Our Domestic Birds: Elementary Lessons in AvicultureRobinson, John H. (John Henry)
Science
Our Domestic Birds: Elementary Lessons in Aviculture
Robinson, John H. (John Henry)
Cage birds; Pigeons; Poultry
The only other furnishings needed are a feed trough and a drinking
vessel, but it is advisable to have a tub or a pan in which the birds
can take a bath, and to supply them with water in this once or twice a
week. The drinking vessel must be one that they cannot get into, for if
they can get into it they will certainly do so. An ordinary wooden water
pail, or a small butter tub with the part above the upper hoop sawed
off, makes a very satisfactory drinking vessel for adult ducks. It will
hold enough water for the ducks to partially wash themselves, which they
do by dipping their heads in the water and then rubbing them on their
bodies and wings. For the regular bath for two or three ducks one of the
largest-sized bath pans made for pigeons will do very well, or an old
washtub cut down to six or eight inches deep may be used. For a flock of
eight or ten ducks a good tub may be made from one end of a molasses
hogshead. The bath should always be given outdoors, because it takes the
ducks only a few minutes to splash so much water out of the tub that
everything around it is thoroughly wet. The drinking water should also
be given outdoors whenever the houses are open.
As the ducks of the breeds usually kept can hardly fly at all, very low
partitions and fences will keep them in their quarters, but to keep
other poultry or animals out of their yards it may be necessary to build
higher fences. For the heavier breeds, like the Pekin and Rouen, fences
are usually made from 18 inches to 24 inches high. The ducks will rarely
attempt to go over these, but occasionally a drake learns to climb a
two-foot fence by using his bill, wings, and toes, and may then manage
to get over a higher fence. For the small, light breeds, fences 3 or 4
feet high may be needed. If their yard is on a slope and is large enough
to give them a chance to start a flight high up on the slope, so that
they will rise above the fence at the lower side, it may be necessary
either to put a very high fence on that side or to cover the yard.
While the fence for ducks need not be either high or strong, there must
be no holes in it that a duck, having put its head through, could by
pressure enlarge enough to let its body pass. A piece of wire netting
that has begun to rust a little may be as good as ever for fowls for a
long time, but if used for a duck fence it will be most unsatisfactory,
because the ducks will soon make many holes in it. If wire netting alone
is used, it should be fastened to the ground with pegs every three or
four feet.
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