If you wish to study economy in feeding, an excellent plan is to mix
barley meal with your duck meal; commence in the proportion of four
parts duck meal to one of barley meal, and increase the proportion of
the latter until the mixture is half and half. Too much barley meal is,
I feel sure, a bad thing, and causes indigestion, and if expense is no
object it is best to stick to the wild duck meal until the ducks are
weaned to corn; if, however, you do decide to feed on barley meal, it is
a good plan to mix a little bran with it, in the proportion of one part
bran to four of barley meal.

You should get the ducks on to corn as soon as possible, and teach them
to eat it in shallow water; they don't eat it so fast if this plan is
adopted, are less liable to get indigestion, and in searching for the
food are constantly drinking water at the same time as the food, as well
as a certain amount of grit, sand, &c. Ducks must have water with their
food, and the sooner they are trained to take corn and water together,
the better will their meals be digested; moreover, if fed in this way
birds certainly require less, and there is consequently a gratifying
reduction in the grain bill at the end of the year.

To return to the run at the water's edge, let it be assumed that the
birds have been ten days to a fortnight in their new home, have become
thoroughly accustomed to it, and naturally look upon it as the place
where food is to be obtained at stated times.

It is now time to enlarge them altogether, but before doing so liberate
a few of the least vicious of the old ducks. These birds very soon take
charge of a certain number of young ones, and directly the wire is
pulled up will teach them where to look for food. It is a very pretty
sight to see an old bird swimming at the head of twenty or thirty young
ducklings, who form a compact mass behind her, and always accompany her
in foraging expeditions. She it is who warns them that it is nearly
feeding time; it is her eye which has detected a well-known figure
hovering overhead, and her voice which warns them to make for the
nearest shelter.

By this time I am sure that my readers will be getting impatient because
I have said so little as to the cost of food. A golden rule is to give
your ducklings all they will eat during the first seven or eight weeks,
and after that make them hunt for their natural food, giving them just
sufficient to keep them fairly fat and prevent them from st