Читать книгу Natural and Artificial Duck Culture - James Rankin - Страница 17

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Some twelve feet of this breeding-house may be utilized as a cook and mixing room, and must necessarily be a little higher posted than the rest of the building—say, two feet higher. This cookroom, with boiler, is an essential thing in a duck-house. Unlike hens, they do not take kindly to hard food and whole grain. Their digestive organs, in many points, are different from the hens, and they do not assimilate hard food readily. They require more vegetable food, and those vegetables must be cooked—but more about this hereafter.

Of course, this building should be sweet and clean, and must be well deodorized; for, though ducks do not generate vermin like other fowl, and are not subject to as many diseases, or as readily affected by thermal changes—in fact, a good driving rainstorm is their delight—yet they will not thrive when confined in filthy quarters. It engenders a morbid appetite, impairs digestion, and your bird is poor before you know it. This, of course, arrests the egg production at once.

I wish here to impress upon the breeder the absolute necessity of the careful handling and feeding of his birds; and, when necessary, handle very gently, always taking the bird by the neck. This is very essential, because the bones of a well-bred, well-fatted duck seem wholly disproportioned to the size and weight of his body, and we have often seen a wing broken or a leg disjointed by the convulsive efforts of the bird to escape when caught by those members through the carelessness of the attendant.

The timidity of the Pekin is proverbial. You should move quietly among your layers if you would have them thrive, as constant agitation and disquietude will surely debilitate them and reduce their flesh. I have known a pair of heavy exhibition birds to lose a pound per day during their confinement the first four days of exhibition, and to be eight pounds lighter than they were ten days before when started for the show. Their recuperative powers are equally wonderful. I have often seen Pekin ducks, after having produced one hundred eggs in nearly as many days, on evincing a desire to sit, and being somewhat reduced in flesh, when shut up in a yard with drakes and well fed, in less than a week commence her regular contribution of an egg per day.