ANSWER.--Ducks will not lay on hard grain alone. They should have a mash
composed of equal parts wheat-bran, corn-meal, and twenty per cent. low
grade flour, with about one-quarter green food and vegetables; ten per
cent. of beef-scrap, with grit and oyster shells.
QUESTION 2.--My ducklings are weak in the legs, cannot stand, and soon
die. What is the matter?
ANSWER.--Your trouble is too highly concentrated food and too much of
it. Feed on mash composed largely of wheat-bran, low-grade flour and
about fifteen per cent. of corn-meal. Mix in plenty of green food, as
green rye, clover, corn-fodder, etc. Ten per cent. of ground beef-scrap,
or other animal food; five per cent. of coarse sand. This diet is
absolutely necessary to properly develop the bird and form flesh, bone
and feathers. Feed sparingly. This is essential, as it invites exercise,
which is much needed during close confinement in inclement weather.
QUESTION 3.--My ducklings are troubled with sore eyes and do not seem to
thrive, what can I do for them?
ANSWER.--This disease savors of filthy quarters, and yet it is not
always attributed to that. Improper assimilation of food through want of
grit and other ingredients will have a tendency in the same direction. A
gummy secretion exudes from the eyes, hardening up among the feathers
around them, seriously retarding the growth and development of the bird.
Feed sparingly of light food with plenty of grit, and sprinkle a little
ginger in their food. Remove the bird to clean quarters and a few days
will usually effect a cure.
QUESTION 4.--I am losing my ducklings from diarrhoea. Have but twenty
left out of eighty, and they are not ten days old. Please counsel me?
ANSWER.--This disease may have several causes, though I am convinced
that the food has but little to do with it. It may originate through the
degenerate condition of the parent bird, and consequent want of vitality
in the egg from which the little bird comes out in no shape to live; or
from the extremes of heat and cold to which the eggs have been subjected
during the process of incubation; or from the same cause after the
little duckling has been placed in the brooder. I am convinced that with
a careful selection of the proper ingredients in feeding the old bird,
and a reasonable control of the heat in the incubator and brooder (if
they are good ones), there need be but little apprehension from this
disease.
QUESTION 5.--My breeding birds have the gapes. They stretch their necks
and gape, eat nothing, and die in a few days. Can you diagnose the case
and help me?
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