By this arrangement, the ducklings are all fed and watered from the
walk, thus reducing the labor to a minimum, while there is no danger of
crushing the little birds under foot or under the troughs. The attendant
is not hampered in his movements, but can work as quickly as he likes.
All he has to do is to distribute the food and water, throwing the
covers back as he goes, when the ducklings, which are always waiting,
rush in and soon fill themselves. Twenty minutes is all that is required
for them to eat and drink.
A person of good judgment can easily determine about how much the birds
will consume, though it is well for him to pass along the walk, giving a
little more food where their wants are not satisfied, or taking up what
is left over, shutting the covers down when the birds are through.
As this building is well piped, distributing water at both ends, as well
as at the mixing-box and heater, it makes the feeding almost a pastime,
the work is done so easily. This building is just what we have been
looking for. There are none on the place that pleases us so well. Its
many advantages over a single building must be evident to all. The
increased facility for doing the work, as well as its economy in housing
many more birds for the money invested, are not the least.
When planning this building, we had some misgiving about running it east
and west as the lay of the land required, thinking that the exposure on
the north side during the inclement weather of the early spring, would
confine the young birds to the building and they would suffer for want
of exercise, but we were agreeably disappointed as we found that they
thrived equally as well, if not better, on the north side as on the
south, proving what I have always known in duck culture, that the
extreme heat of summer is more debilitating to young birds than the cold
of winter, and that early hatched birds will always be of larger size
and more robust physique than late ones.
That is why I have always made it a point to select my early hatched
birds for breeding purposes. I have never known any too good for that. I
insert cuts of this double building, with the older ducklings on the
north side and the younger ones on the south. Were I to build another, I
should duplicate it in every respect.
[Illustration]
Regulation of Heat in Brooders.
Now, as the birds grow larger, they naturally need less heat, and we
must contrive to fix it so they do not get so much. As stated before, no
fringe is used beyond the first four brooders,--the space in front being
left open; and not only that, but we gradually raise the back of the
cover next the walk until it opens an inch or more the entire length of
the pen. Those ducklings, before they reach the other end of this
brooding-house, will weigh (if well cared for) over a pound each.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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