POULTRY-KEEPING.

New Zealand Journal of Agriculture, Volume 43, Issue 4, 20 October 1931, Page 296

POULTRY-KEEPING.

Rearing of Ducklings.

All hatching operations should have now ceased except in the case of ducklings, which by reason of their early maturity can be hatched even up to the end of November for the renewal of the laying flock, and even later where the birds are intended for table purposes.

Many people fail to hatch duck eggs successfully in an incubator. There may be several causes for this, but probably the chief one is failure to provide sufficient moisture or to provide it in the right manner to ensure

that. the air-cell will dry down to a desired line, whereby the membrane next to the shell will not be too tough for the bird to pierce. After the fourteenth day the eggs should be sprayed with water at a temperature of 103° F. ; through the mouth will do. Spray immediately after the eggs have been turned, and then put them back in the machine. They should not be cooled after spraying. The cooling should be done at night and the spraying in the morning. This process should be repeated daily after the fourteenth day until pipping-time, when if the temperature has been maintained at the right degree throughout—lo2° the first week, from this on to the pipping stage 103°, and 104° when hatching—the incubation process should proceed satisfactorily.

If the correct degree of heat has been maintained in the incubator the eggs should commence to pip on the twenty-sixth day and to hatch out on the twenty-eighth. . Beware of the common mistake of trying to help the young birds out of the shell until they have been given their full time to hatch. When once the eggs have commenced to pip, the door of the incubator should not be opened until the hatch is practically cleaned up. Where, however, any of the pipped eggs make no progress at this stage it will generally be found — fact, it is almost a certainty more moisture is demanded. The most effective method of providing this is to take a piece of thin flannel the size of the egg-tray, dip it in hot water, wring it lightly, and then place it over the eggs. The flannel may be left on for, say, an hour. If the covering is not too thick the birds will have no difficulty in hatching under it. During the final stages it may be rolled up and left at the end of the machine next to the heater until the trays are removed from the incubator.

During the early stages the eggs require very little cooling. After the second day they should be turned both morning and night. Usually the time it takes to do this is all the cooling they require for the first week. In the second and third weeks the time of cooling should be extended by degrees up to twenty minutes, or even half an hour, while during the last week if warm weather conditions prevail, they may be left out much longer. After being set for four or five days the eggs should be tested and the infertile ones taken out. Frequent, tests should be made, and during the incubation process any eggs containing dead germs should be removed promptly from the incubator. Such eggs rapidly decay and soon give off a bad odour, which is apt to injure the hatching-qualities of the remaining eggs in the incubator. Usually the shell of a decaying duck-egg becomes discoloured, and can be readily detected by a person of experience without the use of a tester.

Ducklings can be successfully reared by means of either a heated or fireless brooder, providing they are. given every opportunity to secure plenty of fresh air, a factor which is one of the chief secrets in rearing brooder ducklings. Stuffiness must never be allowed to exist under the hover, or the mortality is apt to be great. The common trouble of staggers is frequently due to placing the young ducklings in a badly ventilated brooder. As is the case with chickens, ducklings should not be fed for thirty-six hours after hatching. During the first week the food may consist of equal parts of scalded bran and pollard mixed with a small quantity of oatmeal,, and with, say, 5 per cent, of fine grit (not sand) added. Feed four times a day, giving all the birds will pick up in about ten minutes.

When the ducklings are about a week old the grit is better not mixed with the food, but it should always be available to them in a wide shallow receptacle, so that they can help themselves. As the birds develop the oatmeal may be dispensed with, while ground wheat, hulled barley, or maize-meal may be included in the mash. Finely cut green food, such

as silver-beet, lettuce, or young tender grass, should be fed daily after the fourth day. Well-boiled wheat makes a splendid change of diet'for growing ducklings. •

Water should be given with the first meal, and from then' onwards it should be in reach of the birds both day and night. This is not to say that the water-vessel should be left in the brooder (except perhaps for the first day or so), . but rather that the ducklings should at all times have access to the brooder run where the water-vessel is placed. It is of the greatest importance not to give them water after a. long fast. It is safe to say that thousands of ducklings are lost annually by failure to observe this rule. When ducklings are confined in a brooder by night without water, and a heavy drink is given them before receiving their morning meal, fatal results are almost sure to follow. . Ducklings affected from this cause . will give every indication of being affected by a fit or sunstroke. • They usually stagger and fall on their backs with their eyes twitching, and death soon follows. If by any chance it is found that the water-vessel is empty it is always a good' plan, especially during cold weather, to take the chill off the water before giving it to the young birds to drink, and even then a light drink only should be provided at first. In this way • the trouble will be reduced to a minimum as compared with the giving of cold water, which often has the effect of ■ chilling the birds with fatal results. As before indicated, however, the only way of preventing this trouble is to have water within reach of the birds at all times both by night and day.

Care should be taken to have the water vessels of sufficient depth-for the birds to wash off any food from their nostrils, and at the same time to give them a clean out. If the nostrils are allowed to clog the eyes become plastered, while lameness, weak backs, and an unthrifty condition soon sets in.

A rather common trouble with brooder ducklings is leg-weakness and apparent paralysis of the limbs. The invariable cause is allowing the birds to sleep in damp quarters. Although ducks are a water fowl, it is imperative that the sleeping quarters of old or young birds which are being kept under artificial conditions should be maintained in the driest condition, or leg weakness and other troubles will result. Once a duckling looses the use of its legs little or nothing can be done for it. l lt is really a matter of prevention by checking everything that tends to create a moist atmosphere.

Owing to ducklings having a thin skull they are very prone to sunstroke, so they should be always well protected from hot sun. Failure to take this precaution frequently causes heavy mortality. Do not on any account overcrowd ducklings by placing more in the brooder than it is capable of accommodating to the best advantage. Work only with numbers that can be handled with absolute confidence. Strict attention to cleanliness and preventing the quarters from getting into a wet filthy state is imperative if the ducklings are to thrive and make sound development.

Fattening for . Market.

Ducklings now hatched and intended for the Christmas market must be fed and managed to the best advantage if the maximum price is to be secured for them. A good fattening diet consists of equal parts of maizemeal, pollard, and bran, well moistened with skim-milk ; also, where the latter is available, it should be given to the birds to drink. Feed at least three times a day as much as. the birds will eat without waste. In addition, finely chaffed succulent green material should be supplied daily, and an ample supply of grit should be available at all times. When ducks are undergoing the priming process they should not be given water to swim in ; they will do much better without it.

-F. C. Brown,

Chief Poultry Instructor, Wellington.