CARE AND FEED OF DUCKLINGS.

Globe, Volume XXII, Issue 2065, 6 October 1880, Page 4

CARE AND FEED OF DUCKLINGS.

Prairie Farmer."] Ducklings are as liable to die of chills and oramps as young turkeys, and for that reaaon must bo kept from exposure to cold rains and heavy dews, and away from the streams and ponds, until they are a month or six weeks old. When the eggs are hatched by a duck ohe will strike a “bee lino” for the water with web-footed children, almost as soon ss they are out of the shell, and as young ducks are not overburdened with sense they are apt to sloy in the waterantil they are wet through, then about one half of them will “keel up” and ■die with chills, »nd thamother duck will wander around in the dewy grass until most of the •remaining half die from exposure. If by chance any survive this course of treatment you will find that constant exposure has atnnted ” their growth, and that they will aever make as large birds as they would have been had they been properly cared for. Hen mothers do not show such marked anxiety to get rid of their charges, and for that reason I prefer them. As soon as the ducklings are well out of the ofaell, whether the mother bo a hen or duck, coop them np in a coop with a pen like the one I have already described for turkeys. The ducklings cannot climb over the sides of this pen, and should bo confined to it for about a week. Water that has had the chill taken t£f may be supplied in shallow pans, and the ducklings will dabble around in it and enjoy it. Hava your duck coops as far as convenient from the stream or pond, and they must bo moved at least three times a week to fresh ground. After the ducklings are a week old, if they had a hen mother, the pen may be opened on pleasant days after the dew is eff the gross, and the mother and her brood allowed liberty to wander around in asaroh of food. By the time they are six weeks old their under feathers will be well out, and they may be allowed unlimited range. Bits and cits show a remarkable fondness for ducklings, and you have to look out for them. You can circumvent the rats by housing the ducklings at night in rat-proof coops, and when you catch a stray cat making a dinner of young duck, give her a lead pill to help on digestion ; amputation of the tail just back of She eares will also cure puesy of this bad habit. Ducklings are great eaters, and will eat almost anything in the shape of food. Feed cooked food, with plenty of green food, until they are old enough to give free range. Almost any kind of food that you would give chicks and young turkeys is good for ducklings. Until they take to the pond or atream, unless insect forage is plenty, feed a little cooked meat. Feed often, but never give all they can swallow; sometimes ducklings will oat until they kill themselves. After they tike to the water the ducklings will pick up a large amount of food that suits them best, and for this reason ducks are most economically raised in the neighborhood of ponds, streams, wet marshes, or near the sea. Ducks can bo successfully and profitably raised with only watsr for drinking, but when they have plenty of water to swim in after they are old enough, they will be cleaner in plumage, and no doubt, aside from the food that they pick up in such places, they enjoy spoiling in the water.