POULTRY NOTES

Taranaki Daily News, 23 February 1935, Page 24 (Supplement)

POULTRY NOTES

THE FEEDING OF DUCKS HINTS FOR EGG PRODUCTION. The original food of the duck in its wild state consisted mainly of insects, small fishes, grasses etc., obtained from streams and wet ground. Therefore the domestic duck should as far as possible be fed in a similar way. Ducks are creatures of habit; if they are not trained when young to forage for a portion of their daily food it will be more difficult in after life to give them a “move on,” with the result that they sit about and probably grow too fat to lay well. If a duck is given food in a certain place she will return to that place probably about the same time every day, and incidentally will bring all the others with her, so it will be seen that when young the ducks should be trained in regular hours of feeding and on no account should anything be given between meals. It is not possible to state definitely the quantity of food a duck should be given daily. The feeder must use his own powers of observation; a bird in moult does not require the same quantity of food as one in full lay, and on a wet day when there are more insects about, and .when "the ducks appear to eat quantities of juicy grass, the evening meal should not be a large one; it is so easy to tell by a duck’s “figure” what she requires in the way of food that it is surprising to find many people asking “how many handfuls of food a duck requires daily”—“handfuls" do vary so considerably, too! Overfeeding is often the cause of softshelled eggs, and seeing that ducks have naturally such high egg-producing powers it is most unwise to force them too much and thereby probably risk all sorts of ovarian trouble and possible weakening of the progeny. For laying ducks on good range the safest rule appears to be to feed sparingly in the morning and give as much as the bird wants in the evening If the ducks are on free range as on a farm, they should be given little food in the morning between September and April. In confined runs ducks appear to require a small morning feed. If cabbage or any greenstuffs are available they could be fed at mid-day and the mash given in the evening, as whatever .way ducks are kept they should be given as much good nourishing food as they want last thing at night. To give mash in morning and grain at night, as many people do, seems to be the most expensive method of feeding, as grain costs more than meals, and the morning feed being the smaller one should therefore consist of the more expensive food. As regards the mash, boiled vegetables or house scraps can be used to make bulk, but the addition of 8 per cent, to 10 per cent, of a good meat meal appears essential, and the amount used should be calculated on the total weight of the foods given. Vegetable and animal foods are absolutely necessary for laying ducks, and they are very fond of raw cabbages or greenstuffs of any kind. A concentrated mash is not desirable; good results have been obtained from a mash made up of roughly 60 per cent, pollard, 15 per cent, bran, 15 per cent, maize meal and 10 per cent, meat meal. Of course this mash needs to be varied accordingly to the weather and the egg production etc. BOILED POTATOES USEFUL. Boiled potatoes, when cheap, are also useful to save meal, but they should be used only in small quantities except when used for fattening purposes. The flesh from ducks fattened on potatoes is exceptionally good. As regards lucerne meal, I have tried this and at no time of the year does it seem to me to be a useful ingredient of a mash for the egg-laying duck. When ducks are in full moult a small quantity of linseed boiled to a jelly and mixed well with the mash, fed about three times weekly, has proved most useful, and helps to bring the ducks on to lay again quickly. The meat meal used in the mash should also be considerably reduced—in fact, might be omitted altogether, and used again when the majority of the ducks have actually got their new wing flights. In very hot weather a small quantity of sulphur well mixed with the mash is good but should not be used too often. A supply of water and shell should always be within reach of the ducks at feeding times. It will be noticed that the ducks after a few mouthfuls of mash rush for the shell and then back again to the mash. Ducks should never be fed with hens; the hens will fight and scramble for their food, and the ducks, being of a peaceable and shy disposition, will not stand much chance in the scramble. Food should not be thrown on the ground for ducks; they cannot scratch and some of it would be wasted. They should be fed in fairly deep V-shaped wooden troughs, because in a shallow dish they will throw the mash about when eating. Water dishes for ducks should always be deep enough for the ducks to cover their heads. The feeding does not appear to be the only important item in the management of the egg-laying duck; the general details of management affect ducks much more than such things would affect hens. Ducks like punctuality in "letting-out” time and feeding time. They do not like changes, either in the attendant or in that-attendant’s clothing. They prefer the same food at the same time every day, and given by the same attendant in the same old way! Above all they do not like strangers, more especially when those strangers carry umbrellas. When a large flock of laying ducks are run together a couple of drakes will be found very useful in keeping the ducks quiet and contented, and contentment means higher egg-produc-tion.