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Management—Stock ducks and duckings—Laying ducks—Meat diet for egg producing—Warm water for cold weather—The duck house: construction and litter, warmth and ventilation.

UCKS are quite different to Fowls, and therefore they should be managed differently. Many people who keep a few stock ducks make a great mistake in the way they feed them after they have shed their feathers. No matter whether they are old stock ducks, or young birds which have never laid, when they have got well through their moult, most breeders feed them very liberally on rich food. This is all very well if they commence laying shortly after they have moulted, but old ducks usually moult from the middle of June to the middle of August; these are the two principal months for the old stock ducks to moult. The young ones moult when they are from 11 to 15 weeks old, and usually finish when they are about 16 or 18 weeks old. It is far better not to over feed them; if so, they become fat internally, which really prevents them from laying, and the owner has to