nter they
must be kept shut up later in order to secure all the eggs. After the
ducks start laying in the spring they are very regular and continuous
layers and will miss fewer days than most hens.
After the breeding ducks are first put in the breeding pens and shut in
the houses at night it is common practice to use electric lights for the
first 2 or 3 weeks in order to keep them from stampeding as ducks in
strange surroundings are quite nervous and are quite likely to stampede
and to run over one another thus causing cripples. Electric lights have
also been used to some extent during the late fall and winter for the
purpose of inducing egg production earlier than the natural season. As a
rule the ducks can be started to laying about 4 weeks after turning on
the lights but the average production under this system is not likely to
run more than 60 eggs for the season as so handled they moult quite
early in the spring. A single 25 watt light is sufficient for a house or
pen 16 x 24 feet and the lights are left turned on all night.
The object in feeding and caring for the breeding ducks is to keep them
from moulting and to keep them laying as long as possible. It must be
remembered that any radical change in feed or manner of feeding,
shutting them up too closely, change of temperature, or other disturbing
conditions are likely to cause moulting and to check egg production. Any
change in feed must be made carefully and gradually, not suddenly. It
must also be remembered that ducks are excitable birds and must be
handled and driven carefully so as to disturb them as little as
possible.

Time of Marketing Breeders
The breeders should be turned off to market whenever their egg
production drops off so decidedly that it no longer pays to hold them.
In most cases this will be about the 1st of July but it may range
considerably earlier than this, especially with pens of ducks that have
started laying early. When the ducks finish laying their eggs they begin
to moult and it is at this time that they should be marketed. If
marketing is delayed, the ducks will lose condition as the moulting
progresses and will therefore be held at a loss.

Diseases and Pests
_Disease._ Old ducks, that is, mature ducks, are practically free from
disease. Of course, there will be a certain amount of loss in the
breeding stock from various causes but this should not run for the
entire season more than 10% of the flock. Ducks do not become egg bound,
but sometimes, especially during