Caring for the Ducklings when Hatched.
The little ducklings should be left in the machine for at least twenty-four hours longer. Be sure and open the air-valves and give them plenty of air, so that they may be well dried off. A uniform heat of 90 degrees should be held in the egg-chamber. The outer doors of the machine should be closed and the little fellows kept in darkness the first twelve hours. After that the outer doors should be let down. Then you will see some fun, for the little ducklings are far more active than chicks, and will begin to play at once. In the meantime the brooding-house should be prepared for the reception of the young brood. The heat should be started some twenty-four hours previous to use.
The brooding-house should be the same whether you are growing on a small scale or a large one, with simply the length proportioned to your needs. But always recollect that heat should radiate from above on your ducklings, as bottom heat will soon cripple them in the legs and render them helpless. In fact, I do not consider bottom heat as essential even for chicks. The most successful grower I know of, who grows 3,000 chicks each spring, getting them all out between January 1st and March 1st, and closes up the whole business by July 1st, uses top heat exclusively. He has experimented fairly with both, and says he wants no more bottom heat. If the breeder is growing on a small scale it will be economy for him to use brooders instead of a heater.
Figure 11 represents the best duck brooder I know of. As there is no patent on it anyone can make it who has the conveniences. This brooder is six and a half feet long by three feet wide, and will accommodate 150 ducklings. These brooders are of the most improved construction, are intended for both indoor and outdoor work, keeping the young ducks dry and warm in cold, stormy weather, even when located out of doors. The heat is generated in copper boilers, the water flowing through a galvanized iron tank, under which the young ducklings hover. This tank is five feet long, twelve inches wide, and about an inch thick, and is hung about eight inches from ends and back of brooder, leaving nearly eighteen inches in front the entire length of brooder, in which to feed the first day or two. The case of this brooder is made of matched boards and thoroughly ventilated and furnished with glass doors to admit light. This brooder should be used in the brooding-house during winter and early spring, after which it can be used to better advantage out of doors.
