It is now time to enlarge them altogether, but before doing so liberate a few of the least vicious of the old ducks. These birds very soon take charge of a certain number of young ones, and directly the wire is pulled up will teach them where to look for food. It is a very pretty sight to see an old bird swimming at the head of twenty or thirty young ducklings, who form a compact mass behind her, and always accompany her in foraging expeditions. She it is who warns them that it is nearly feeding time; it is her eye which has detected a well-known figure hovering overhead, and her voice which warns them to make for the nearest shelter.
By this time I am sure that my readers will be getting impatient because I have said so little as to the cost of food. A golden rule is to give your ducklings all they will eat during the first seven or eight weeks, and after that make them hunt for their natural food, giving them just sufficient to keep them fairly fat and prevent them from straying. It is quite possible to get them fat enough for the larder by increasing the supply of maize during the last fortnight or so before your shoot takes place.
I am of opinion that, provided a man feeds and looks after his ducks himself, is in possession of a supply of coops and runs, and is fortunate enough to have a suitable piece of water of his own, as well as a bit of ground to rear them on, that he can make his accounts balance at the end of the year. In other words, he will be able to give his friends some very enjoyable shooting, and supply himself with a hobby of which he will never be tired, at no expense to himself. In support of my statement I propose to give a few figures. The breeding stock has of course to be purchased, and for the sake of simplicity let us put it at twenty ducks and fifteen drakes, making an initial cost of about £7. In an experience of some years, however, I have found that my stock at the end of the season numbers practically the same as at the commencement, and I found it always possible to fill up any casualties by catching and pinioning wild birds which join my own. On these grounds I consider that my stock at the end of the season is of the same value as at the beginning, and that one side of my account balances the other.
The stock fed on maize will cost about 12s. 6d. a month, and, supposing that the first birds are hatched out about the middle of April, and practically all, except a very few retained for breeding purposes and some immature birds, are killed the first week in September, this calculation brings the price of feeding the breeding stock for seven and a half months to £4, 13s. 9d.
Now for the food of the young birds. I assume that from the above-mentioned stock about 250 ducklings will be reared, and, taking an average of several years, their food from the date of hatching (mid April) to early September works out roughly at £16. This includes wild duck meal, wheat, barley, and barley meal, a little maize, and the many etceteras, such as crissel, grit, and cardiac.
To this should be added a little extra for the feeding of the immature birds, which are not quite ready for killing. Put this at 15s.
In addition there is still the expense of sitting hens: if twenty hens are purchased at 3s. each and afterwards sold at 2s., this item will work out as an expenditure of £1. They have of course to be fed, but their food—maize is the best—has been taken from the food purchased for the ducks, so that no further amount has to be charged under this heading.
The debit side of the account will now work out as follows:—
| Food for ducklings | £16 | 0 | 0 |
| Food for old birds | 4 | 13 | 9 |
| Extra food alluded to above | 0 | 15 | 0 |
| Expenses for sitting hens | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| £22 | 8 | 9 |
As against these figures there are 250 young ducks for sale: deduct from this number fifteen for casualties of various kinds, such as dead birds unpicked at the shoot, odd birds that may stray and be killed, &c., and this gives 235. If the birds are properly fed a game-dealer will be glad to give 2s. each for them, especially if the shoot is timed to fit some popular function, such as Doncaster Races; so that the credit side of the account shows a sum of £23, 10s. for the sale of 235 birds, giving a small surplus of rather over £1, which can be used to meet incidental expenses, such as purchase of wire, &c. Each young bird will cost about 1s. 3½d. to rear, and will sell for 2s., leaving 8½d. a bird profit with which to meet the other expenses. Many of my readers may think the margin of fifteen birds set apart as casualties far too small, but I can assure them that, so far with me, it has never reached that number, and need not do so provided the birds are kept at home by proper feeding, and the right people propitiated.