COOPING AND FEEDING DUCKLINGS.—Brood ducks should be cooped at some distance from any other. A wide and flat dish of water, to be often renewed, should stand just outside the coop, and barley, or any other meal, be the first food of the ducklings. It will be needful, if it be wet weather, to clip their tails, lest these draggle, and so weaken the bird. The period of the duck's confinement to the coop will depend on the weather, and on the strength of the ducklings. A fortnight is usually the extent of time necessary, and they may even be sometimes permitted to enjoy the luxury of a swim at the end of a week. They should not, however, be allowed to stay too long in the water at first; for they will then become ill, their feathers get rough, and looseness of the bowels ensue. In the latter case, let them be closely cooped for a few days, and bean-meal or oatmeal be mixed with their ordinary food.
[Illustration: AYLESBURY DUCKS.]
THE AYLESBURY DUCK.—The white Aylesbury duck is, and deservedly, a universal favourite. Its snowy plumage and comfortable comportment make it a credit to the poultry-yard, while its broad and deep breast, and its ample back, convey the assurance that your satisfaction will not cease at its death. In parts of Buckinghamshire, this member of the duck family is bred on an extensive scale; not on plains and commons, however, as might be naturally imagined, but in the abodes of the cottagers. Round the walls of the living-rooms, and of the bedroom even, are fixed rows of wooden boxes, lined with hay; and it is the business of the wife and children to nurse and comfort the feathered lodgers, to feed the little ducklings, and to take the old ones out for an airing. Sometimes the "stock" ducks are the cottager's own property, but it more frequently happens that they are intrusted to his care by a wholesale breeder, who pays him so much per score for all ducklings properly raised. To be perfect, the Aylesbury duck should be plump, pure white, with yellow feet, and a flesh-coloured beak.
STEWED DUCK AND PEAS (Cold Meat Cookery).
936. INGREDIENTS.—The remains of cold roast duck, 1/2 pint of good gravy, cayenne and salt to taste, 1/2 teaspoonful of minced lemon-peel, 1 teaspoonful of pounded sugar, 2 oz, of butter rolled in flour, 1-1/2 pint of green peas.
Mode.—Cut up the duck into joints, lay it in the gravy, and add a seasoning of cayenne, salt, and minced lemon-peel; let tins gradually warm through, but not boil. Throw the peas into boiling water slightly salted, and boil them rapidly until tender. Drain them, stir in the pounded sugar, and the butter rolled in flour; shake them over the fire for two or three minutes, and serve in the centre of the dish, with the duck laid round.
Time.—15 minutes to boil the peas, when they are full grown.
Average cost, exclusive of the cold duck, 10d.
Seasonable from June to August.
FATTENING DUCKS.—Many duck-keepers give their birds nothing in the shape of food, letting them wander about and pick up a living for themselves; and they will seem to get fat even upon this precarious feeding. Unless, however, ducks are supplied with, besides chance food, a liberal feed of solid corn, or grain, morning and evening, their flesh will become flabby and insipid. The simple way to fatten ducks is to let them have as much, substantial food as they will eat, bruised oats and pea-meal being the standard fattening food for them. No cramming is required, as with the turkey and some other poultry: they will cram themselves to the very verge of suffocation. At the same time, plenty of exercise and clean water should be at their service.