POULTRY KEEPING.

Auckland Star, Volume LXVI, Issue 163, 12 July 1935, Page 14

POULTRY KEEPING.

BREEDING OF DUCKS.

PRODUCTION FOR PROFIT.

(By ORPINGTON.)

A To Puke inquirer asks for notes on duck breeding. Some particular questions raised were answered in the issue of May 31.

Ducks need to be kept in flocks of limited size for best results, and this applies with particular force in the case of breeding stock. Any attempt to run ducks in flocks of more than 150, even on free range, is asking for trouble. The birds for breeding should bo run on free range if possible, and although access to water for swimming purposes is quite unnecessary for layers, it will materially assist in improving fertility of the eggs and is therefore an advantage for breeding stock.

Breeding ducks should have at least one feed of grain each day, as this leads to better hatching and stronger germs than if the birds are kept on an all-masli diet. Two parts of wheat, two of barley and one of maize is recommended, while for the mash, which is best fed in the morning, give bran 15 per cent, pollard 50 per cent, maize meal 15 per cent, animal meal (meat or fish) 15 per cent, buttermilk powder 5 per cent. The bran may be much reduced if chaffed greenstuff is used in the mash. Green food helps to provide the necessary bulk more inexpensively, and is also far better.

The evening meal should be fed in a small night paddock and the birds locked in so as _o make it easier to collect the eggs. If this is not done many of the ducks will "steal their nest," 'and even when a night paddock is used it is necessary to keep a careful watch for truants. Incubation. Although the ducks themselves often bring off quite good hatches, the hen is more reliable to use for natural incubation. She will sit the extra seven days without thought of quitting. It must be remembered that duck eggs take 28 days to incubate against 21 for hen eggs. Unless the ducklings are required in very large numbers, natural incubation is "preferable, as the hatchability of duck eggs in an incubator is often very erratic. Under artificial incubating "they require a temperature of 102 degrees the first week, 103 degrees the second and third weeks, and 104 degrees the fourth week. They should he turned twice a day after the first two days, and cooled from the eighth day onward. From the fourteenth day they need to bo sprayed with warm water once a day to assist in the drying down of the air cell, and they should lie shut down on the twenty-fourth day for hatching. Ducklings pip a longer time before hatching than chicks do, therefore do not be alarmed at the seeming delay. Considerable moisture will be needed at hatching time, and the incubator should not be opened from the time the eggs first pip until the complete 28 days have expired. This is very necessary in order to maintain the correct degree of humidity. Once the hatch is complete the ducklings should not be loft in the incubator any longer than necessary, or tlioy will be weakened and heavy losses will result. Ducklings Easy to Rear.

Given a normal hatch, ducklings are very easy to rear. They must have ample ventilation in the brooder, however, and should never be reared in a brooder of the box type. Again, their broader, if of the canopy type, sho.uld not show any light—otherwise the ducklings will march round and round all night and be exhausted in the morning instead of rested. Very little heat is required, especially after the first three days, and the heat may bo entirely cut off in the Auckland climate after 14 days. The main feature in rearing ducklings is to keep the bedding dry. Drinking water should be kept well away from the brooder, and should bo arranged so that the ducklings do not carry water away on their down. They should be able to reach the water with their bills only, and if possible the drinking fountain should stand on the centre of a wire frame or grid so that the ducklings also have to stand on the grid to drink. Any drips will then go through, and leave the birds with dry foot and fluff. There is no need to allow them access to water at night. True, they will wander out in the dark to look for it, but they are better without it and are soon trained not to want it. Their mash should bo mixed to a fine, dry, crumbly state, as otherwise they will paddle it down to a stodgy mass.

Don't Crowd the Brooder. Do not crowd too many ducklings into one brooder, however large it may be. Ducklings definitely do better in small batches. In, large numbers they arc apt to get nervous, stampede, and injure one another. Also it is difficult to keep them dry and clean. They may be allowed out on short grass after three days if the weather is fine. It is a mistake to let them out in wet grass, however, as they are very easily chilled if the fluff gets really wet. They should bo given shade from the sun to use if they need it.

It is essential to protect the ducklings from rats right up to the time when their feathering is practically complete at about nine or ten weeks of age. After that the rats will not touch tiiem, and they may be left out in the open all night if need be. Many thousands of ducklings each year, however, fail to reach that stage, and considering the care and expense needed to breed, incubate and rear them, it is well worth while to make very sure that no rat can possibly molest them.

Grass and Shade Needed. I As the ducks grow they need ample ' grass run and shade to make best development. By still avoiding crowding it will be possible to prevent their wearing of! the grass unduly. Ducklings penned 011 bare, muddy patches never do well and suffer from foot troubles and unthriftincss. Although ducks are not subject to diseases in the same way as hens, yet they seldom recover from even a slight disability, such as lameness. Once a duck develops any trouble little or nothing, can be done for it, and it seldom lives more than a few days. But if they are kept 011 well grassed pens, free from gorse or other prickly growth, they seldom have anything wrong with them. Roup, fowlpox, colds, bronchial affections, worms, and other troubles which cause such serious losses among liens and chicks do not affect ducks —which is one reason for their popularity. There is an eye complaint which occurs when water is not available in sufficient depth to enable them to keep the nasal passages clear, but this is easily avoided. Ducks praseato. their--own. jroblems, of- course,

in that they are easily upset by prowling dogs, low-flying aeroplanes, the flashing of car headlights, etc., and these matters arc liable to affect the egg yield, but given common sense and a little care ducks are very easy to

manage. It is sometimes claimed that ducks, after passing the growing stage, require 110 housing. Strictly they do not, but returns will be found to respond very materially to the provision of a. low, simply constructed shelter which will enable them to sit in dry, warm conditions at night. Although they enjoy to flap their wings in the rain, and feel it trickle over them, they do not want to be out in it indefinitely, and they need a dry bed just like any other creature.