Page:Ducks- and how to make them pay (IA cu31924003102971).pdf/79

Rh grass it gives their plumage a yellow cast, and particularly the old stock ducks when they are shedding their feathers. If the young ones, or even the old stock birds, are allowed to run about in the hot sun, their beaks become a yellowish tint, but this does not alter the shape of the duck, only the colour of the bill. Some of the bills will get much more tinted than others. I should recommend those who are breeding for purity to buy ducks with good coloured bills. Of course it does not make any difference to those who are going to breed for table purposes, and not for exhibition at all. When the bills are tinged by the sun the ducks are considerably cheaper, even if they are very fine birds. So the purchaser here may gain a benefit by the ducks being reared in the sun; only be sure they are pure if they are bought as such. When one is starting a pen of Aylesbury ducks, see that they are unrelated, and have them from a good reliable breeder. If there is any question about this, have the ducks from one breeder and the drake from another. I do not mean to say that there are no duck-breeders who have got unrelated birds. Those who keep a number of pens have generally got them unrelated; but it is best to be on the right side. It is never well to breed from brothers and sisters, because it often brings the young ducklings out weakly, the eggs are not so fertile, and many of them become cripples. Stock ducks for ordinary breeding purposes—that is to say, breeding for table—should run from 7s. 6d. to 12s. 6d. each, and a good drake from 10s. 6d. to 21s. It is always better to spend a little extra