Duck Breeding at Aylesbury.

Te Aroha News, Volume VII, Issue 409, 9 October 1889, Page 3

Duck Breeding at Aylesbury.

' In an article on " Duck Rearing .at Aylesbury," which appears in the Pall Mall Gazette, it is stated that it is no uncommon thing for a ton of ducklings to be despatched from this district'in a single day. This would represent about 7,000 birds, and the annual amount paid to the district is estimated to be nearly £40,000. A few days ago upwards of 8,000 ducklings were seen in one Buckinghamshire village, and whilst thero are no statistics obtainable as to the annual product, those best qualified to judge say that the trade is steadily in-, creasing. The duck which is almost alone reared in this district is known all over the world, and has the capacity for adapting itself to almost all conditions. It is pure white in plumage, and of the canoe or boat shape. Long generations of breeding have made it the best of all for producing early ducklings, for though the Rouen grows to a larger size the latter is much slower in arriving at the killing stage, and is therefore useless for the special purpose^ of supplying the spring market. As regards the feeding of the ducks it is said : — "From the very first the feeding has in view the development of Qesh, and not bone. Consequently only those meals which are strongest in flesh and fat formers are used. For the first few days hard-boiled esrgs, rice, and bread are given, after which barley meal, mixed with scrap or tallow cake, grains, and toppings, form the staple diet. On such feeding as this the growth is simply marvellous. They can be seen to grow. Kept in batches of about fifty they are fed with the greatest regularity. And it must not be forgotten that in every pen is placed a trough of the famous grit found only in the Vale of Aylesbury, and for which almost miraculous powers are claimed. To it is attributed almost all the merits of the Aylesbury duck, the quality of the flesh, the rapidity of growth, and the delicate pink of the bill, which is one of its distinctive marks. The birds appreciate this tjrit, and ihe duckers use large quantities of it. Some of the ducklings sent to market have never known what it is to be in water, but as a rule they are now and again permitted a bathe or a swim, and this gratification of their inherent instinct makes them more contented, and they thrive all the better for it." |