ard while in the young ducks it is gristly and bends easily.
The windpipe of an old duck is hard and rather difficult to compress or
dent while in the young duck it is softer and easily dented.
_Selection of Breeding Ducks._ The breeders are usually selected from
the ducklings which reach market age from the last week in June through
July. As these lots become ready for market and are driven into the pens
to be slaughtered each duck is handled and any especially good birds
which the proprietor thinks will make good breeders are thrown out at
this time.
In making selection of breeders those are chosen which are healthy and
thrifty and which have good wide, long and deep bodies. Ducks with
crooked wings, crooked tails, hump backs or paddle legs are rejected for
this purpose. After the young ducks for breeders are selected they are
put in a yard or fattening pen until the number which the owner expects
to keep is complete. These young breeders generally begin to moult soon
after they are selected and from this time on they are fed whole corn
and plenty of green feed until it is time to begin feeding the laying
ration. Some of the breeding ducks will usually begin to lay about
December 1 although they will not lay heavily at that time. The laying
ration described later should be begun about that time or a couple of
weeks earlier.
_Number of Females to a Drake._ As a rule on commercial duck farms the
birds are mated in the proportion of about one drake to seven ducks.
This proportion will vary to some extent under different methods of
management and weather conditions and may run all the way from 1 to 5 to
1 to 8. The smaller number of drakes should be used late in the season
while the larger number will give better fertility early in the breeding
season.
Since the drakes do not fight seriously, flock matings can be made.
Better results will be obtained from smaller flocks than from large
flocks and there will also be less cracked eggs and less very dirty eggs
from the smaller flocks. Before the ducks are let out in the morning
there is a tendency for them to run back and forth through the pens, and
in this way they tramp over many of the eggs which are laid anywhere
about the floor. The larger the flock the more cracked and dirty eggs
will result. While the drakes do not fight each other they do at times
injure and kill the ducks to some extent when three or four drakes may
chase one duck. In this way they may injure the ducks' backs and often
pick their e