Page:Ducks- and how to make them pay (IA cu31924003102971).pdf/59

Rh If the young ducklings are let go into the pond, or stream, it will often bring on cramp or weakness of the loins. Even later in the season, say the middle of April, if they are allowed to run in a pond at all, just to wash, they should not be allowed to remain in the water for more than ten minutes. The Aylesbury people allow them to run in a stream or pond about twice a day, to wash themselves, after the 1st of May, but I do not allow my young ducklings to go into the water until they get all their plumage. I always think they grow so much faster when they are not allowed to go into the water at all till they are about ten weeks old.

As I said in the commencement of this chapter, rearing young ducklings is an easy thing, and they may be kept thicker on the ground than any other class of the feathered tribe. People often wonder how Buckinghamshire and Bedfordshire duck breeders bring up so many ducks; they think they must have large farms, but it is nothing of the kind. There will often be found five hundred ducklings on less than half an acre of ground, and earlier in the season, before they are let out on grass, considerably thicker than that. I will give the Aylesbury breeders' system of managing young ducklings as regards room and accommodation. I have seen what they call a duck barn; these are made with walls of plaster (which I believe is white clay), and most of them have thatched roofs; just a few of them are boarded buildings, but very few. Almost all of the sheds or barns which they are kept in are thatched very thickly, which keeps the ducklings nice and warm in the