Page:Ducks- and how to make them pay (IA cu31924003102971).pdf/62

48 just be raked or forked over. None of the excrement need be taken up, as peat is a disinfectant, and, being very dry and of a spongy nature, the excrement from the ducklings adheres to it, therefore there is no smell attached to it. If the peat is put about 2 inches or 3 inches thick it will last a good time; of course it depends upon how many ducklings there are in the house, and what age they may be. If there are, say, one hundred birds in a 12-feet square place, divided off, three lots of peat moss will do well for about ten weeks, so that it amounts really to only clearing the house out three times in ten weeks, which means a great saving of labour. Should the peat moss become wet at all, remove the whole of it at once. Of course, when they are kept as thick as the breeders in the duck counties keep them, the moss peat would want changing oftener, according to the number of ducks and the circumstances under which they are kept. While it is perfectly dry and there is no smell arising from it, there is no necessity to change it, only it should be forked over every day. Some of the Aylesbury people in the very hot weather change their ducklings, that is to say, they have other pens out of doors, with thatched hurdle to form the sides and ends, or some rails with straw between, so that no draught can get to the ducklings. The railing is about 3 feet high, and the top of the little shed is about 5 feet high, so that there is about 2 or 3 feet where the pure air can get to them all round without causing a draught. Where straw is dear and scarce, the same kind of thing can be arranged with canvas at the sides and top. This will be more fully explained in the chapter on building houses and