The past season has been a very satisfactory one to us, as we have not only largely increased our business, but the prices obtained have been better than ever before, while we have been overwhelmed with orders from dealers in New York and Boston which we have been wholly unable to fill.
But to return to the feathers. They should be taken up every day and spread out thinly on a dry floor, turned occasionally, and, in a few days, when thoroughly dry, can be thrown in a heap. Do not neglect this, for if allowed to accumulate they soon become offensive, and nothing but superheated steam will ever deordize them, and be sure that the feather firms will always take advantage of this and charge you roundly for doing it.
Disinfecting the Ground a Necessity.
When we first begin shipping for market, our yards are usually filled to their utmost capacity, and we are often crowded for room. As fast as the yards are emptied, they should be disinfected by turning them and sowing a crop of oats at once. By the time these oats are two or three inches high they can be reoccupied by young birds, so that two crops can be grown upon the same ground each season.
My plan is this: I do not heat my brooding-house artificially after the first of June, as the building will always be warm enough at that date for ducklings ten days old, without artificial heat. I locate some of my large duck-brooders a short distance apart out-of-doors, building a square pen in front of them, 8x12 feet, with boards a foot wide. Into these brooders I put the newly-hatched ducklings as they come out. They need artificial heat the first few days. Of course it would be poor policy to run the heater for the benefit of a few when it would be a decided injury to thousands.
When the ducklings no longer require heat, which will be in a very few days, I remove them at once, either to the brooding-house or to the vacated yards above mentioned, when by this time the oats will be high enough to furnish them with green food. The business is managed in this way as long as there are eggs to hatch. I use the eggs for incubating long after I cease putting them out; for, if there is but one-third fertile, it is more profitable to hatch them than to market them, as the prices on young ducklings after the middle of October usually rule some three or four cents higher per pound than during August and September.
During the spring and summer months, when things are under full headway, there is naturally great care and responsibility. It will not do to make too many mistakes or neglect necessary duties. The young birds must be fed regularly and given the differently prepared foods according to age,—water supplied, grass and corn fodder cut and distributed according to need. Lamps to trim and replenish, eight thousand eggs to turn twice each day; a new hatch of ducklings coming off nearly every day; the machine to be filled with nicely washed eggs; one to two thousand pounds of ducklings dressed and packed for market daily; cleaning and disinfecting yards; entertaining visitors, who flock here by dozens,—furnish all the occupation we need. Indeed, were it not for the immense profits attending the business, we might consider it rather more than we ought to do.
I disinfect my duck yards with rye about Sept. 1. When, in this climate, frost has destroyed all green vegetable life, then rye is in its prime. If sowed September 1, in duck yards, it will attain a height of eighteen inches, and if sowed thickly will crop many tons to the acre. When corn-fodder is gone, we use green clover, then turnip, cabbage and green rye in turn and then just before a snow storm we cut a large quantity of the frozen rye and pile it up in the shade, where, of course, it will neither heat or thaw. Should we get out before the snow is gone, we always have surplus of clover-rowen cured for the purpose.
This, together with refuse cabbage and boiled turnips, small potatoes, etc., makes a fine winter diet on which breeding ducks will always thrive if the other ingredients are properly mixed,—a diet upon which, combined with housing and plenty of exercise, the birds are bound to contribute a good quota of strong fertile eggs. I mention this particularly here, because the mortality among young birds will depend largely upon the strength and vitality of the eggs from which they come.