AYLESBURY DUCKS

New Zealand Mail, 29 January 1902, Page 56

AYLESBURY DUCKS

This breed of ducks is undoubtedly the most popular for all-round purposes in England, and it is held in such esteem in the colonies that it is frequently spoken of as the English duck, just as the Pekin is considered to be the American breed. Duck rearing is steadily increasing year by year, and the demand is fortunately on the increase also, as will always be the case in all classes of poultry, provided that producers aim at supplying to their customers birds the quality of which surpasses that |of anything they have had before, as this invariably leads to more orders from the purchasers who are pleased, and from their ifriends also. We are frequently asked whether we consider it possible for the whole of the amount'which is annually paid by this country to industrious foreigners for eggs and poultry to be kept in England if all those who could keep fowls did so, and large x>oultry farms were started to supply produce in bulk to large centres of consumption. This question, we know, is one of great importance to those interested in poultry-keeping, and it receives some attention also from those who do not understand anything about the matter, except that they read of the large sums paid annually to other countries for poultry and eggs. To the uninitiated it may appear that it would be an easy matter to produce all the eggs and birds consumed in England if everyone went in for pouitry-keeping to the" extent they might. Even then, we doubt whether'it would pay to produce eggs at the price which thousands of English workpeople can afford to pay. While there are large numbers of the leisured and superior artisan class who are quite willing to pay good prices for their eggs and poultry, and prices which make the production of them remunerative, there are a still larger number of the world’s workers who could not afford to pay such prices, therefore cheap foreign eggs are a boon to them, and to these people it would be something like a calamity for the importation of eggs to be stopped. We firmly believe, taking into consideration tho very limited supply of new-laid eggs in proportion to the demand in all our largest towns, at least nine months of the year, at good paying prices, that it will be many years before English people aro in a position to supply an appreciable part of this demand—and we are'of opinion that it will bo found possible for the number of poultry-keepers of all classes to be trebled before there will be any need to even pause and think of over-production. Our contention has always been that if tho quality of the productions is maintained, and if possible increased, there will not be the slightest need to trouble about tlio demand falling off, for the wellfattened bird and the genuine new-laid egg is so relished by the consumer that the orders increase in every case, and one customer recommends another, and so on. This applies to ducks just as -much as to fowls, and we refer to tho matter here for tho purpose of emphasising the fact that if the quality of the produce is high, tho demand will always be forthcoming. Wo do not know of any branch of tho industry in which prices have been so well, maintained as in the production of wellfattened ducklings for the table. If theso aro to be bad during the earlv spring months the prices are quite as high

as they were years ago, when it was possible to count the number of those who went in for their production, whereas now there are hundreds aiming at supplying the demand, and a very general knowledge of the subject is found. Those who express anxiety lest we stall be over-supplied, and that prices will accordingly decrease, can have no conception of the true state of things. The spread of poultry-keeping has been very marked during the last few years, and ducks have held their own as compared with the number of fowls kept, as there are large numbers of the working classes who rear a few broods of ducklings for the purpose of selling some of the birds and of consuming some of them. This is one phase of poultry-keeping which gives us great pleasure, as it is just what we had been hoping for in the years when very few fowls were kept and poultry an unheard of luxury on the tables of the workers. Then we find also many who have gone in for supplying the demand amongst the better class inhabitants, by breeding ducks in numbers; and whereas at one time the industry was confined to the districts in Buckinghamshire surrounding Aylesbury, it has now' spread to all the surrounding counties; and although Aylesbury still retains its prestige, so many ducks are reared in Bedfordshire that in point of numbers they are surpassed in every way. We find that a great many ducklings are reared in other uistricts and sent to tho Buckinghamshire “duckers," who finish them off and market them as Aylesbury ducks, just as many of the chickens in the lleatiifield district are collected from rearers in many parts of the country. The prices are well maintained, and last spring averaged as high as ever during the early season, but oiviug to the increased supply they fell off at the end of May, whereas formerly they were realised-up to the end of June. 'the prices range from 9s to 13s per pair for well-fattened ducklings. On the other hand, however, a good many more fat ducks were consumed, but not by the class that would pay high prices for them; but the supply is increasing, and the demand will be even greater, as very few people turn away from roast duck. Nothing could be easier to rear than young ducklings, and nothing is nicer than a very young roast duck. Roast duck was an almost unknown luxury to a working man, but during the last ten years it may be said to have been introduced into the people's bill of fare, and many working men rear their own ducklings now, and consume many of them, and so are able to enjoy roast duck where it would have been impossible for them to be bought out of a working man’s wages.

Some will think it a ridiculous thing to think working men could afford roast cluck, but we can assure them that, after visiting 4000 poultry farms in a year, and among them very many kept by working men, we can assure them that this fact I* l )10ve d over and over again, and we are glad to know that such things are now possible.

Many working labourers keep pens of birds and rear fine llocks of ducklings and while providing for their own consumption, send numbers to market at moderate prices, which pay them very well say 3s Gd each, but wfien the price's get down to 2.s 3d or 2s 6d, they eat them and so are provided with cheap food as amvard for their industry. \\ e have known eases where cottagers K av ,° l on° d i UC ?T alld killed-and eaten from 15 to 20 ducklings a year. Thev can be producod from Is 3d to Is 8d each, according to the time of year, and it must be at d oven 00 , d t i at i S ° me aro educed then at even much less cost where ponds or are p,e " tifuI * ns vhon the young ducklings aro hatched first week in Mav ami are allowed their liberty, they for them 1 th ? Se form il,( ' Ij est food Mto , lTdte'U?r Pydo n ° tCoßt mOrC tllan Some may say they have neither ponds,

rivers nor dykes for their ducklings’ a therefore they cannot rear any. M e n>a i here say that it is not necessary to bar! water tor them to swim in at all, If , person has a small pond,' and hatch twelve ducklings where they cangetati pond, and keep another lot out of tn water, by the time they are ten'orelera weeks old, the ones kept out of the water 1 are a pound heavier, and we are pleasai to say that there are hundreds that w I reared and never go into the water, ] We know many suburban and cointo j gentlemen who rear from 70 to 100 dneli f during January and September for tiVf own consumption, but in many cases rial they have good broods come off, say eighs to eleven, they have two or three or mai to sell, for the simple reason they s!i want eating between nine and thM weeks, and better at nine to eleven ys.l old, as they begin to lose their feathe jl Ducklings are quite different to ci&l ens. After they are twelve weeks oldlh j flesh would begin to grow stringy, id I they are lighter at eighteen weeks oldfim I at eleven. The great secret of mitts I duck rearing pay is to kill them it la early age, from nine to eleven weds old, and they are never quite so nice if tkoj ] are allowed to go to eighteen weeks. Tie; also eat an immense quantity of M| during the next few weeks, unless the; are kept for stock purposes. A great many people, years ago, when they reared : ducks, hatched them all about the sw time, and let them run on until hrest;five or thirty weeks, and killed as they, wanted them.

This was very wrong. The best way » to have a sitting of eggs put down every fortnight or three weeks, so that the ducklings are killed about one age, and then poultry-keepers always have somethiis ready for the table. Aylesbury ducks hold their own as ft* most popular breed of ducks for the table, as their flesh is a good colour and they grow very fast.