Page:Ducks- and how to make them pay (IA cu31924003102971).pdf/26

12 be kept too warm in a house. In all cases the houses should have good ventilation. I always have a window in my houses.

Where there is a flock of well-bred young ducklings there are usually some, when they get about six weeks old, which stand out from the others. That is to say, they are almost half as big again, and are developing a beak perhaps half-an-inch longer than others of the same age. To all appearances they look as though they were going to have an immense frame. These should always be picked out as soon as they begin to show signs that they will develop into large birds. They should be put in a nice roomy place by themselves and fed on good nutritious food. Very often people who go in for showing ducks go round looking at flocks of young ducks, and pick one or two out of one flock, and one or two out of another. I have known them give as much as thirty shillings each for them. These are the ducks which usually find their way into the show pens. I wish my readers to understand that, however large and good a pen of ducks may be, they will not throw all the offspring as good as themselves; there will sure to be a few among them much smaller than the parents, though some of them may surpass the old birds both in size and quality.

There are also freaks of Nature in ducks, just the same as there are in many other varieties of the feathered tribes. What I mean by that is, that the feathers in the wings will often turn the wrong way, instead of being close to the body they will often turn outwards. This of course looks very bad. When they come like this they should never be bred