For farm purposes the Aylesbury is to be recommended, second only to the Pekin; it possesses the many good qualities of the Pekin, and can be bred with almost the same success. The advantages claimed for Aylesbury are the ease with which it is acclimated, thriving in every country and climate; its early maturity; its great hardiness; its large size; its great prolificacy, and the real beauty which it possesses. Raisers recommend for raising exhibition birds one drake to two ducks, or two drakes to five ducks, all being allowed to run together. Duck raisers who raise large numbers for market breed them as they do Pekins, using from four to eight females to one male, according to the season of the year. Fresh blood is introduced every year to keep up the size, and breeding stock is seldom kept longer than the second or third year.
The Aylesbury being an English duck, it will be of interest to note the methods employed in their native place for raising them, as given by an English writer in the following statements:
In and about the town of Aylesbury very many of the cottagers maintain, each of them, a set of ducks, about 4 ducks to a drake. These they keep in any outbuilding attached to their dwellings and, failing such a place, in the cottage itself.
From them the "duckers" (dealers peculiar to the trade) collect the eggs, and generally bargain with the owners for their whole supply at a given rate for the season. They begin their collection in October, and the contract is often made for the whole produce up to June. The breeding stock of a "ducker" who does an average trade consists of six drakes and twenty ducks; these all run together, and the brooks and ponds are looked upon almost as common property. They are separated at night, driven up to their respective homes, well fed and warmly housed. The eggs which were laid during the nighttime are set, as soon as possible, under large and attentive hens, for which purpose good Dorkings and Cochins are considered best. The ducks themselves are never allowed to sit, though they may desire to do so, as the result would be almost certain failure.
Thirteen eggs comprise a setting, and these are easily covered by a large hen. Hens are set either in fish pads, small hampers, or, in what we have found most serviceable, the round boxes in which cheeses are packed. In the bottom of these is placed some lime or wood ashes, and then a nest of hay or some soft straw; there the hens must be kept as quiet as possible. Special care must be taken to guard against the intrusion of rats or other vermin by which the hen mother may be disturbed and, as is often the case, the whole setting be destroyed thereby. The period of incubation is twenty-eight days, and during the last week of that time care must be taken to sprinkle the eggs daily with lukewarm water, which softens the shells, so that when the time comes for the duckling to make its appearance it has not much difficulty in breaking through its covering. When the young are hatched they should be left with the hen until well nestled, well dried, and strong enough to stand. Many scores of ducklings are lost by inexperienced persons through their impatience to remove them from the nest. The little duckling is at first clad with soft, yellow down, which gradually disappears as the feathers grow. After a few days, three or four broods are put together with one hen, which is quite able to take care of them all.
For market purposes the treatment of the ducklings is as follows: They are not allowed to go into any water, but are kept in hovels or the rooms of cottages, each lot of thirty or forty separated by low boards. It is no uncommon thing to see 2,000 or 3,000, all in one establishment. They are kept very clean and dry on barley straw; their food consists of hard-boiled eggs, chopped fine and mixed with boiled rice and bullock's liver, cut Tip small. This is given to them several times in the day for about a fortnight or more. When they are capable of consuming more they are fed on barley meal and tallow greaves (cracklings), mixed together with the water in which the greaves previously have been boiled. Some poultrymen also use horseflesh to mix with their other food. The above constitutes all that is necessary to produce early ducklings for the table.
In plumage the Aylesburys are a pure, spotless white, and feathers of any other color will disqualify them. Drake and duck vary only in the ordinary respect of the male bird, showing a very handsome curled feather in the tail and being of a larger size than his mate.
Weight.—The standard weight of the adult drake is 9 pounds; adult duck, 8 pounds; young drake, 8 pounds, and young duck, 7 pounds.