_Equipment of the Pen._ The equipment of the pens is quite simple. Water is piped through the house along both walls so that it is available to each pen. A spigot is provided in each pen and under this is placed the drinking dish, which consists of a round metal pan about a foot in diameter and 3 or 4 inches deep. A square pan should never be used as the ducklings are apt to get their bills caught in the corners. One quarter inch mesh wire netting is bent in a circle and placed in the drinking dish as a guard to keep the ducklings from getting into the pan. This guard should be made of such size that there is a space between the wire and the edge of the dish of about 1-1/2 inches all around. This guard should be about 8 inches high. The water pan itself is set upon a wire covered frame about 18 inches square under which is dug a pit 4 or 5 inches deep to drain away any water which the ducklings slop out of the pan. Such an arrangement keeps the pens from becoming sloppy and damp. Each pen must also have a flat metal dish on which to place the feed for the little ducks. Metal pans are better than wooden feeding trays as they are easier to keep clean. In each pen is provided a small hopper filled with fine sharp creek sand to which the ducklings have access at all times. Some duck growers prefer to mix the sand in the feed rather than to provide it in hoppers. After the ducklings are allowed to run in the yards, sand need not be furnished if the yards are sand as the ducklings will help themselves. If the land in the yards is not sand, however, it is necessary to continue to furnish this material. [Illustration: FIG. 24. Watering arrangement in the brooder pens for young ducklings. (_Photograph from the Bureau of Animal Industry, U. S. Department of Agriculture._)] [Illustration: FIG. 25. Another type of No. 1 brooder house. Here the hovers are along the back of the house and the work is done from an alleyway along the front. The box with handles on top of the hover is used in carrying the newly hatched ducklings from the incubator cellar to the brooder house. (_Photograph from the Bureau of Animal Industry, U. S. Department of Agriculture._)] _Grading and Sorting the Ducklings._ As the ducklings are moved from pen to pen through this house as well as the other houses, they are constantly graded for size and thriftiness, the smaller, less thrifty individuals being left with younger lots. Some ducklings do not grow as quickly as others, and these if left with ducklings larger than themselves will not get their share of the feed and will not do as well. In this connection it should be noted that when young ducks are not fairly clean it is a good indication that they are not doing as well as they should.