The brooder will not then be large enough to hold them, neither do they require the heat, in fact it would be injurious at this age; so before the birds reach the extreme end of the building I shut them off from the brooders entirely by placing a board in front of the opening. The young birds will always thrive better out of doors than in; and when two weeks old I always let them out during the sunny days of April, by opening the slides in front. At this stage of growth when the birds are from two to four weeks old, especially with the early hatches when confined as they usually are during the inclement weather in winter, unless extreme care is taken, a sad mortality is sure to follow. There is a great tendency at this stage of growth, when the birds are confined, to overfeed as well as to overheat in the brooders. This, coupled with too little exercise is sure to cripple the birds, weaken their legs and render them helpless. Even experienced growers sometimes get a little careless and lose whole hatches. We have numerous letters from all parts of the country in which people write "My ducklings are all crippled, cannot walk and are dying off fast. What shall I do?" There is only one thing; feed sparingly, and give all the exercise possible. Often, the want of grit will cause the same trouble. (Our yards have been prepared for this the previous autumn, and are now covered with a thick coat of green rye five or six inches high.) To accomplish this, I make pens outside the building in front, ten feet long, and of a width to correspond with the pens inside. I simply use old boards a foot wide, tacking them together with wire nails, as it is only a temporary arrangement. When snow falls it must be shoveled out at once. Just as soon as the weather and the condition of the ground will allow, I set up the partition wire outside to correspond with the width of pens inside. This wire partition runs the whole length of the yard; and as the yards are 100 feet deep, it gives the ducklings a yard 6x100 feet. I always feed outside whenever the weather will permit. It is needless to say that the sanitary arrangements in this building are of the utmost importance. Indeed, it will require constant watchfulness and care on the part of the attendant. The Sanitary Arrangements. With several thousand ducklings confined in one building, the tendency is decidedly filthy. The capacity of the duckling for filth is wonderful, and he comes honestly by it. It is simply astonishing how soon he will manage to mix the contents of his water-tank with that of his yard and make both sloppy and offensive. The chick is nowhere in comparison. It is true, the duck is not so easily affected by it as the chick, but it will not do to presume too much upon that. At this stage the attendant will be kept busy every moment from daylight to dark.