Page:Ducks- and how to make them pay (IA cu31924003102971).pdf/58

44 ducklings, about two or three times a week, will help the feathering very much. The first week young ducklings should be fed about every hour-and-half in the day, and late in the evening for the last meal. The second week feeding them about five times a day, or six, if one has time, will not hurt them. The third week four times will be sufficient. After they are four weeks old I usually feed mine three times a day, although many people feed them only twice, but they should really be fed three times until they are full grown. In all cases feed them so that they will clear up the food properly, and put their drinking vessels a distance from the troughs which they feed out of; if not, there will be a great waste of their food, as they will run to the water with the meal in their beaks just the same as the old stock ducks do, and this causes a great waste.

When the young ducklings are required for killing purposes, after they are five weeks old they should not have water more than twice a day-the latter should never be allowed to stand by them all the time. Too much water is very injurious to them. It is well to begin feeding the ducklings before the water vessels are put down, or else some of the young ones will drink instead of eat, which often brings on diarrhœa and giddiness, so that they cannot stand upon their legs. Many people would rear ducklings for their own table use, only they have an idea that they cannot be kept properly unless there is a pond or stream of water for them to swim in. This is a great mistake. All early ducklings should be kept very dry; they grow so much faster, and it prevents cramp in them a great deal.