Part 1

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NATURAL

AND

ARTIFICIAL

DUCK CULTURE

JAMES RANKIN

_Price 50 Cents._

FIFTH EDITION, REVISED AND ENLARGED

SOUTH EASTON, MASS. 1906

Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1906, by JAMES RANKIN, In the Office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington, D. C.

ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

DESIGNED AND COMPILED BY H. A. SUMMERS BOSTON, MASS.

INTRODUCTION.

Our original motive in publishing this little book, was one of self-defense, to relieve ourselves, in a measure, of a correspondence which was becoming much too large for the time at our disposal. After reading from fifty to one hundred letters per day, from people, asking all manner of questions concerning the hatching, growing and marketing of ducks, in detail, there were not hours enough in the twenty-four to answer them. This book was published to send out with our machines to meet these queries and give our patrons our method of growing, supposing it would cover all the points in duck-culture, but it does not as yet answer the ends. The questions still come in far beyond our ability to answer, and as our fourth edition is about exhausted, we now publish a fifth, revised, enlarged and illustrated; also adding a Question Bureau, which will answer many of the questions which have reached us during the past few years concerning the growing, as well as the diseases to which the Pekin duck is subject. Though we have been in this business for nearly forty years, and have been eminently successful, we do not claim to know all about it; but by persistent effort, careful selection and breeding, have succeeded in developing a mammoth strain of Pekin ducks, which, for symmetry, precocity and fecundity (experts who have visited our place from all parts of the country tell us), stand unrivalled on this continent.

Many of our customers write us that their birds average from 150 to 165 eggs per season. We would say that there is no domestic bird under so perfect control, so free from diseases of all kinds, or from insect parasites as the Pekin duck. From the time the little bird is hatched until it is full grown and ready to reproduce its own species, it is under the perfect control of the intelligent operator, who can produce feathers, flesh or bone at will, and even mature the bird and compel it to lay at four-and-a-half months old. There is no bird in existence that will respond to kind treatment, generous care and feed as the Pekin duck. On the other hand, there is no bird more susceptible to improper feed or neglect, and a sad mortality is sure to follow among the little ones, where proper food and system are wanting. It may surprise some one to know that the predisposition to disease may exist in the egg from which the little bird is hatched, or even in the condition of the parent bird which produces the egg. Strong physique in animal life, as in man, are like exotics, requiring the most assiduous care and cultivation, and are the most difficult to transmit.

Defects, like weeds, seem indigenous to the soil and will reproduce with unerring regularity, and will often crop out in all directions, generations after you think you have wiped it all out. So it is one thing to produce an egg from good, strong, vigorous stock during the winter in inclement weather, when all nature is against you, and so poorly fertilized that if it hatches at all, will hatch a chick so enfeebled in construction that no amount of petting or coaxing can induce it to live, but quite another to produce an egg so highly vitalized, that it will be sure to hatch a healthy young bird, bound to live under all circumstances. But this is not all the danger. The operator, though he may have good eggs, may be neglectful or ignorant, and the health of the young birds seriously injured during the hours of incubation; or he may have a defective machine which under no condition can turn out healthy birds. With healthy, vigorous parent stock, judicious care and food, there is no reason why good hatches of strong, healthy young birds may not be obtained, and the same matured with very little loss.

Natural and Artificial Duck Culture.

It is only within a few years that the public at large have become awake to the importance of the poultry interests in the country. Formerly it was supposed to be of insignificant proportions compared to the beef and pork product. But recent statistics show that the poultry interests in magnitude not only exceed either of the above, but are vastly on the increase year by year. Yet, strange to say, the supply, enormous as it is, does not keep pace with the demand. As a natural consequence, we are obliged to import millions of dozens of eggs from Europe, and carloads of poultry of all descriptions from Canada. (December 21, 1888, a train of twenty refrigerator cars loaded with dressed poultry, aggregating 200 tons, arrived in Boston from Canada,--$50,000 worth of dressed poultry at one shipment.) Still the demand goes on. Our large cities, which form the principal market for poultry and eggs, are growing larger every year. The rich men who inhabit them are growing richer and more numerous, and are always ready to pay the poulterer a good round price for a first-class article. Good poultry has not only become an every day necessity to the well-to-do classes, but is a common article of diet at least six months of the year on the workingman's table. It is everywhere recognized by physicians as the best and most palatable, as well as the most wholesome and nutritious, of all our flesh diets.

Duck Culture an Important Industry.

Duck culture now assumes a most important part in the poultry business, and yet, until within a few years, people did not suppose that ducks were fit to eat. But now the public appetite is fast becoming educated to the fact that a nice, crispy, roasted duckling of ten weeks old is not only a dish fit for an epicure, but is far ahead of either turkey, chicken or goose. As a natural consequence, the demand for good ducks is rapidly increasing. One of the principal poultry dealers in Boston assured me that his sales of ducks had nearly doubled each season for the past five years. Twenty years ago, when growing less than 1500 ducks yearly, I was obliged to visit the city markets personally and tease the dealers to purchase my birds in order to secure anything like satisfactory prices. Now, with a ranch capacity of nearly 20,000 ducks yearly, I cannot fill my orders.

Pond or Lake Not Necessary.

The reason is very plain. Formerly people supposed that ducks could not be successfully grown without access to either pond, stream or coast line. As a natural consequence, a large share of the birds sold in the markets were grown on or near the coasts, fed largely on fish, partially fattened, and were anything but a tempting morsel. For years there have been large establishments on the Long Island shores devoted to duck-culture. Large seines and nets were used regularly to secure the fish on which the young birds were fed and fattened. These birds grew to a large size and attained a fine plumage, but, as might be surmised, their flesh was coarse and fishy. Occasionally a person was found who relished these birds, but the majority of people preferred to eat their fish and flesh separately. Now this is all changed.

Duck-culture of today is quite a different thing from the days of yore. Then, the young birds were confided to the tender mercies of the old hen. Now, the business is all done artificially. The artificially-grown, scrap-fed duckling of the interior is a far different bird from his fishy-fed brother of the coast. He has been educated to a complete indifference to water except to satisfy his thirst. Taught to take on flesh and fat instead of feathers, his body is widened out and rounded off, and, when properly denuded of his feathers, is a thing of beauty.

Ducks In Great Demand for Food.

This sudden popularity of the duck in our markets, the great demand for them on the tables of our epicures, together with the immense profits realized from growing them, has naturally created quite an interest among poultry men; so much so that I am constantly flooded with letters filled with inquiries as to which is the best variety to raise, which are the best layers, if they can be hatched in incubators, what kind of buildings are necessary, the amount of profit realized,--in short, wishing me to give them the whole thing in detail, which, were one willing, it would be completely out of one's power to do. As there seems to be no work published in the country to meet this case and answer these queries, in pure self-defense, and through earnest persuasion of many friends, I shall, to the best of my ability, through this little treatise, endeavor to answer them, together with many other points which will naturally suggest themselves.

I shall confine myself almost entirely to an exposition of the artificial method, giving my own experience in the business for the last thirty years in detail. In doing this, the most approved buildings will be (both for brooding and breeding) described in full, together with cuts of the egg in different stages of incubation, and the living and dead germ compared, and how to distinguish each, plainly told. Just here let me say that a great deal of skepticism prevails among people in general and farmers in particular. They do not believe in the success of artificial poultry growing, or, indeed, of growing it in large numbers in any other way. As a proof of their assertions they will tell you that more than three-fourths of the people who attempt the business on a large scale make a complete failure of it. And it is the plain truth. There are few communities in this country, large as it is, but that, at some time in the past, has had a bogus incubator within its limits, or a good one that has been badly managed. The unfortunate experience of these men has spread for miles in all directions. There is but one verdict. The man is never condemned. The system is so denounced that a strong prejudice exists against all incubators, which it is difficult to combat. Every town, too, has had its representative poultry man who has erected extensive building's with a view to growing poultry on a large scale in the natural way. He, too, has met with disaster. Failure has attended his efforts, and the community is still more embittered against the whole thing, and the emphatic "It can't be done," meets you on every side.

Now, there is a cause for all this. Where is it? In the men. They do not comply with the conditions of success, and failure is the result. We will endeavor to give some of the reasons why: Nearly three-fourths of these people come from the city. Now, city people have unfortunately imbibed the impression that the necessary amount of brains and executive ability required to successfully run a mercantile, manufacturing or broker's business in the city is largely in excess of that required to run a successful poultry or agricultural ranch in the country.

Raising Poultry in the Country.

Men who have impoverished themselves by repeated failures in the city come out to retrieve their fortunes by raising poultry in the country. They visit your place and see thousands of young ducklings of all sizes and ages, each one vieing with the other as to which will consume the most food. They are completely carried away with the sight. They question you closely in regard to the profit derived from the business, and then openly avow their intention of doing the same thing themselves. You advise beginning small, and meekly suggest the possibility of failure through inexperience. The incredulous smile that plays over their features informs you that advice is wasted. "Why, haven't I read up all the poultry journals and got the whole thing down fine?"

Others, still, who, from close confinement at sedentary work in the city, are anxious to engage in a business which promises equally to restore their health as well as to provide them a livelihood. These invalids come out with their exhausted energies and dilapidated constitutions to engage in a business which, to insure success, requires a minuteness of detail and intensity of application second to none. They are unequal to the six or eight hours required of them on a revolving stool in the counting-room in the city, but are equal to the fourteen and sixteen hours indispensable to the poultry business in the country. Is it strange that a large proportion of these men fail?

Others, still, come to us wishing to engage in the business, at the same time candidly acknowledging their complete ignorance and inexperience. They frankly state their circumstances. They are poor, with families to support, and are not afraid of work, throwing themselves, as it were, upon one's mercy. They seek a good, healthy and fairly profitable occupation in which they can cultivate the physique and morals of their children away from the temptations of city life. Now you take kindly to such men; readily forfeit any advantages which may accrue to yourself through want of candor on your part, gauge their calibre, and to the best of your ability measure their chances of success, and give them the best advice you can, which advice usually is to begin small,--say with one machine, buildings in proportion, and increase their plant as their experience and judgment dictates.

Raise Ducks and Chicks.

But the reader will say: "What has all this to do with duck-culture?" Simply this: It is to give the would-be poultry enthusiast some idea of what he has to contend with before he begins. To convince him that this is no child's play--that the care of young ducks and chicks means early hours and late. The closest confinement and application is required for at least six months of the year, and if he is at all afraid of hard work or of soiling his fingers, he had better stop where he is. The theory that the poultry business furnishes a good occupation for little boys and girls, superannuated old men and invalids, has long since exploded. We advise people to secure a fair share of health before they begin and then they will be sure to keep it. As an inducement to all, I would say that there is nothing in the way of farm industry or any other legitimate occupation which will at all compare with the profits obtained from poultry when artificially conducted. There are, however, a few notable exceptions in favor of watered railroad stock, bogus mining shares, patent medicines, and the business done by our bank cashiers when guaranteed a safe transit through to Canada. I would advise all contemplating the poultry business to combine the growing of ducks and chicks together, for the reason that more profit can be realized from both than from either alone, because they do not necessarily interfere with each other, and the same buildings and machinery can be utilized for both. The brooding-house should be filled with chicks in November and December, which they will have outgrown by February, when the building will be required for ducklings. The ducklings, strange to say, though two months younger, will be ready for market as soon as the chicks (provided the latter are held for roasters, as they should be) and they will both be in the market in time to command the highest prices. This is what the poulterer should always cater for, and machinery alone will enable him to do it. He who expects to incubate with old hens during the winter will surely get left. But more of this hereafter.

Select A Good Site.

The first thing for one to do (if he is not already located), is to select a good site. It should have a gradual slope to the east or south, enough for natural drainage. No matter how poor the land, it will be rich enough before your fowls get through with it. I need not say that in those regions where snow lies upon the ground four or five months of the year, the conditions are not as favorable for the poultry grower as near the coast line, where snow, though a frequent visitor, remains but a few weeks or days at a time. In the one case it means close confinement to the fowls a great part of the winter, with want of exercise and consequent want of action in the digestive organs. The food is not assimilated, the fowls become debilitated, and though they may give a fair share of eggs, these eggs can seldom be depended upon to hatch. It is true, the active poulterer may overcome this in a measure by clearing away the snow for ten or fifteen feet in front of his buildings after each storm, and by a free use of barn chaff and chopped straw induce his fowls to go out on sunny days, but all this increases his work and makes the conditions against him. I simply mention these facts, assuming that where a man has his choice of locations, these hints may have their proper weight in the matter.

Advantages with Ducks.

The same rule holds good in a measure with breeding ducks, though not in so great a degree. For instance, your hen when closely confined seems to lose her ambition, and spends a large part of her time on the perches, apparently indifferent to all sublunary things. Not so your duck. She is in constant motion, no matter how small her quarters. No meditation for her. Indeed, the days seem too short for her to exercise in, and so she keeps it up through a great part of the night. Her greatest ambition seems to be to distribute the few quarts of water you have given her for drink, evenly all over the pen you have just covered with dry, finely-chopped straw, and make it as sloppy as possible, and it is astonishing in how short a space of time she will succeed in doing it. Again, snow and ice are the aversion of the hen.

She cannot be induced to step in either except under pressure of circumstances. Not so your duck. She likes nothing better than to be out in a snow bank during a thaw, and if she can only work it up into the color and consistency of mud it suits her exactly. She does not mind the cold if she can only keep her feet warm. She is clothed with an impenetrable coat of feathers and an equally thick coat of down. She does not take kindly to confinement in a building and will utter her constant protest, and like the average school boy of ten prefers to suffer from the cold outside to being comfortable in. Therefore, the main point in breeding early ducks and erecting buildings for the same, next to supplying them with the right kind of food, is to keep their feet warm. Cold feet affect the winter laying of the duck the same as a frozen comb affects the hen. It stops the egg production at once.

Locate Near a Railroad.

Your plant should be located on a line of railroad, in direct communication with one or more of our great city markets, and not too far from the station, as you will necessarily be in frequent and close communication with that.

Arrange the Buildings.

to secure good room in front, also good drainage, and especially with a view to reducing the labor to a minimum, both inside and out. Always remember that the labor is the most expensive part of the poultry business. Now is the time for forethought and caution--save all the steps, all the work you can. You will never suffer from want of exercise, if your fowls do. I never knew a case of gout in a man in the poultry business in my life. It is well, also, when arranging a poultry plant, to make provision for future contingencies, so that should one in the course of time and experience wish to increase his plant and the size of his buildings longitudinally he will have plenty of room to do it, by simply moving the end of his building out as far as he wishes and filling in between. I have been obliged to do this several times in the course of my experience, and have the past Fall built a double brooding house 250 feet long by 16 feet wide.

One important point in erecting poultry buildings is the difficulty in building them,

Warm, Cheap, and Rat-proof.

Formerly I built stone foundations on which were placed the buildings, cementing the stone work to the sill carefully inside and out. This proved in the end not only an expensive but a very unsatisfactory arrangement, for cement it as one would the action of the frost would always part the sill from the foundation and admit the cold air from all around just where it should be kept warm. I have since hit upon a plan which has not only met the case but is comparatively inexpensive. Place posts, with one square side to them, about four feet apart, on which place the 2x4 inch sill. Set these posts in the ground so that the tops rise but one inch above the surface, with the flat side exactly horizontal and perpendicular to the inside of the sill. Then sink a hemlock board twelve or fourteen inches wide into the ground inside of the building, and immediately in front of the two-inch sill, until the upper edge is flush with the upper side of the sill, nailing it firmly thereto, filling up inside nearly to a level of the top of the sill. This gives a warm, cheap foundation on which the frost does not act. Hemlock, too, seems to have an affinity for moisture and will last in that condition from eight to ten years, when it can be easily renewed. This arrangement is also comparatively rat-proof, as a hemlock board is a rat's aversion. It does not agree with their teeth. They cannot possibly dig under during the frozen months of the year, and as it affords them no concealment they do not care to, during the warm season.

The Outside Plan of a Breeding and Brooding House

with the exception of a little more glass in the latter, should be precisely the same both for ducks and ducklings. The internal arrangements can be made to suit. As I shall give a full description with cuts of this building later, I will now merely give the manner in which it should be arranged as a good breeding-house for ducks. This building should be fifteen feet wide and any length required. It should have an uneven double roof, five-foot posts in the rear and four foot in front. About one-quarter of this front should be glass. There should be a walk the entire length of the building three and one-half feet wide. The main body of the building should be divided into pens twenty feet long, by either lath or wire two feet high.

The walk should be separated from the pens by laths three inches apart, to allow the birds to feed and water from the walk. This method simplifies the labor very much, as it enables the operator to load his barrow, travel the whole length of a 200-foot building and feed and water 500 ducks in a few minutes. This arrangement has many other advantages besides, as it permits the birds to feed and water readily from the walk without being able to waste either, or mix the contents of food and water-dishes with filth. It also prevents the birds from sopping the straw in the bottom of their pens, or of soiling their white plumage, both of which they are bound to do if possible, and as the duck, especially the Pekin, is a very timid bird, this plan familiarizes her with the appearance of the attendant without bringing her into actual contact with him.

Use Half the Pens for Feeding Purposes.