration properly proportioned for the specific purpose it is intended to accomplish is very evident. Another cause of much loss of flesh NERVOUSNESS, is their nervousness at night. On dark nights those half grown and over become exceedingly nervous and restless, and if one becomes fright- ened he soon starts the entire pen into a stampede. The adjoining pens follow and if left to chase up and down all night some will be trampled to death and many pounds of fiesh be quacked away. This can be prevented by keeping lanterns burning in the yards and buildings at night. Light them at sunset and never move around among them after dark while carrying a lantern, as moving shadows set them wild. Allow no dogs to run at large in the buildings or yards. Avoid all unnecessary passing among them yourself, al- though they soon learn to know their attendants and are nor disturbed by them especially if carrying a feed pail; the less ten them to standard weight. Move slowly and deliberately; they are disturbed the better. I have known a sudden fright to so affect a pen of ducklings that it was impossible to fat- ten them to standard weight. Move slowly and deliberately; make no sudden turns or leaps. Visitors should be forbid- den passing through the buildings or along the pens. If you intend converting grain into duck meat allow no nonsense of this kind to offset your feed. If you are running an exhi- bition It is another matter, and it is presumed that the audi- DUCKS AND Gl'.KSE. 43 ence are willing to remunerate you in some way for the loss they cause you. There is practically nothing we have to contend with when proper feed and care is given. If any refuse to come to the troughs eagerly at feeding time, the probabilities are they will either be ready for the next feed or dead. There is no symptom whereby the ailment can be definitely diag- nosed. When one simply refuses to eat it may be from oie of a number of causes and it is impossible to offer any relief. Remove the affected bird to a pen by itself. Feed light and omit the beef scrap, add a little powdered charcoal and a few days will usually work recovery. Bowel trouble is the principal evil liable to affect large flocks. This is due to the excess of fat in the beef scrap. We should be able to feed the animal protein in such proportions as are needed with- out encroaching on the danger line on account of the fat as- sociated with it. Until we are able to obtain scrap free from fat we can not expect to do this. Watch your stock closely. Guess at nothing, but know to a certainty the daily condition of the flock and rest as- sured that if they do not come up at feeding time and act as if they were half starved there is something wrong and you must locate it quickly, or when laying has once begun it will not do to make any mistakes. If thrown oft their feed at this time it means a serious loss in egg production and it may take some weeks to get them back. Never allow your supply of scraps to become exhausted; omitted for two days, and egg production will drop to one-fourth of what it was and it will take ten days to recover after it is again supplied. Stock Ducks. There is a wide difference of opinion among breeders as to which type of the Pekin duck is preferable or most desir- able to encourage and develop. Some prefer the short bod- ied, deep keel — the deeper the better — type, others the long bodied type. The writer prefers the long body with an average depth of keel, believing it to be the most desirable from the market point of view. Too great depth of keel necessitates the flattening of the breast bone when packing for market. If this were not done its appearance would indicate a lean, underfed condition to the casual observer, and as appearances have much to do with prices, the utility question is primary. The breast of a dressed duckling should be rounded and plump and it is preferable that it show a depression in the center instead of a ridge. The breast carries about all of the meat and an extra slice or two on each side is an important consideration to the buyer. In the preceding chapters nothing has SELECTING been said regarding the selecting of the AND breeding stock for the ensuing season. Right FEEDING here is where the foundation is to be laid. BE.EEDEKS. The entire superstructure of the successful and profitable duck ranch rests on this foun- dation. Old overfed, neglected or degenerate stock can not profit the owner. The eggs are few and weak or infertile. The young are weak and sickly and few ever reach the mar- ket. It is therefore of the utmost importance that we lay the foundation in the best possible manner. From the April and May hatches, when the growing ducks are six or seven weeks old and before they are placed on the fattening feed, select the breeding stock. Pick out the most promising and precocious birds as this means quick maturity and heavy weight for market purposes, and this should be the first consideration. Wide bodies and small heads are desirable, but weight above all other points is important on a market form. Instead of now placing your selection in small pens on rich food, they should be turned into a large pasture in which water and shade arc abundant. They should then be fed morning and night: Seven measures bran. Three measures corn chop. Five measures cut green stuff. Wet as indicated for previous feeds. If there is no grit available in the pasture, supply it. If they have access to a stream of water they will secure all the animal and insect food necessary. This ration is bulky and they may be fed liberally, but try and keep them hun- gry and active dniing .a greater portion of the day. The more miles they travel the stronger their muscles become and the tougher, more hardy and vigorous they will be when transferred to the breeding pens. They should be kept down in feed sufficiently to make them ravenous at feeding time, not only for the reason just given but also to discourage laying during the fall months, as these early eggs are too far in advance of the season to be of any andvantage; are mostly infertile and tend to affect the vitality of those pro- ^cu later on when eggs are desired. Exercise and plenty of it is of the greatest importance while on the summer range and judgment must be used in feeding, and it must be so regulated as to prevent lounging around the feed troughs, which they will do if their wants are all supplied there. The feed is bulky and ordinarily they can be given all they will eat of it. In two hours they will be hungry and then the exercise should begin. A stream of water is not a necessity, but it is a great advantage and the strongest point in its favor is the exercise it induces. This word Exercise should always be printed in capital letters in all poultry literature. Its importance can hardly be overestimated. It means ap- petite, digestion and assimilation. These wheels all fit into each other and work together. Remove one and the ma- chine stops. About the first of November select the drakes >ou wui uctd and place them twenty-five to a pen in the breeding pens and begin at once feeding them the ration given below. This gives them a necessary and desirable start. The ducks respond more quickly to the forcing feed than the drakes and if started together the early eggs will not exceed fifteen per cent fertilized. This plan will change the result very materially. On the 15th of November mate uij a-i the pens, placing twenty-five ducks and five drakes in each. More than this should be avoided. Less may do better, but it is not practicable on large plants where from one to two thousand breeders are kept. The additional labor it would necessitate would be a serious objection and would offset what slight advantage might be gained. We now begin feeding for eggs. This should FEEDING be approached gradually, that is work up to the FOR given ration in four or five days and particu- EGGS. larly as regards the beef scrap, or bowel trou- ble may ensue. The following feed has proven the very best combination and the best balanced egg ration the writer has ever used. It is compounded with the inten- tion of forcing the duck to lay a reasonably large number of eggs even at the expense of her vitality, for after she has served me for one season I have no further use for her and she goes to market as soon as laying is over. Every morning and evening feed the following: Five measures corn chop. Five measures bran. Two measures middlings. One and one-half measures beef scrap. Three measures boiled vegetables. Three measures cut green stuff. Five per cent sand. Wet this, as all the other composition feeds, to a crum- bly state. Keep a box of sand and one of oyster shells in each pen and an abundance of fresh water. In exactly three 44 DUCKS AND GEE^SEV weeks you should begin to gather eggs, a few at first, but rapidly increasing in number. When they have fairly started add one measure of corn chop and cut down one measure of bran. Notice particularly I say corn chop, not corn meal. The reason for this is easily understood. Ducks in common with other fowls have a gizzard which is equipped with strong muscles, and it is intended to perform certain duties. In order for the fowl to enjoy perfect health and to perfectly employ all of its natural functions, all its organs must be employed for the purpose and in the manner intend- ed by nature. The creator gave the gizzard the power to do certain work. The instinct of the bird furnishes it with this work in its selection of food, and its physical powers are maintained at a high standard when left to its own instincts or thrown on its own resources. Give the gizzard nothing but mush to grind and, like Othello, its "occupation is gone" to enter and clean out at. The pen should be about 12x12 feet, and need be no higher than necessary to permit clean- ing out. Nests are unnecessary and only in the way. They prefer to scoop out a nest in the litter. It does not matter which way these houses face as they are occupied only at night. We object decidedly to feeding and watering in the house. When it is all done on the outside, which it can be in most localities, the bedding can be kept dry and by fre- quent light additions the necessity of cleaning out can be reduced to two or three times during the laying season. This saves labor, which is a very important item, and causes no inconvenience whatever. If once the bedding becomes wet it should be removed immediately. We prefer to build these houses in pairs, thus giving the yards more width and less length. A large yard for breeding ducks is of no advantage unless it is so extremely large that they can't keep down the DrCK flOI'SKS ON KELI.\lJHi^l'uULrK\ FAKM, i_UINl:V, ILL. and debility must result. For feeding purposes we prefer the long slatted trough which is really a coop without a top. It enables the ducks to reach in and get the feed and yet not trample upon and scatter or waste feed, or crowd each other. Many hundred pounds of feed are wasted every year through feeding ducks in flat or V open troughs, especially in wet weather when it is tramped into the mud and lost. A care- less feeder enters the pen with a pail of feed; he finds the ducks all on the trough waiting for it; scatters it over their backs and as he turns to leave they flap a third of it into the mud. This means a serious loss on a large farm. The laying houses must now be considered. These can be very cheaply constructed and at the same time answer every requirement. Not a dollar need be spent on ornament. What is absolutely essential is a dry, well bedded floor, a tight roof and barn siding with Ijattens on the outside. A 3x3-foot glazed slid ing sash, a 2x.3-foot drop door and a door THE LAYING HOUSES. growth of grass, and this is unnecessary as it is preferable to supply the green food in the mash. Breeding ducks un- fortunately lose all desire for exercise. The liberality with which they must be fed induces laziness and they will be very indifferent to exercise until about two hours before feeding time, when they begin to make their wants known. Peed at regular hours. Sunrise and sunset are the best hours until the days grow too long, then six o'clock night and morning. If your ducks are all young, as they should be, there will be no danger of this feed making them overfat, but if there are any old ones among them there is danger that it might. This does not apply to drakes. We insist on young ducks, but have no objection to yearling drakes, and maintain the theory which we have also proven in practice that after a duck has been driven to the enforced production of from one hundred to one hundred and twenty eggs in one season her vitality is impaired and her second season will be a dlsap- DUCKS AND GEESE. 45 polntment. There should, if possible, be a swimming pool in each yard. This is not absolutely necessary, and as good results are attained without as with it, only with more diffi- culty, but as they enjoy it and their appearance is greatly improved their natural desires should be gratified if possible. If the birds have been given the summer care as sug- gested they must not be expected to develop into extra large, heavy specimens suitable for the show room, but should be rather under the standard in weight and in no case over it for the best results. If the right selection has been made the qualities and tendencies of the parent will be transmit- ted to the progeny, and it is not necessary or desirable that the parent shall have been developed to its fullest extent in weight in order to transmit the tendency. The larger the duck the larger the egg and the poorer its hatching quali- ties. There is an excess of albumen — too much watery ele- ment to be elaborated, more than the average embryo can successfully dispose of. Those who in starting a ducli farm purchase their stock ducks, should select the medium sized, never the largest specimens, and yet nine out of ten make this mistake and pick the largest. They also are compelled to buy stock that has passed through the fattening process, as most growers throw out the breeding stock at killing time. If compelled to buy such stock, do so as early as possible in the summer and then care for them as I have described and they will go into the breeding pens in fairly good condition. Before closing this subject I wish to emphasize the prin- ciple of economy not only in labor but in feeding. It would surprise many readers to .see the quantity of feed wasted on the large duck farms. Careless feeders scatter large quanti- ties in the mud and fllth. They often, when distributing with a shovel from a car, place more in some pens than will be consumed; this is trampled imder foot and wasted. There should be a hog pen on every duck farm to which all waste feed scraped up and all discarded eggs can be carried. There are many pails full of scrapings accumulate in the brooding house and breeding pens and sweepings of the feed room that can be converted into pork. Stop the leaks. H. E. MOSS. HOW TO FEED AND CARE FOR DUCKLINGS. IIV GKORGE H. POLLARD, POLLARD'S POULTRY FARM, SOUTH ATTLEBORO, MASS, 'N RESPONSE to your request that we give you a few ideas concerning our methods of feeding and raising Pekin ducks, we feel it is right we should first explain that we do not raise so many thousands yearly; that there are others who raise as good, and if we should stop they would doubtless continue to successfully raise them. With these facts clear- ly understood, we can proceed without being charged with seeking free advertising. We find in raising ducks there are five essentials — mus- cle, water, food, shade and grit— and the greatest of these is muscle. Any one who has tried it will cheerfully testify to this truth. In feeding and raising young ducks, begin with the breeding stock. Strong, vigorous breeders mean healthy, wide-awake ducklings, needing a minimum of attention and easily raised. This being the case, we give the breeders a large grass range, with plenty of shade and running water —believing nature webbed their feet for a purpose— though they can be successfully raised without water. To each five ducks allow one drake and mate about thirty in a pen. Later in the season, about the middle of May, remove one drake from each pen. Feed night and morning what they will eat of a mixture of three parts each of Indian meal and wheat bran, one part each low grade flour and beef scraps, making sure it is beef scr.aps and not a poor quality of fertilizer, the whole salted slightly and thoroughly mixed, not too wet, with cold water. Never cook the food, except in winter, when it may be mixed with hot water. Do not feed at noon, as ducks on good grass range do not need it. If without grass range, feed all the green food they will eat each day fodder corn, rye, grass, clover, or anything they will eat. Have water in pails or troughs convenient to feeding places at all times of the day and night, also oyster shell and grit, and do not forget the shade, they must have it. In winter vary the fare by a liberal allowance of boiled turnips, mashed in with grain, say one-third turnips, every other morning, and with cabbage chopped fine or any other green food that can be obtained, fed at noon. After hatching, which we do altogether with incubators, leave the ducklings quiet from twenty-four to thirty-six hours, according to the season when hatched, after which they may be put in a brooder heated from ninety to ninety- five degrees in the center of the hover— ninety-five degrees 12 wi-ter— placing each carefully under the hover. The food is prepared of two-thirds wheat bran and one- third Indian meal, wet to a crumbly mass with milk, either skimmed or whole, but not cooked. Cover floor under hover with chaff, or fine shavings, and in front of the hover, for two or three feet, with fine gravel or sand. Six or eignt inches from front of hover place small troughs or dishes containing food — slightly sprinkled with sand the first time — and a fountain of luke warm water. The fountains are galvanized iron cans, eight inches in diameter and twelve inches deep, inverted in tin pans ten inches in diameter and two inches deep, and the water is kept near the top of the pan. After all this, simply keep the ducklings warm and let nature work. If they are worth raising they will gradually get out from under the hover, and it is astonishing how quickly they will begin to stow away the food and water. Beyond watching for the first few hours that none get away from the hover and become chilled do not fuss with them and do not try to fill them up with boiled eggs and bread crumbs. Keep food and water before them all the time for the first three days— and water all night, sure— after which they may be fed every three hours till seven or eight days old, when four or five feeds a day will be enough. After the fifth day they are generally alive to stay, or are dead, and they may be fed five per cent beef scraps instead of milk, or both. At two weeks old make their feed of one-half meal, one-half bran and ten per cent beef scraps, which may be increased to fifteen per cent scraps, with three parts each of bran and meal and one part fiour at three weeks. Carry them on this food till killing time — ten to eleven weeks— not changing for any heavier or more fattening food, as advised by many. After the fifth week feed only three times a day. Feed green food or not, as is most convenient. If intended for breeding, it will be good for them, but is un- necessary for market ducks. For best results, yard in flocks of from fifty to seventy- five and give plenty of yard room, never less than thirty by fifty feet for fifty birds of five weeks old or over. In short, keep only healthy, vigorous breeding stock. Have shade and an unfailing supply of water and grit. Feed all they can be made to eat, at regular intervals, and do not skimp the meat scraps. Kill at ten or eleven weeks old and receive the re- ward promised for work well done. GEORGE H. POLLARD. INDIAN RUNNER DUCKS. Very Prolific Layers, with Remarkably Hardy Constitutions— A Variety That Thrives Under Con- ditions Suited to Broilers. BY R. B. DAYTON, RUMSENBURG, N, Y. REVIOUS to 1S95 wonderful stories reached this side of the Atlantic about a species of duclt that would lay the year 'i-ound, grow rapidly and when dressed for market have a most attractive appearance. In fact, from the vague reports reaching us from their English home, one would judge that the ideal duck had been found. In 1895 the writer secured a number of these wonderful In- i - --Jjii^'^ '■-■%'■ IXDI.4N RUNNER DRAKE AND Dl'CK. dian Runner ducks. Just here let me say a word as to their home. Although grown extensively in England, their original home was in India; hence, the Indian Runner. They earned the term "Runner," as they literally are run- ners. Their strong legs, set well back, with their erect carriage, make it possible for them to move with great ra- pidity, there being no trace of the awkward "waddle" of the common duck. There are two distinct strains, one black and white and the other fawn and white. The black and white, while pos- sessing many of the good qualities of the breed, are not as distinct in shape and marking as the fawn and white; the black pin feathers seriously detract from their market value, hence we confine ourselves to the fawn and white, of which the accompanying cut, a photograph, represents a typical pair, the drake, very erect, strong and alert in every motion, with firmly set head and bill, as they delight to forasp for stray grubs and worms in the tangled grass and weeds. A cap of steel blue gives them a most attractive appearance. The ducks are not quite as large, often show- ing more white, which, in fact, is a variable quantity in both the drakes and ducks. The English breeders claim 225 eggs per duck each year. One hundred and ninety-two eggs per duck was the average, however, for the past two years of the flock in question, which is certainly a most phenomenal record, be- ing not the record of one or two picked birds, but that of a large flock. By careful experiments it has been proved that they mature very rapidly, but it does not seem possible to grow them successfully in crowded quarters, as is so often at- tempted with Pekins. The Indian Runners, when grown, are easy keepers. The flock, a photograph of a portion of which is here re- produced, the past two months has consumed two-thirds the amount of food required to keep a flock of Pekins of the same number in good condition, the Runners laying con- tinuously throughout the time, while the Pekins did not. Experience seems to prove that the size of the flock makes little difference in the number or fertility of the eggs pro- duced, provided only that plenty of room be given. In mat- ing up the flock about ten ducks to one drake has been found the most satisfactory. The Runners seem to care little for a large body of water, but when kept for eggs alone find no small part of their foo'd foraging over their range. Another, and by no means the least of the Indian Run- ner's good qualities, is the remarkable way in which they stand shipment. As an example of one of the many in- stances coming under our notice we cite this: A trio shipped to us from Englard last April, after a long and stormy passage, com- menced to lay six days after reaching our yards. This speaks well for the care with which they were shipped, but it is also a striking exam- ple of the Indian Runner duck's hardy character. It has become a well recognized fact that the best results can not be obtained when ducks arp grown in a brooder regulated to insure the best results with broilers, and on the large plants a separ- ate house with an ex- pensive heating ap- paratus is provided for both chicks and duck s. This, how- ever, is not practical for the small breeder, who is com- pelled to abandon the culture of ducks and thus be deprived of a substantial source of income. After a close study of PAIR OF YOUNG INDIAN RUNNER DUCKS DRESSED FOR MARKET. ^VEIGHT, 10'/ rOUNDS. DUCKS AND GEESE. 47 the Indian Runner Ducks it seemed feasible to us to grow them with broilers, and a trial was made. The brooder used was one in constant use in a broiler house with a capacity of 1,700, the heating apparatus being of the regulation type of hot-water heater, regulated to a temperature of about eigh- ty-five degrees. One hover was used for the experiment and the temperature was regulated solely with regard to the broilers, of which the house at the time contained about seven hundred. The temperature of the room outside of the hovers varied from seventy degrees on clear, warm days to as low as forty degrees on others. The results obtained were far above our expectations. The same food was given the little Runners as was fed to the chicks next door, and a fountain, such as was in use with the chicks, served them for drinking. In fact, as far as it was possible the same conditions were observed in all parts of the house. It was soon an evident fact that the chicks were beaten on their own ground, for the little ducks demonstrated that whatever might be the requirements of ordinary ducks these Runners had just what they wanted and they proceeded to grow. It is too early as yet to say what the market price will be, but they are now much heav- ier than chicks of their age and they are still growing. So far as we have been able to observe they eat no more than chickens of an equal age, and from present indications they will weigh several times as much when dressed for market. This experiment is of special value, for it opens a new field to the fancier who has one or more brooders that he uses in the early spring and summer, and for nine months of the ye;n' have been lying idle, liringing him no returns. The Runners are particularly adapted to the market poultry- man's needs, as their wonderful laying qualities insure an almost constant supply of eggs. Their small size when first introduced into this country was much against them. This, however, by careful selection has been almost entirely re- moved. The accompanying cut taken from a photograph of a pair weighing ten and one-half pounds gives but a very inadequate idea of the rich yellow flesh, very firm in tex- ture, and the full, deep breast. The past summer experiments were made with the Run- rer eggs hatched by hens, the ducklings being allowed to run with the hens, or rather we should have said the hens being allowed to run with the ducklings, for the poor hens had a sorry time. Aside from a little hovering at night and on stormy days, the ducks had no use for their foster mother and she was left to cluck to an imaginary brood while they foraged over the field for files and worms only to return at feeding time. If a wire pen can be arranged to confine them we can see no reason why they could not suc- cessfully be grown in this manner in warm weather, or in localities where the climate is uniformly mild. We, how- ever, lost a number from their wandering too far away from the hen and becoming chilled before they could find their way home, but a number were successfully grown in this manner. R. B. DAYTON. A FLOCK OF R. n, D.^VTON'S INDIAN RTNNER DUCKS. FEEDING DUCKS FOR MARKET. The Manager of the Poultry Department of the Agricultural College at Guelph, Ontario, Describes His Method. "We purchased a few sittings of duck eggs in the spring for the purpose of having ducks for experimental feeding. The Pekin and Rouen varieties were selected. We hatched seventeen— eight Pekins and nine Rouens. One of the Pekins got killed when young. For the first two weeks we fed equal parts by measure, cornmeal, wheat bran and mid- dlings, having added enough scalding water to make it crumbly, but not porridgy, and fed five times a day, but no more at a time than they would eat up clean. For the next four weeks, two parts wheat bran and five parts middlings constituted their ration, and after that the same mixture was used without scalding. Grit and sharp sand were placed in a vessel containing water, so that they could have access to it at any time. No water except for drinking pur- poses was supplied to them. "We weighed the entire flock when six weeks old, with the following result: The seven Pekins weighed thirty-nine pounds, being an average of five pounds and nine and one- seventh ounces each, and the nine Rouens weighed thirty- six pounds, or an average of four pounds each. When they were ten weeks old, we again weighed the entire flock and found that seven Pekins weighed fifty-nine and one-halt pounds, or an average of eight and one-half pounds each, and the nine Rouens sixty-three pounds, or an average of seven pounds each. "This experiment in feeding ducks teaches us that by selecting the right varieties and feeding them on the right kinds of food, you can get them on the market when six weeks old. We also find that water is not needed except for drinking purposes, but is a hindrance to the growth and fat- tening of ducks. We selected two of the best varieties of ducks for market purposes, and while they have the same standard weight when fully matured, the experiment plainly shows that the Pekins can be made to take on flesh faster than the Rouens. We find on our markets ducks that are fully matured and six months old not weighing over four or five pounds, and we venture to say that such birds do not pay for the food they consume, let alone the trouble for car- ing for them. No ducks should be kept longer than ten weeks, as they can be placed on the market at that age and sold at a good profit. Ducks that are intended for breeding purposes should not be fed on a fattening ration, so as to weaken them by too much forcing. They should be selected when about six or seven weeks old, when their sex can read- ily be seen and the most perfect specimen selected." L. G. JARVIS. INCUBATORS AND BROODERS. Selected from the "Incubators and Brooders" Department of the Reliable Poultry Journal Apart for the Use of Its Readers. -A Department Set Feed and Care of Ducklings. Hagerstown, Ind. Editor Reliable Poultry Journal. Kindly tell us what you think is the matter with our ducklings. They get weak and can not walk, but stagger about. Some of them die in a short time, while others live for ten days or two weeks, but most always die. We feed them three times a day on coarse cornmeal and bran, and give plenty of drinking water, but none to swim in. We have them in lots thirty feet square, about sixty in a flock. Some die when a week old, others live to be five or six weeks old before taking the disease. Have lost over one hunderd, and would like to have a cure as soon as possible. F. A, HARTER. We wrote Mr. Harter direct and trust that what we told him has been of some benefit. In stating what he feeds and how he cares for his ducklings, he says nothing about shade. Extreme hot weather will kill young ducks. Chicks and ducklings should be placed in the shade, and, if possible in an open space where they can get any breeze that is stirring. Under a tree or in an orchard is a good place. Little ducks should not be raised on cornmeal or bran exclusively. Corn, especially, is a strong food, and must be fed rather sparingly. Half at least of their food should be green food, like cabbage, lettuce, kale, beet tops, etc. Little ducks and chicks are fond of boiled potatoes. On the Re- liable Poultry Farm we use hundreds of bushels of cull po- tatoes each year, buying them from market gardeners and farmers at twelve and one-half and fifteen cents per bushel. We boil them and feed them whole or partly mashed, allow- ing the chicks and ducklings to pick them to pieces. We salt these potatoes to taste. Ducklings, like little chicks, must have a supply of good grit. It is best to buy the manufactured article, for growing ducks have to be kept in narrow limits in order to do well, andT;hey very soon exhaust nature's grit supply on the small piece of ground they range over. They eat grit readily when first given them, showing that they need it — in fact, must have it. Hatching Duck and Hen Eggs Together. Southold, L. I., N. Y. Editor Reliable Poultry .lournal. I notice in the May number of your valuable journal a subscriber asks if it will do to hatch hen and duck eggs at the same time in an incubator. I also note your comments, with request for reports from parties who have had experi- ence in the matter. I wish to say for the benefit of your subscribers that I have done it right along for years and never experienced any difficulty in securing a good hatch, having brought off 90% per cent from a tray of hen's eggs in same machine with a tray of duck eggs. I have hatched thousands of duck and hen eggs together and have found that they require the same conditions as to moisture and ventilation. I generally start three or four machines at once and when testing out keep as many of the machines full as pos- sible (a full tray will hatch better than a tray partly full). After the test one of the machines will lack one or two trays of being full, so on the seventh day I fill the empty trays with hen eggs and lay a quarter of an inch strip of wood on each of the tray slides or cleats. This raises the tray so that the top of the hen eggs are on a level with the top of the duck eggs, consequently they both get an even amount of heat, and being in a tray by themselves do not interfere with the turning and airing of the duck eggs. If the hen eggs are placed in the same tray with the duck eggs, they not only run through the hatch with a de- gree too little heat, causing a deferred hatch, but interfere with the proper airing or cooling and turning of both. If your subscriber will work on these lines, he will have no difficulty in securing a good hatch, other conditions being favorable, from hen and duck eggs in the same machine. In regard to the amount of moisture and when to apply it, everything depends on the location. Here on Long Island I never add moisture until after the eggs begin to pip. A. H. TOPPING, Manager Southold Poultry Farm. More About Duck and Hen Eggs. Editor Reliable Poultry Journal. In the May issue of the R. P. J. a correspondent asks if hens' eggs and ducks' eggs can be successfully hatched at the same time in an incubator. I have just been experi- menting in that line, and as you invite your readers to relate any experience, I will give results. On April 14 I put in my incubator, a VonCulin, twenty-eight Pekin duck eggs and exactly one week later 1C2 White Leghorn eggs. On the seventh day after setting the duck eggs I tested out four that were perfectly clear, and on the thirteenth day I took out three more. The hatch is completed and I have thirteen ducks, seven eggs that did not pip, and one duck died after the egg was pipped. That I might know how the eggs hatched in the incuba- tor as compared with setting them under hens I also set two hens at the same time, one with seven duck eggs and the other with five. These forty eggs were all from the same fiock of ducks. One hen hatched three and the other two. Thus you will see that the eggs hatched at about the same ratio, and I consider them as not running very fertile. Now as the hens' eggs, I made the usual two tests and took out thirty-four eggs. Out of the remaining 128 I have 119 sprightly little chicks and one that came out a cripple, which I destroyed. I consider it an unusually good hatch of hens' eggs. ' '! Taking this experiment as a basis upon which to judge, I do not hesitate to say that hens' eggs and ducks' eggs can be successfully hatched In an incubator at the same time, but I would always recommend putting in the duck eggs one week before the hens' eggs, and if the machine has two trays, put the eggs in separate trays. If only one tray I would put a partition between the eggs. It will keep the ducks from floumlering around on the chicks while hatching. I would very much like to know the experience of others in this line. FRANK C. JONES. A WATER -FOWL ARTICLE. By a "Water-Fowl Crank"- -One of Illinois' Best and Most Successful Breeders Tells What He Thinks of Geese and Ducks. BY M. W. SUM.ME ''OME of the poultry fraternity call me a "water- fowl crank," but, crank or no crank, I have tested for years the breeding of almost every variety of the web-footed tribe with both pleas- ure and success, and am free to profess my partiality for them. I find that water-fowl are not heir to so many afflictions and diseases as are other members of the feathered tribe; neither are there so many enemies lying in wait for these birds as for others. For these reasons, I feel more enthusiastic and more determined than ever each year to press on with the "waddlers." They are so easily con- fined and managed, it seems to me that every fancier should have at least a few varieties along with the chickens he breeds. White and Brown China Geese — Take for instance, the White Chinese Geese. What could be more gracefully beau- tiful than these swan-like birds playing and diving in the water? They are more symmetrically graceful than the swan, are of medium size, have large, orange-colored webs, pure white plumage, and always attract much attention. Their peculiar trumpet-like call is quite unique, and sounds much like a challenge. In my breeding of the birds, I have mated my flocks to produce webs as large and smooth as possible, and have some specimens that are a curiosity in this respect. The Brown Chinese variety is identically the same as the White in habits. They are somewhat larger, their plum- age being of several soft shades of brown, and their webs black, with dark-colored feet. They do not possess so much grace as their fair sisters, but we have found them some- what easier to raise. Both varieties are great layers, com- mencing early in the season. We have had them lay as early as Christmas. Their feathers are not surpassed, even by those of the wild goose. The African Goose — This variety is rare. They are very similar to the Brown Chinese, are larger and have a dewlap under the throat. Their habits are much the same as the Chinese. The Embden Goose— This mammoth variety is pure white in plumage, and excelled by none in size. They are fairly good layers and are much sought for by the trade. Until recent yards the Embden have been comparatively scarce, but have been in such demand that fanciers have taken special pains to produce them until now they are quite common. The Toulouse Goose— The Toulouse is rivaled in size only by the Embden. They grow to immense size, are of very docile disposition and are, as every one knows, good layers and are easy to raise. The great trade on ducks has been in the VARIETIES Pekin. Their plumage being of creamy OF DUCKS. white, with bright orange-colored bills, a flock of these fowls are very beautiful. They are great layers, and while not so good as some other varie- ties for table use, are the leaders as feather-producers. Good specimens of this breed, when fat, weigh as much as nine to ten pounds for female, while adult males sometimes weigh as high as twelve or thirteen pounds. The Kouen Duck— The Rouen is a close rival of the Pekin. They grow to great size. The drake of this variety has a lustrous green head, with body of ashy-grey color. RS, CURRAN, II^I,. The female is brown, her plumage resembling very much that of the Partridge Cochin hen. I find them excellent layers and hardy. The Muscovy Duck— The Muscovy is one of the oldest varieties, and yet many visitors to my farm do not know what they are. I have a soft spot in my heart for this queer bird. It is an oddity. In habits they are entirely different from all other ducks. The Standard calls for them to be black and white in color, the dark feathers to have a deep, lustrous sheen in the sun. In the finest specimens the dark color prevails. They have a peculiar head, being red on the sides of the face and with a crest on top, which can be raised or lowered at pleasure. The male bird grows to immense size, while the female is medium. These ducks are the best table fowl of any of the water-fowl fraternity. They are not so good for feathers as some other varieties. They make for themselves beautiful nests in curious places. An old hollow log or stump, or frequently the hay-loft, are the places they seem to favor most. Last year we had one nest in the hollow of a living tree, about five feet from the ground. The nest is daintily and cunningly lined with the softest, fluffiest down, from the breast of the female, and then they proceed to business in dead earnest. They stand without a rival as layers, often continuing as late in the sea- son as October. Another peculiarity of the Muscovy is that its eggs take five weeks to hatch, but when a duckling does come forth he is fully determined to live, and usually does so. They are unquestionably the easiest fowl to raise that lives, in fact, we do not try to raise them, but let the old ones attend to that part of the business themselves. We have had an old mother duck hatch as high as sixteen young ducklings and raise every one of them. They will not mix with other ducks, and as stated above, are fine for table use. They raise themselves, so why not have some Muscovys on the farm? They will pay their way. Th-ey do not eat as much grain as other ducks do. Long live the Muscovy. The Aylesbury Duck — This variety is much like the Pekin, only that their plumage is pure white, instead of hav- ing a creamy tinge. The beak is also flesh-colored. They are large and in every way equal to the Pekin. The Call Duck — ^There are two varieties, the white, and colored or gray, the latter being the most handsome and popular. They are the bantam duck and should be bred as small as possible. The colored are precisely of the same colors as the wild Mallard duck. They are good feeders, quick movers and certainy a thing of beauty, if of no vast proflt. The Cayuga Duck — I must not overlook Cayuga ducks. They are quite odd in two respects, their plumage is black as midnight, except that the male bird has a greenish tinge on head and neck. Their eggs are also of a dark color and frequently black as the duck itself. The bird is of good me- dium size, with a broad and very plump body. Their feath- ers are of a flne quality and they are also excellent table fowls. They were originally a. wild duck, but have been domesticated, and I believe they are fast growing in favor and will some day be one of the leading varieties. Friends, don't be afraid of the water-fowls, they will doubly repay you for all you do for them. M. W. SUMMERS. ^^ RELIflBLE.POUlTRyjouRnflL- TOULOUSE GliKSE— MALE AND FEMALE. BREEDING TOULOUSE GEESE. How to Manage Geese With Success and Profit -Care of the Breeders— Feeding the Goslings— Diseases of Geese —Full Description of the Toulouse Goose and Gander— Geese Breasts and Livers. .BY CIIARLKS F. NKWMAN, HUGri'.NOT, STATIvN ISLAND, N. V, HE Toulouse goose is in my estimation the most profitable goose to raise. I have made many trials witii otliers, but I now prefer the Toulouse. It grows the largest, matures the quickest, is not so much of a rambler and flyer as other kinds and as it does not lake so read- ily to water as other, varieties, it grows more rapidly and accumulates flesh faster. They are not so noisy, and you need not be afraid to let your horse stand in the yard for fear the flock might rise and fly away and scare the horse and wagon into flying, too. I allow two geese to one gander, though generally they will pair off and you will notice that a gander will stay with his actual mate nearly all the time. The gander is the protector of the goose, especially in breeding time will he defend her and her nest — fearless and vicious. It is not an easy matter to distinguish the sex. When six or seven months old, or at maturity, you can usually, by observation, tell the ganders from the geese. The male, in most cases, grows some larger than the female. The goose is deeper in the body, a trifle slimmer in neck and smaller in head. The Call of the gander is loud, long and shrill, while that of the goose is merely an answer to it. Separate a flock by driv- ing part on each side of a fence or building and you can dis- tinguish most of the ganders by their calls. Never look for a curled feather in the tail or any outside marks, such as I have seen in somecuts, for there are none. Early in the spring it is easier to tell them, for instance, by tasting, but it must be understood and done with care. Geese live to a great age. The females are profitable up to ten or twelve years of age, and the males up to six or Seven years, It is not profitable to raise geese in conflne- inent They must have a pasture where from early spring they Will live almost exclusively on green rye, clover or ferass, needing little grain and thriving well. Do not feed too much corn in winter, as it is apt to get them too fat for breeders. Oats and barley are better. The way I feed is this: I take some boxes about eight inches deep and put in the oats or whatever grain I want them to have. These I place in the pasture, away from other fowls, and invite them to help themselves. One need not be so careful in feeding them as in feeding ducks and other poultry. You can not spoil their appetites, and by putting the boxes of grain in the runs they get a good run and a light feed, and are in no danger of overfeeding. I should not advise you to feed corn in this way. Give them corn only in the hardest weather, when it is storming or there is so much snow they can not go foraging. Toulouse geese need only enough water to drink, none to swim in. When in proper condition young geese will lay from eighteen to twenty-four eggs the first season, and old geese will lay from thirty to thirty-six and even forty eggs in a season. Early in the spring I place some boxes and barrels in out-of-the-way places and cover them with rubbish, hav- ing straw or litter of some kind inside of them. Some of the geese will begin laying in February, and they will find the places provided for them. We gather the eggs every day, but avoid disturbing a goose when she is on the nest, and we always arrange the nest as nearly as possible the same as we found it. Always leave a nest egg— any kind will do. A goose will cover her egg with the nest material, and in winter instinct teaches her to bury it deep. Young geese seldom get broody the first year. We sel- dom let our geese sit, but break them up as soon as they become broody. We put an extra gander in a yard by him- self away from the other geese. Into this yard goes the broody goose or geese. Her nest is destroyed, or if it is in a barrel or box it is moved to a new position. In four or five days turn the goose out and in most cases she has for- gotten she wanted to sit and goes to work again. In this way we keep the geese busy laying eggs and a large com- mon hen attends to the hatching for them. We put the goose eggs under a hen, setting as many as we can at the same time. On the fifth or sixth day we test the eggs and divide the fertile eggs among the hens, giving each four eggs, which are as many as a hen can well cover. It takes thirty days to hatch them. Then you want to be on the lookout. The hen will sit all right, but when the young ones break the shell and the hen sees a queer, green little creature with a long, wide bill saluting her, she takes it for a freak of nature and off comes its head! Not many hens will claim the young geese, so take the goslings away as they hatch and try the hens, giving them to a good, slow, gentle hen. As soon as she takes them without any fuss there is no further danger. The first two or three days keep them in a FEEDING- warm place and give them a little soaked THE bread and water. When the weather is nice GOSLINGS, turn them out in a small inclosure which can be changed every day or so. Use boards six feet long and twelve inches wide. After a, week let them go and then their foster mother's trouble begins, for the lit- tle goslings do not care a snap for her calling. They are off hustling for every spear of grass, and she has to go after them. Her business is to keep them warm at night and warm them in the day time if they get chilled. The first four or five weeks give them nothing but stale bread occasionally, but always leave them at liberty to get all the grass or clover they want. Do not soak the bread, as they do not like it so well. After five weeks give them a mash of two-thirds bran and one-third corn meal. If you wish to fatten them, after six weeks feed one-half bran and one-half cracked corn, but do not let it be sloppy. Never allow goslings to go to water to swim until fully feathered, and then only let those go that you wish to keep for breed- ers. Many of them will do as well if they never go swim- ming. During this period you must keep the old geese away, as they will fight the hen and molest the young. It will sometimes happen that you will hatch and raise a gosling with a broken wing. It is no serious fault at all, only a malformation in the egg. If it is a nice, large, prom- ising bird do not kill it nor be apprehensive that it will breed broken-winged birds, for it will not. If the looks of it be unpleasant to you take a sharp knife and sever the crooked part at the joint. Bandage it and it will soon heal and you will never note the difference afterward. You will generally find such to be the largest birds. Goslings, when nine and ten weeks old, weigh from twelve to fifteen pounds. That is the best time to market them, as they will bring more money then than in the fall 52 DUCKS AND GEESE. and winter, and you have no trouble fattening them. The tirst green geese in the New York and Boston markets this year brought from eighteen to twenty-five cents a pound and now, when nine months and not weighing much more, they bring from fourteen to eighteen cents. Will you not agree with me that they are profitable to raise? I do not gener- ally paint things in the brightest colors, and do not advo- cate everybody going into goose culture. You can not raise geese as you do chickens and ducks — on an acre lot. They must have pasture. It is a wrong belief that geese or their droppings will kill grass or destroy a pasture. I will ex- plain this as follows: If you have a large flock of geese and a small pasture they will clean it up, that is they will eat the grass as fast as it sprouts and give it no chance to grow, just as a cow on a city lot will soon have only bare ground and you will have to tie her out in the road. If you could do the same with geese you would find the grass coming again and growing as before. To provide a good pasture for geese for the late fall, winter and early spring, plow a piece of ground in Septem- ber and sow it to rye. It will make good picking for them in the winter and provide them with a good living in the early spring before the grass comes in the pasture. Geese are more profitable than either ducks or chickens, but you can not raise them in such quantities. I have tried, but can not hatch them successfully in incubators. It would be too much work to raise them in brooders. But you can raise quite a fiock in a season and make it pay. Have no fear of glutting the market. Green geese always find a ready sale, and there is a good demand in the fall and winter. Their feathers are an item worth considering, but do not pluck your geese twice a year and expect them to be good breeders. A goose so treated will not lay as early, nor lay as many, nor as fertile eggs as one that is left alone to go through the changes naturally. Always send your fowls to market properly dressed. Never send them alive. The dif- ference in the price of the carcass and the feathers will pay you three-fold for the extra work. Geese are easier to raise than any other DISEASES fowl. There is no mortality among the young OF stock from disease. Lameness is the only ail- GEESE. ment with which I have had to contend. It is caused by too close confinement, unwholesome food, too warm housing, and close quarters in the fall. Let your geese stay out under a shed with some litter under them in the hardest winter weather and they will be more vigorous than those closely housed. To treat lameness, proceed as follows: If you notice one that is rather bad, put it by itself in a dry place and give light food (stale bread) and water. If it shows signs of fever and diarrhea, give a tablespoonful of castor oil by holding its beak open and working it down its throat. Re- peat the second day if it is no better. Do not mistake the common crown goose for the Tou- louse. The following is a short description of the Toulouse: Head, large and short, especially in the gander; color, dark-gray; beak, reddish-fiesh, not pink; eyes, dark brown, or hazel; neck on gander, long and carried erect — by long I do not mean extremely long; neck of goose, medium in length; plumage, dark gray, shading a trifie lighter toward the beak; back slightly curved, long and broad, color dark gray; breast, full and deep, plumage, light gray, not white; body, round and deep, in old birds in good condition it al- most touches the ground; plumage down to the keel is light gray; the lower and fluffy parts are pure white. The tail ought to be short, in color black and white, the ends of the feathers being white. Wings, strong and large, with smoothly folded, dark gray primaries, brown secondar- ies and dark gray coverts. Thighs, short and stout, covered by light gray plumage, distinctly laced. Shanks and web of feet, dark orange color, not pink. White feathers in wings, or any other part of body other than above mentioned, show impure breeding. The weight differs in various seasons. In winter they should be kept in good condition. The old geese should average about twenty pounds, the young about eighteen pounds. I have some weighing from twenty-six to twenty- eight pounds. There is still much to be said about this variety of geese, and a wide field open for discussion. Who has not heard of "Hanover Ganze Biuste," Hanover smoked geese breasts, which sell in Europe in the finest delicatessan stores at 80 cents and $1 a pound? And have you ever heard of goose livers selling at $2 to $3 per dozen? That is for the livers only. You can sell lots of them every day in New York and other large cities — if you only have them. CHARLES F. NEWMAN. BILL OF A GOOSE, SHOWING THE SERRATED EDGES OF UPPER AND LOWER MANDIBLES AND TONGUE, WHICH ENABLE IT TO GRAZE. TOULOUSE GEESE. Full Directions for Raising Them as Practiced on the Orrocco Poultry Farm, at South Natick, Mass.— Hatching: with Hens— Yards for Fattening;- Variation of Prices in the Boston Market. BY W. H. RUDD, SOUTH NATICK, MASS. EW ENGLAND is quite a goose growing section of our country. In fact, the New York marlfet depends upon her for its supply of green geese in summer. Rhode Island is particularly de- voted to this industry, and perhaps more geese are raised there on the same area than anywhere else. The Rhode Island breeders, or at least the majority of them, have wonderful success in producing the largest and best specimens of green geese we receive from any source; and yet we should not say wonderful, because it is simply the result of their being willing to take the necessary pains and perform the necessary labor to give their goslings the ne- cessary conditions, and without these three necessary things it is in vain to expect success, for it will never come. The price of green goslings, or "green geese,'' as they are termed, in the Boston market to-day (June 10th) is 35 cents per pound. This top price is short lived, however, and ten days hence they may bring only 25 cents, and rapidly decline until through July and August they average about 15 cents per pound. But Rhode Island goslings then weigh fourteen or fifteen pounds each, so that they amount to quite a respectable figure, even at the lowest price, and New Jer- sey geese by Christmas frequently weigh from sixteen to twenty pounds. Our hotels, as a rule, use geese mostly from June 1st to March 1st. At present goslings will range from nine to twelve pounds each, and ten pounds is a very good average weight for them. The cost per pound of raising them to this size is variously estimated by different breed- ers. Some careful figures result in placing it at 5 cents per pound; others equally careful give 6 cents. Through the summer they will, on the average farm, pick up their entire living. Adult geese can be turned out to pasture precisely the same as cattle, and in this latitude wil obtain their own living more than six months of the year, during which time the cost of keeping them is simply the value of the grass they consume. Throughout the laying and breeding season, however. In addition to grass they should be fed twice a day with shorts and Indian meal, equal parts, thoroughly moist- ened with cold water, but not too wet, lest it produce diar- rhea, and the mass should be dry enough to crumble. If stale bread from hotels or elsewhere can be had at a reas- onable price, soak it and use it instead of the shorts. Add ten per cent of ground scraps, or its equivalent, and feed all they will immediately eat up clean. Supply them liberally with ground or crushed shells and all the water they will drink. Where they can not roam at liberty a substitute for grass must be furnished. Cabbages answer very well, but quite a variety of green food, such as corn fodder, green oats or rye, barley, etc., can be provided without much labor by using a little forethought. For adult or breeding geese, access to a pond or stream is desirable and much enjoyed by them, but Is not essential. For growing goslings, however, where the most rapid growth is desired, all swimming exer- cise is objectionable and should be avoided, as it does more harm than good. In winter geese should have protected and comfortable quarters, but not bo compelled to occupy them against their will. When the breeding flock is small they had better employ their energies in laying eggs to be hatched by hens, whose time is less valuable. A good-sized hen, like a Plym- outh Rock for instance, will cover five or six geese eggs, but their being so much larger than her own she does not always take kindly to them, and for the first day or two may "sit standing up." Goslings are often twenty-four hours and sometimes longer in emerging from the shell, and should never be hurried nor assisted except in rare cases, where it is obvious they will die without timely aid. Hens should average hatching not less than four gos- lings each in the very early spring, when geese eggs (like duck eggs) are least fertile, but as the per cent of fertility increases (again resembling duck eggs) there is no good reason why the second, and in fact all the subsequent hatch- ings, should not produce a gosling from almost every egg. When well hatched the mortality among goslings is almost nothing, and, except in case of accident, we usually raise them all, and should no more think of losing one by disease than of losing a calf or a colt. We have lost only one well- hatched gosling this year, and that was killed by its clum- sy and stupid mother goose in attempting to care for it; but of those we raised artificially we have lost none that were well-hatched — not one. Two per cent loss would be a fair figure for a calculation, and five per cent _unnecessarily liberal. ' i Where only a few goslings are hatched, WHEN say twenty or thirty, they can, until two or BREEDING three weeks old, be kept in any convenient A FEW. boxes or baskets (common soap boxes will do) by the kitchen stove at night. The gos- lings can be kept by the kitchen stove at night and placed in the sun during the day, or, if a warm, sheltered spot in the yard is at hand, they can be put there when a week old, in a bottomless box, if no snow is on the ground, otherwise the bottom is indispensible, and, if the air is chilly or too cold .cover the box with a window sash. Put them out thus on sunny days about the middle of the forenoon and take them in about the middle of the afternoon, guarding against their getting chilled. They can be fed at first on one-third Indian mead and two-thirds shorts, wet cold and squeezed almost entirely dry. They should be fed as often as they manifest a desire for food, which will be at least every, two hours — perhaps more frequently — and we offer them water almost as often as we feed them, but in such manner that they can not wet their bodies. The principal points to be observed at this early stage are to keep them warm and dry, as well as fully supplied with food. As they grow older they very rapidly become able to endure more out-of-door air and exercise. Indeed, both of these are then absolutely necessary for best results. As spring advances and grass begins to grow, they may be put in a pen, which can be quickly made by nailing four boards together. Ten inches is wide nough to keep young goslings within bounds, and any length will do, two or three feet square, or three feet by six, according to what boards may- 54 DUCKS AND GEESE. be at hand. In chilly, windy weather it is a good plan to have the pen to fit a window sash, as the goslings can thus be easily protected and kept warm, but the smaller the pen the more frequently must it be moved, both to secure clean- liness and to furnish fresh grass. We have portable yards thus made, of all shapes and sizes, up to sixteen feet square. These larger ones are designed more particularly for ad- vanced goslings, and are made of lx3-inch strips on which we put 12-inch poultry netting, and as the netting laps onto the strips only an inch, it gives a height which is certainly sufficient for any well-bred gosling. These yards are fast- ened at the corners with hooks and eyes and can readily be moved by two persons (even boys) to a new spot, which should be done three or four times a day, or as often as the grass is devoured. But when the goslings are three or four weeks old (depending upon the weather, condition of grass, etc.,) they should, if possible, be given a wide range — turned out to pasture as it were; but the inclosure, whether an acre or more, or less, should, if practicable, be fenced gosling- proof, that we may always know where to find them. They should also be fed twice a day with three-quarters shorts and one-quarter Indian meal, thoroughly wet, but pressed or squeezed dry, and they should be fed all they will immedi- ately eat up clean, whether it be a peck or a cartload, and they must have a supply of drinking water continually by them. The drinking vessels should never be empty. When the earliest hatched goslings are about eight weeks old, if then having unlimited range, they should be confined to narrower quarters and fed expressly for fatten- ing and prepared for market. The aforesaid 16-foot-square yards would answer the purpose very well, and about eight goslings, or at the most not over ten, would be enough to occupy one of them. The yards must be moved as often as necessary to secure a constant supply of grass,, and being so frequently in motion the shade must be provided artificially and must be sufficiently ample to protect every gosling. Exercise is now a secondary consideration with them; in fact, much of it is objectionable and interferes with their main business, which is not exactly to "eat, drink and be merry," but to eat, drink and grow fat. We would then feed less shorts and more Indian meal, and add some ground scraps, increasing the last two as rapidly as possible and diminishing the shorts until we discontinued them entirely and fed ten per cent scraps and ninety per cent meal. If stale bread is obtainable it can be used to advantage, as already stated. But where later goslings, intended only for breeding stock, are at pasture, this fattening process is of course unnecessary. W. H. RUDD.- RAISING TOULOUSE GEESE. Selecting: the Breeders— Hints on Hatching: and Care of Young— Plan for Simple and Convenient Brooder- and Quarters -Feather Picking Time and Curing of Feathers — Fattening for Market— Preparing the Carcass. -Food BY MRS. JKNNIB; U. WOI.COTT, NAP0I,K0N, OHIO. ■ HAVE bred poultry for fourteen years, my first attempt at going into the matter in a business- like way being when I was fifteen years old, when my father told me I might have all the money I could make from our flock of Bronze Turkeys to pay for my lessons at a musical college. I made a great success of my work, raising over one hundred tur- keys, and from that time to this I have not felt content without my flock of fancy feathered pels. After I was mar- ried the male member of the firm objected to my keeping Toulouse Geese, but I argued and won (as most women do), by purchasing a trio of this variety. When he said to me one day, "I wonder what those geese live on? I never see them eating anything but grass," I knew they were working their way into his good graces, and in time he declared that he preferred the Toulouse Goose to any other bird I raised. Truly there seems to be an awakening to the fact so long known by a few, that there is money in geese. Among the various breeds raised there seems to be a steady demand for the beautiful, large gray Toulouse variety, and well do they deserve every word of praise given them. They are known to have lived one hundred years and even at that age to produce eggs that were as good and fertile as those from a young generation. Much care should be taken in select- ing the breeders. Use large, vigorous birds, one male to every two or three females. During the breeding season, if the male birds disagree, place only one in the yard at a time. Some breeders change them every day, but I have better suc- cess by placing them alternately, one a half a day at a time. I make large warm nests for them early in Ifebruary. If they are comfortable in their quarters and are not disturbed they will lay in the same nest every year. Great care should be taken in gathering the eggs early, as they are very easily chilled. They lay two clutches, and occasionally three. It they want to sit, after the first laying, I keep them away from the nest for a few days and then they begin laying again. I incubate their first laying with chicken hens, and frequently let "old mother goose" care for her second hatch. Be sure to have your sitting hens free from lice. Treat them with Lee's Lice Killer or any good insect powder every week. Sprinkle the eggs with warm water twice during the last week they are hatching, and oftener in dry hot weather will do no harm. Remove each gosling from the nest as it hatches, for they are easily mashed. Keep them in a flannel cloth in a basket in a good warm place until all have fin- ished hatching. Then remove the little goslings to a brood- er, as I think this quite an improvement over the old way. The goslings grow very rapidly, while the wings of a hen do not. As I have other young birds beside gos- BROODEB, lings to raise by brooder, I simply use a store ^OR hox, making it rat and water-proof. In this GOSLINGS, box I make two large ventilators, one at each end near the top, and with a piece of tin or thin board make a slide to work back and forth, so that I can ventilate as desired. With a square board (about six inches) I make a frame tor this ,brooder and cover it with screen wire. A lighted lantern set into the center of the box furnishes the heat. This makes a very simple and con- venient brooder. I have used it with success in very cold weather. Use large boxes. Heat and ventilation must be used with judgment, the DUCKS AND GEESE. 55 former can be abandoned entirely as the goslings grow older and the weather becomes warmer. It is very essential to keep them warm and dry while young, especially at night, as dampness often proves fatal. Protect them from rain and storm during the day until after they don their new coat of feathers, the down that is on their little bodies being no protection whatever. I consider the care of young geese as little trouble compared with that required by other fowls. I have never had disease or lice among my birds, in fact, I have never lest one except through accident. Place a little sand and straw in the bottom of the brood- er, and clean it out every other day. Put ten to twelve gos- lings in one coop, and reduce the number to six as they be- come larger. Begin the business moderately, and acquire experience. prepared food used only. Soda, very little salt, and good grit added to the food every few days prevent indigestion and bowel trouble. Bran is quite indispensable as a bone forming element, and grit should be provided at all times. Feed often while they are young, four times a day until they are three weeks old, and three times thereafter will be suf- ficient. As soon as they can eat cracked corn and wheat, I feed the prepared food in the morning only, and keep plenty of fresh water at their disposal. When they don their new coat of feathers they can be given water to bathe in. Be- fore that time it may injure their growth. A neighbor of ours lost nearly forty goslings in this way last summer. The overflow from a windmill tank furnished them a splendid bathing place, too tempting to resist, but the results were fatal. FLOCK OV TOULOUSE GEESE ON THE FARM OF CHARLES M'CLAVE, NEW LONDON, OHIO. There are some things about raising geese which can be learned only by experience, and a little practice is worth a world of theory. Intelligent and systematic breeding is sure to bring both pleasure and profit to the breeder. The first problem with young goslings is what is best to feed them to produce fine, large, healthy birds. True, there are about as many bills of fare as there are poultrymen and women. However, I believe in the most simple and effective way. When the goslings are twenty-four hours old I give them a light food of rolled oats, dry, and some water to drink, being careful not to let them get damp or to tread in the water. I use the galvanized drinking fountains, which prove very satisfactory. I prepare food by using one-third eornmeal and two-thirds bran, dampened (not wet), mixed and baked. It is not necessary to bake very long, just so it is thoroughly heated. If prepared properly it is very crumbly when done. After it is cool, add one tablespoonful of bone meal to every gallon of the food. I find it best to prepare the food fresh every day. Feed this food alternately with rolled oats for nearly one week, after which the oats can be abandoned, and the Grass is the most important of all foods GBASS AN for young goslings. I keep a box sown thick- ESSENTIAL ly with oats, and when it is too cold for the POOD. goslings out of doors I let them devour this, which furnishes an abundance of green food that is much enjoyed by them. They eat very daintily, pre- ferring grass to all other foods. With their "musical" chat- ter they are ready to meet you, take a few mouthfuls of food and then with the same old tune they lazily saunter away in search of more grass and more rest. Early in the spring I turn them into a yard set with tender June grass, later I place them in a clover field. If your range is limited and grass is scarce, a yard sown with oats will do splendidly. I did this one year when my clover field was too distant for the young birds. They kept the green blades of oats quite close along the edge, while the interior grew and ripened. This served as food for a long time and was excellent, and my birds never weighed more than they did that season. Be sure to have plenty of shade, as they suffer greatly from heat. Do not give them crowded quarters, the more 56 DUCKS AND GEESE. range the better. In the fall select only the best birds for breeders, and dispose of the remaining ones. Feed wheat and oats at morning and noon, and corn at night, with free access to clover hay during the winter, wheat and oats being best for them during the laying season. If you wish to turn grass into greenbacks, I say decidedly, raise geese. One of the best Items of profit to be derived from a flock of Toulouse Geese are the feathers, which are clear gain, costing nothing but the trouble to pick. Do not" pick your breeders when they are laying. When one has donned the oldest garment she can find, and starts out for the delightful task of picking her geese, it is best to let one of the "old man's socks" accompany her, as she will most likely need it. After you have caught a goose, turn back the feathers, and if there are little pin-feathei-s just peeping through the fowl is ready for picking. Do not pluck a large handful at once, as it is apt to tear ihe fiesh and old mother goose is liable to return "pinch for pinch.' If she insists on doing this, put the "old man's sock" over her head, but do not do it as long as you can handle her without it, as you are not quite as apt to forget what you are doing, and it is lots of company, you know. I usually try to find as comfortable a seat as possible in some shady corner, with a box beside me over the top of which a, cloth is tacked, except a corner to poke the feathers into. I put the feathers away in this box for a short time, so that any that are not real ripe and are a little bloody will dry. I make cheese cloth sacks that will hold two pounds of feathers. I make them quite large, as the feathers will cure quicker if they are not packed together. Put the feathers in the sacks, and after a few days sprinkle some good sachet powder through them. I hang the sacks on the clothes line every sunny day for about two weeks, if I want to cure the feathers quickly, and then put them in a well-aired room. They should be ready for customers in three months' time. Lie careful to keep the sacks clean, as the feathers will sell much better. Ladies living in the cities and towns will be your best customers, providing you let them know you have good feathers for sale. The market demands large, heavy weight PKEPARING specimens, with a round, plump carcass, and FOB those requirements the Toulouse Geese are MARKET. most able to fill. Those intended for market I place in a small lot, so that they cannot ex- ercise very much. I use a "V-shaped trough for food and water. I make a mash for the morning food consisting of pqual parts of ground forn, oats, wheat and barley. To each gallon of this, I add one tablespoonful of oil meal. Mix these ingredients thoroughly, scald, and feed while warm (not hot) all they will eat. During the forenoon give green food, cabbage , potatoes, beets, etc. The noon and night food should consist of shelled corn, all they will clean up. Keep plenty of grit and charcoal where they can have free access to it. Hang each bird up separately that you wish to kill, so they will not get blood on one another. Insert a sharp knife into the roof of the mouth, well back, so they will bleed properly. If you wish to dry pick them it is best to do so while they are bleeding. I have no success in that way, as when they are fat they tear easily. I take a wash-boiler, put in it a little water, and then make a rack out of laths to fit inside, so that it will be about three inches above the water. Lay your bird on this rack, being careful not to let any part of the body touch the water. Cover tightly and steam from three to five minutes. Have twine strings, doubled, fastened up in the building to rafters, about long enough to bring the birds at a height that it will make it un- necessary for those who are picking to reach up or to stoop over. Loop the end of the string and hang the fowl in the loop, head down, so that the blood will not soil the feathers. Have a clean barrel beside you to put the feathers in. Do not hold the bird over this barrel, as the blood may drop on the feathers and soil them. You will find this very con- venient, and not so tiresome as the old way of picking. If any down should remain on the body of the bird, take some powdered resin and rub over it. Place the fowl in your steamer a few seconds, remove it and rub the downy parts with your hands, and the down will disappear as if by magic. Steaming those few seconds will also plump the bird. Dip afterward in cold water and wash all the blood oft the mouth and head. Have boards la-d upon trestles and covered with cloth or paper if not smooth, and lay your birds upon this. Do not place one bird upon another. It ruins their shape and may spoil the sale. "We have no sale for drawn birds here. The manner of dressing fowls in different localities depends on the requirements of the market, hence it is best to consult a good commission man and ask him how he wants birds dressed. There are some who do not care to have them dressed at all, and in a great many instances do not pay only about half what they should. If the commission men find that you mean business, they will send you a circular, quoting prices, twice a week and will also inform you as lo the best time and way for shipping. Our prices here range from 8 to 11 cents per pound, between Thanksgiving and Christmas, the best prices being obtained about Christmas. Do not be timid about making inquiry. IVIRS. J. E. WOLCOTT. YOUNG AFRICAN C.EESE ON THE FARM OF SAMUEL CUSIIMAN, I'AWTUCKET, RHODE ISLAND. GEESE FOR PROFIT. Hatching: Goslings and Breeding Geese— When to Hatch— How to Fatten for Market and How to Pick Them. BY C. I,. DARI,INGTON, hOYD, N. \ . I HERB are a number of varieties of geese, but the most profitable are the Toulouse, Embden and the China, of which latter there are two kinds, the Brown and the White. The color of the Toulouse is gray and white, of the Embden white. The Toulouse and Embden are the larger. I have now at my place a pair of Toulouse that weigh 59% pounds and a pair of Embden that tip the beam at 57 pounds. They are great layers of large eggs, of which they will lay from thirty to forty in a year. They lay about fifteen or eighteen eggs and then want to incubate, but if they are not allowed to sit they will start to lay again in about six days, and will then lay until they stop for the season. My geese always lay at night or before five o'clock in the morning, and they lay every other day, or rather night. After they have de- posited their eggs they cover them up with straw or litter. To hatch geese take large hens and put from four to six eggs under one hen. The eggs should be sprinkled every fourth day after the twelfth day, the length of time required to hatch being from twenty-eight to thirty-one days. Often the goslings have to be helped out of the shell. When first hatched the goslings should be fed four or five times daily on cornmeal, in which is mixed chopped boiled eggs, a pinch of black pepper and a handful of sand. Peed this for three days, then discontinue the eggs and give bread soaked in skimmed or sweet milk, oatmeal or broken rice boiled until soft, outer leaves of cabbage, onion tops and all the grass they can eat. I have always found it better to keep the young away from water until nearly feathered, only giving them enough to drink, which must be a liberal quantity, as they want to drink with almost every mouthful of food. For use as breeders geese should be hatched very early, as they do not mature until they are twelve or fourteen months old. The number of geese with one gander should never be more than three, and if the gander is vicious or ill- tempered he ought to be disposed of after five or six years, for they are dangerous and will not hesitate to attack man, woman or child ,and they strike a heavy blow with their wings. Old geese do not need any feed except a little at night, so as to keep them in the habit of coming home when they have unlimited range in summer, but in winter cut hay (clover is the best), grain boiled, grit, cabbage leaves, tur- nips, wheat screenings and cracked corn, but never whole corn unless it has been soaked in warm water for three or four hours. To fatten geese give them a liberal supply of barley meal and cornmeal soaked in buttermilk. When fed this food they fatten rapidly and are soon ready for market. Geese should not be picked before the twentieth of May. Catch one, draw a stocking over its head and then pick it, leaving the feathers on its back, shoulders and wings to pro- test it from the rain and sun. Some writers claim that the Toulouse cannot fly, but I have a gander ten years old that I have seen fly a distance of three hundred yards so high that he cleared the peak of the corn house thirteen feet from the ground; but generally speaking a three-foot wire fence will keep them in; In writing the above I refer to the Toulouse breed only. C. L. DARLINGTON. PROFITABLE GEESE BREEDING. FROM THE NEW ENGLAND DEPARTMENT OF THE RENTABLE POULTRY JOURNAL. HE value of investigations by experiment sta- tions can be best understood when one learns to what extent goose breeding and fattening are carried on in New England. In Little Compton, R. I., there are numerous large flocks of geese, and, indeed, throughout the state the rearing of geese is an important industry. The fattening establishment of Mr. G. M. Austin alone requires from 10,000 to 25,000 in a year, and some years as many as 10,000 to 12,000 are to be found there at one time. The con- ductor of this department has eaten a roast goose — that is, part of one fattened by Mr. Austin, and he can vouch for the fact that it was the fattest creature he ever put a knife into. And more than that, the lean meat was juicy, tender, and delicately flavored. In a conversation with Mr. Austin it was learned that he buys his grain by the car load and has it ground for his own use. Cornmeal that is purchased as such, so he says, has removed a portion of the most fattening material, which is sold for a high price. He desires all that lies inside the kernel for his use and can obtain it by having it ground where he knows he will get the whole. The fattening process consumes on an average twenty days. Not every goose will be well fattened at the end of that time, but not more than one or two out of a hundred will fail to reach the desired degree of fatness. The geese are put into fattening pens of about 100 to l.'iO feet in length, and perhaps 25 feet in width, and about 1.^0 of them in a pen. They are fed three times a day in summer and twice a day in winter on grain rations, consisting of about two- thirds ground corn and one-third whole corn, with an abun- dance of freshly ground beef scraps. When killed the in- side of the goose is a solid mass of fat and the exterior is handsomely overlaid with fatty tissue. Expert pickers are employed, and about 200 geese are slaughtered daily. This number, it will be seen, requires about 4,000 to be fattening at once in order to keep a supply ready each day. The kill- ing is done on fair days only, for on a wet, nasty day it is 58 DUCKS AND GEESE. impossible to malte the dressed geese look clean and invit- ing. The above facts will show, to some extent, the impor- tance of the experiments referred to. If it can be demon- strated that any particular breed or cross will produce the heaviest and most saleable carcass for the least expense, all things considered, that breed or cross will be the one that practical men, men who are "in the business not for their health," but for the money there is in it, will adopt. Even a slight difference in favor of a breed or cross will make a large amount when it is multiplied by thousands, and that is what must be done to understand the effect which will be produced. Incidentally other facts of great value are continually being ascertained. It sometimes happens that these inci- dental facts, facts which an investigator at the start may regard as minor, prove even of greater value than the one or ones for which the investigation was started. By the way. It will not do, in this connection, to forget the Mongrel Goose. The name is unfortunate, for mongrel has a fixed meaning and this goose is, and ought to be called, a hybrid. It is the result of a cross between the Can- ada goose — the goose which the Standard makers, evidently forgetting that there are many species of wild geese, have called wild — and some one of the domesticated varieties. It is usual to employ a Canada gander with the tame geese. The resulting hybrid is sterile being the product of two species and externally bears a strong resemblance to its male parent, the Canada goose. It has, however, greater size. But it is the flesh beneath the feathers which makes it specially prized. This is considered much superior to that of any of our domesticated breeds and the geese are sought after by those who live to eat as well as eat to live. Quite a little business is being worked up in this so-called mongrel goose. BREEDING EMBDEN GEESE. Breeding: Season and Best Age for Breeders— Mating— Feeding: to Insure Fertile Eg:g:s Hatching: With Hens- Food and Quarters for Young:— Marketing:. BY GEORGE H. POLI.-^RD, SOUTH ATTI^EBORO, MASS. FEW generations ago the breeding and raising of geese was one of the commonest branches of poultry culture in this country. What causes have led to its comparative decay would make an interesting and attractive theme, but one which will not be attempted here. Neither shall we devote lengthy space to the origin and development of the goose family, tracing its growth from the remote past down through the dark ages, till the era of Roman civilization is reached when they compelled this noble bird to emerge from the clouds which enveloped him and to take his ap- pointed place in the domestic economy of men as a savior of a nation. For these most interesting suggestions of goose history we refer the reader to any good encyclopedia where the facts may be readily learned. We take up the goose where we find him to-day — the wisest and most cunning, as well as the hardiest and most profitable member of the whole poultry world. In their purity the grower has practically to do with three breeds only, namely, the African, Toulouse and Embden. The other breeds stand in relation to these as do frescoes to the wall which sustains them. They are ornamental and pleas- ing to the eye, but add nothing of strength or intrinsic value. Of the three breeds, we have chosen the Embden as being the most valuable market bird and the most beautiful to the eye. No other breed can compare with the Embden in graceful shape and carriage, and the snowy purity of their plumage is unequalled by any other variety. While tastes differ as to the relative beauty of the live birds, there can be no question of the superiority in appearance of the dressed carcass of the Embden over that of either the Afri- can or Toulouse. When dressed as green geese, that is, from twelve to sixteen weeks old, the African is the poorest appearing of the three, showing as it does, traces of dark down and pinfeathers, giving the carcass an unsightly and unclean look which detracts from its value in high-class family markets. This is less of a failing when consumed in hotels and public houses, as the professional cook is less careful of the external appearances of the carcass than is the dainty, fastidious housewife, and the pin-feathers do not enter into his calculations. The Toulouse is better than th? African on these grounds and is easier to pick. The feath- ers of the African have the proverbial chinch — and in th: hands of other than expert pickers are apt to rend both the skin of the bird and the temper of the picker. The Toulouse, while a better market bird than the Afri- can, shows a tendency to coarseness of flesh, and its great size, if allowed to reach its best market point, makes it undesirable for markets where the call is almost wholly (as in the east) for birds weighing from ten to twelve pounds each. At Christmas the larger birds sell readily, but at other seasons the demand is for lighter weights. The Embden, being a pure white bird, dress- IDEAL es well at all times, yielding a carcass as white MARKET as marble and free from any unsightly down or FOWL. pin-feathers. They will command from 2 to 4 cents per pound more in any high-class family market on the strength of apearance alone. When we add to these qualities the fact that their size is the most desira- ble, dressing from nine to fourteen pounds at their best age, picking easily and clean and giving feathers worth nearly double those of the colored breeds, we have abundant reas- ons why, other things being equal, the Embdens should be the chosen breed. We know of no complete test of the relative value of the different breeds other than we have indicated. Probably the average breeds will continue to choose more from appre- ciation of color and style, than from any exact knowledge of the different values inherent in the breeds. Embden geese are of pure white plumage, (not the creamy white of the Pekin duck) with pinkish, or flesh colored legs and bill. Their eyes are a light blue and are very expressive. We are aware that some of the experts who made the recent Standard of Perfection decided that the Creator was wrong in his preferences, and that the Embdens should have orange legs and bills like the Pekin duck. In this case, as in some others, we prefer to be on the Lord's side and allow the flesh colored legs and bills to stand, leaving it for the ex- DUCKS AND GEESE. 59 perts to produce a pure-bred water-fowl having a pure white, not creamy-white plumage, white skin, light blue eyes and orange legs and bills. In our experience they do not grow that way. The purer the breeding, the stronger the ten- dency to the pinkish colors, and where an Bmbden is found with even a clear yellow bill and legs we believe it can be traced back to some mixup with other blood. The common weight of Embden males is from thirteen to seventeen pounds when in good condition; females, eleven to fourteen pounds. These are not standard, but actual weights, and while often specimens may be found much heavier, they are exceptions and from a practical standpoint are not so val- uable. The breeding season varies with the section and climate. Here in New England it naturally lasts from about the mid- or two weeks will generally be long enough to separate them, when they may again be allowed to run together. Once thoroughly mated they sometimes continue for years without further trouble. The breeding geese need little shel- ter. Cold and storms do not seem to bother them much. Indeed, an open shed with a little straw on the floor is all they will generally use of their own volition, and that only in the severest weather. It is, however, a good plan to have a cheap shelter of some sort where they may be shut in from the roughest of the weather and the hard storms of winter. They should not be heavily fed on grain, as they lay on fat readily, and over-feeding results in weak or infertile eggs and general failure to hatch. Feed a variety of vege- tables, such as turnips, beets, cabbage, etc., and a light, bulky mash of two-thirds bran and one-third meal, with VIEW ON THE DUCK RANCH OF G. H. POLLARD, SOUTH ATTLEBORO, MASS. die of February to the middle of May. The breeders are best at from two years old up to seven or eight. Many claim no age limit to their value as breeding birds. They natur- ally breed the first year and sometimes with good results, but in common practice the older birds are found to lay bet- ter and more fertile eggs, and the germs being stronger the goslings are better able to break the shell and live. Breed- ing birds can be forced to lay in January and February by full feeding. This is a practice which weakens the vitality of the germs, and leads to ultimate failure. Many of the eggs come infertile and a large proportion of the young can not break from the shell, while such as do seldom or never attain the size and quality of birds from unforced and prop- erly fed breeding stock. Ganders may be mated with from one to four geese. We think as a rule two geese will be the best number. Where many are kept the birds should be separated mto the de- sired matings just before the breeding season and shut away from the sight and company of the other birds. Ten days one-half of the whole mass cut clover, wet up with hot water in winter. In the laying season add ten per cent beef scraps. After grass comes in the spring they should have a large range, nothing being better for their purpose than an old wet pasture, abundant water and swimming pools being de- sirable breeding spots. The lot should be sufficiently fenced to keep them in place. An unfenced flock of geese on a farm where other young birds are kept puts the caretaker in a plight of troubles, besides which Job had a pleasureable existence. One prominent writer claims the Afri- HATCHING cans and Toulouse to be more prolific layers AND than the Embden. There is so much differ- EAISING. ence in the laying proclivities of the different families of the same breeds that we have not felt that there is any reliable data to prove the matter either way. Conclusions deduced from the performances of a few geese of each breed and the specimens of each breed from the same family, are of little real value in determining 6o DUCKS AND GEESE. questions of this kind. The same faulty methods are often used to determine the laying value of different breeds of hens, and the results are just as valueless. Certain it is that some Embdens are very satisfactory layers of large white eggs, which they produce at very regular intervals in such places as they shall choose to set up their home build- ing. Where few breeders are kept the better way, all things considered, is to set the eggs under hens. In setting geese we have found the birds too cross and hard to manage to get the best results. The eggs may be successfully tested about the eighth day of incubation, the length of which varies from thirty to thirty-five days, and Is generally about thirty- one days. Sometimes there is virtue in a little help for the gosling to free himself from the shell. As a rule, however, the better way is to let him fight his own battles. Then it he does get out the chances are very good for his reaching maturity. No other young in the whole tribe of domestic poultry is so up-to-date and helpful as a young gosling, and given a tender grass plat and a bit of warmth he goes serenely on his way, nipping a living and asking favors of no one. When few in number they do as well if left with the mother hen, enclosing her for the first week, so she can not roam too much, and after that time letting them form a roving, happy family of wilful, pushing little peepers. Their food needs no frills and no fussing. From twenty-four hours after hatching they may have a mash of two-thirds bran and one- third meal, three times daily, all they will eat, adding a small proportion of beef scraps after the third day and in- creasing to ten per cent at two weeks old. They can and will live on grass alone, but will not grow so quickly nor so ^ large. Fresh water should be within reach at all times. They grow as by magic and the old hen soon finds herself the dwarf of the family. They may be very successfully and easily raised in brooders, as they need little heat and that only for a short time. Twenty to twenty-five are enough to be together until some weeks old, when they may be kept in large flocks if care is given in feeding so all may have enough. They may be raised without the grass run and with little green food, but it is a most unnatural way, and the cost per pound for raising is considerably higher. Neither young nor old are troubled with lice or vermin of any kind, and sickness is almost unknown. They need and must have plenty of shade, and the very young must be protected from very heavy showers and rains. In the olden days here in New England, as in foreign countries, the old birds were picked alive several times each season for the feathers which were in strong demand for beds and cush- ions. It was a most cruel practice and in the civilized parts of this country, at least, has become a thing of the past. The "live geese" feathers of the present day are mostly sup- plied by the ducks from the large market ranches. Not knowing the difference, the buyer is equally happy, while the poor goose is saved many a cruel pain. The goslings should reach market proportions at from twelve to sixteen weeks old. Previous to the day of killing they should have had from ten to two weeks of heavy feed- ing. Coax them to eat every possible quantity, three-fourths meal and one-fourth bran, and fifteen per cent in bulk of the best beef scraps, with an occasional feed of whole corn. If to be sold alive the weight counts, but the fattening will have to be done over, as a change of quarters worries the birds, quickly removing the fat and compelling the second fattening, which is always more difficult than the first. They are killed by bleeding in the roof of the mouth and a blow on the head, and are picked substantially the same as a duckling. About half the neck next to the head, also the wings above the first joint, are left unpicked, though the long flight feathers are pulled from the wing. They are marketed with heads on and undrawn, except in mid-win- ter, when many of the western geese are headed, while some are drawn and some are not. When dry picked in summer they should be cooled in cold water and much care taken that all the animal heat is expelled before packing for mar- ket. In winter a douse in cold water helps the looks and adds to the style of the carcass, but they should be thor- oughly dried before packing. GEORGE H. POLLARD. EMBDEN GEESE. A Great Improvement Over the Common Gray Goose. BY MRS. W. N. MARSHAI,!,, WSBON, MO, HERB has been greater improvement in the goose family than in all the fowl kingdom. Perhaps there was more room for this improve ment, from the commonest grey goose to the standard-bred Embden. There is no fowl more dreaded or detested by the farmer than the old-fashioned goose, and it is hard to overcome this feeling, for the very word "goose" carries with it an association of bad pastures, bad water and the ceaseless clattei- so annoying to the tired farmer. If the Embden could have appeared before the farmer without the surname "geese," they would no doubt have at once become a bird of great popularity, but on ac- count of their being a part of that dreaded family, many of their virtues have been overlooked. Their name is like a blot on a family record. It follows them through genera- tions, no matter how much the later generations have im- proved. The Embden goose is certainly a bird of more than average grace and profit. It (caches a lesson of evolution, the survival of the fittest. They are pure white, both the goose and the gander, and like all standard-bred fowls, show their good breeding in their appearance. They are very much like the swan, and in the goose family are next in size to the Toulouse, their average weight being from twelve to twenty pounds. The feathers of the Embden goose are very fine, being more than one-half down, and make a val- uable source of income. They average a half pound of feath- ers every six weeks, while a common goose does not produce more than a fifth of a pound during the same time. If properly treated the Embden goose is a gentle fowl. Several years ago I purchased a pair of standard-bred Emb- den geese at $10, which was then considered an enormous price. There were some In the family who thought our finances were going to ruin at this rate, but the first thing I did was to make pillows of the purest down, which luxury very soon came to be appreciated by the household. My flock of fifty geese is now an object of beauty and profit. I only wish the Embden goose were better known and I am sure it would be better appreciated. MRS. W. N. MARSHALL. EXPERIMENTS WITH GEESE. Mongrels— Cross-breds— Thoroughbreds— Experiments Conducted by the Rhode Island Experiment Station Afford Valuable Information Upon the Breeding, Laying, Fattening and Marketing of Geese. HE production of gaese for market is one of the most important branclies of the poultry industry, and the outcome of the experiments described below will be useful in determining the comparative value of different breeds in the flock bred at the Experiment Station: "The Canada goose, mated with the domestic goose, pro- duces goslings commonly called mongrels, and some- times termed 'mules," be- cause of the fact that they are sterile. It is occasion- ally true that a mongrel goose when kept for two or more years will lay a few eggs, but we have no knowledge that goslings have ever been hatched from eggs laid by a mon- grel goose. The progeny of the cross mating is usually sold the same season it is produced, and because of its delicacy, brings a much higher price in the market than other domestic water- fowl. As the Canada fe- males lay but few eggs, it it is not customary to raise mongrels from them. They are more often used for breeding pure Canada geese. The mongrel is gen- erally the product of the Canada gander mated with some dark colored domes- tic goose, usually an Afri- can or Toulouse. The gan- der will mate equally well with a white or light col- ored goose, but the prog- eny would be very liable to be marked with more or less light colored feathers, which might cause doubt upon the part of the dealer as to the genuineness of the breeding, and thus injure the sale when the bird came to be marketed. The gander has usually to be kept until two or three years old before he will mate, and probably for this reason the ganders bring a comparatively high price, good breeding birds ranging from ten to fifty dollars or more each. When a gander has reached the proper age for mat- ing, a good sized, well-bred African or Toulouse goose is usually selected for his mate. A goose two or three years old, which has already proven to be a satisfactory egg pro- ducer and good mother, is preferred, and the two should be confined together in some roomy yard provided with water and grass. It is better to get them mated during the autumn months, and to confine them in the field or yard which is to be their future home." Several experiments were made in the production of cross-breds. It should be understood that cross-breds are the result of mating two thoroughbreds of different breeds. If the crossing is continued in subsequent years, by mating cross-bred to cross-bred, the re- sults will be unsatisfactory and the stock will dwindle in size. Breeders should be careful to distinguish between cross-breds and what are ordinarily termed mongrels. Good results are obtained from the first cross of thoroughbred stock, but every subsequent cross must also be made with thoroughbreds to secure satisfactory results. The geese used in producing the following crosses were thoroughbreds. Hatches were made on April 2, April 29 and May 28. The growth of goslings of the second hatch is described in BROWN AND WHITE CHINA AND CANADA WILD GEESE ON THE FARM ui- CHAULiib M'CLAVE, NEW ICKl CN, OHIO. the following table, which covers both cross-breds and thor- oughbreds: SHOWING WEIGHTS OF GOSLINGS HATCHED APRIL 29tli, 1897.— SECOND HATCH. PRODUCTION OP CROSS-BEEDS WEIGHED JUNE WElt-HED JUNE WEIGHED JULY 5, 37 DAYS OLD. 25, STdavsgld. 10, 72 DAYS OLD. Mating. tr ui y •ss ^1 ° a ¥. og 'n o-:; OJ =1 o — o — ^a > o ""i ^a ^1 6 doz. 53-56 doz Jo -56 doz. March. . "iic April May 9c (old) 8 to 9 (young 1 10 to 14 lold VA to 8 (young) 10 to 11 1 12- 13 9 10-11 I July-..] r ■ (old)' J VA 8 to iv, 8 to8'i 7 to 7« 9 to 10 9 to 10 Sept 10 to 11 ■^S-^T doz October.. "7 to'i)' 10 to 11 10 to 11 9'toio 10 to 13 Vto'g 8 to 10 56-59 doz. 54-58 doz. ^6-59 doz. Dec 1900 Feb .... 9 to 10 ■••Vzc" 9 to 10 March . ... 10 to 11 1^ *'S-^ .jH' -""...'■-"» g^;v' r" <^ / V? L^Buff 51. S. S' poultry Spooks Is a book of ntnety-sbc pages, 9x12 Inches In sixe. that contains, we fully believe, MORE and BKTTKR practical, reliable information "^■■^^■■'■■^■■^^"■^^■"■~ on the general subject of POUI^TRY FOR PROFIT than any other book published. Gives the cream of established facts. Written and compiled by the editor of the RBT.IABI.E PotTLTRY JoxXRNAL, who has given seven years of careful study d_b-^^ ^4 t\f\ to the poultry business "PICC 9>-W SUCCESS WITH POULTRY. ARTIFICIAL INGUBATINGHND BROODING. nop It is tlie greatest because It Is the most op-to-date, the most practical, the best illustrated, and is con- ^^^^^^~ tributed to by the most expert anthonties In the world. This book contains flC pages, 12x9 inches in size, with over 100 illustrations, among the num- ber being Kight Pull- Page Copyrighted Designs of modern brooder houses, laying houses, incu- bator cellars. It contains full and complete instructions on the use and and abuse of incubators. It tells how to start rigfht iu hatching and raising chickens by artificial means. PpJQC 50c BARRED, WHITE AND BUFF PLYMOUTH ROCKS. This book was Issued from the presses in April, 1899. It Ccwsists of 80 pages, 9x12 ■ inches in size, ana a handsome cover. It contains an elegant color plate of a pair of Barred Plymouth Rocks, shown in their natural colors, reproduced from an oil painting made by the world's greatest poultry artist, Franklane L. Sewell. Amongr the contributors of original and copyrighted articles treating: on the Barred Rocks are the follow- ing: A. C. Hawkins, E. B. Thompson, Bradley Bros., Wm. HUery Bright, C. H. Latham, F. W. Richardson, Theo. Hewes, F. W. Hitchcock, W. S. Russell, C. A. Emry, S. S. Noble, and others. Kveiy line in the book written by a well-known breeder Price 50e. RELIABLE POULTRY REMEDIES. Consists of sixty-four pages, 5x6 Inches In size, points out the causes, describes the symptoms and gives tried remedies for roup, colds, cholera, canker, indi- gestion, constipation, dysentery, congestion of liver, gapes, cticken pox, black rot, crop-bound, scaly legs, bumble-foot, and many other common diseases of fowls. It also contains valuable instruc- tion on the proper care of poultry in order to prevent diseases. It is a book that will save you Ppjue 9Se dollars,. THE BANTAM FOWL. This book has Just been issued and is the first complete and fully illus- trated Bantam book ever published POULTRY HOUSES AND FIXTURES. Consists ofj two large pi inches, and The editor, T. F^pGrew, judge and breeder, %^, has spent man?" , ^ anj'months of time collecting l^^iuatter'^or it, and over sixty original copy- righted illiistraUons have been made expressly for this book. Any person who is interested in Bantams, either as pets or for profit will want a copy of "The Ban- — tarn Fowl.",,. onvet^mt \ Price 50c. E66S AND E66 FARMS. Is made up of contributions by most experienced and successful breeders. It gives their methods of housing, breeding, rearing and feeding fowls with a view to increased erne production. The lengthy chapters on Pedigree Breeding wtfl be invaluable to breeders of exhibition or utility fowls. An 80-page book, JuUy illustrated. PpfcC 50C. the latest designs of practical poultry building for th a the village acre and the farm; also complete and conve houses for the fancier, plans and build- Oni.*^ OCC.« ings for extensive poultry farms i^TICG 4COG. THE WYANDOTTES. SUver, GoUen, White and BuML ^mm^mmmmmmmmm^^mmmm NOW in preparation, will Consist of from 50 to 80 pages, and will be the most complete publication ever issued on this popular breed PriCC 50C nilfiltS ANn fiFESF Tells how the most successful breed- UUUro WnU OCCOC. ers of the day manage their enormous ^^"■""^^^~'^^*"""" flocks, and derive handsome profits. Detailed Instructions for Breeding, Rearing and Feeding are' furnished. It is fully illustrated with up-to. »_•__ er\ date cuts of the big farms and their stock. r^riCQ OUC. The price of "Success With Poultry" is one dollar. Any person sending |1 to this office will receiv* a copy of "Success With Poultry".|pint post-paid in United States or Canada)|^the Rbwablb Pototry JouRNAl, for one entire year. If already a subscriber you can have your subscn^Hbn extended one year and f:ure the book, both for |1, or you can induce some friend to subscribe, and thus secure a copy of the book half price. If taken alone, the price of "Success With Poultry" is invariably |1. "* ■' These books are sold ON APPROVAL. If not satisfactory, they can be immediately returned in good order and the purchase money will be promptly refunded. The above prices include payment of postage to any address in United States or Canada. Address all orders to RELIABLE POULTRY JOURNAL PUB. CO., QUINCY, ILLINOIS. To Poultrymen Everywhere: WE CLAIM THAT THE Reliable- ^ Poultry Journal Consisting of sixty-four to one iiundred and sixty- four pages. Issued monthly and finely illustrated, is one of the very best poultry papers published In this country. No matter what branch of the poultry business you are engaged in. It will Interest you and help you. Do not take our word for it, but drop us a postal card, asking for sample copy. This sample will speak for iis^-_— ^_„„»-»,„i^^ Reliable Poultry Journal, QVIISCY, ILL, ,r,rr