[Illustration: FIG. 28. Long brooder house and yards with feeding track. (_Photograph from the Bureau of Animal Industry, U. S. Department of Agriculture._)] [Illustration: FIG. 29. Upper--Pekin ducklings 3 days old. Lower--Pekin ducklings 2 weeks old. Duck egg used for size comparison. (_Photographs from the Bureau of Animal Industry, U. S. Department of Agriculture._)] [Illustration: FIG. 30. Upper--Pekin ducklings 3 weeks old. Lower--Pekin ducklings 6 weeks old. (_Photographs from the Bureau of Animal Industry, U. S. Department of Agriculture._)] [Illustration: FIG. 31. Interior of a cold brooder house. The low partitions can easily be stepped over. (_Photograph from the Bureau of Animal Industry, U. S. Department of Agriculture._)] Yard Accommodations for Ducklings As the ducklings get to be 8 weeks old they can stand ordinary weather conditions and it is not absolutely necessary to have houses for them. However, it is common and good practice to provide shelter where they can be housed at night and can take refuge from storms. A suitable house for this purpose consists of a building 16 x 24 feet divided into two parts with 200 ducklings to a side. This house is 5 feet high in front and 3-1/2 feet in back. It is set on posts with a baseboard around it to make it tight. It can be constructed of matched stuff or unmatched stuff covered with paper. The front is left open but curtains are placed on the front which can be used to close the openings so as to keep out the snow. These are used only in the winter. When the ducklings are first started in these sheds they are shut in when desired by means of wire panels fitted into the lower part of the open front. The ducklings are left in these yards and fed there until they are ready for market. [Illustration: FIG. 32. Eat, drink and grow fat for tomorrow they die. Fattening or yard ducks with fattening house or shelter used. (_Photograph from the Bureau of Animal Industry, U. S. Department of Agriculture._)] _Shade._ Shade is important for the ducklings as soon as the sun gets hot. Exposure to the sun without shade will cause quite a heavy loss in ducklings. If natural shade is not furnished by trees, some artificial means must be adopted to supply the shade. This may take the form of shelters or low frames covered with boards, brush or burlap.