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Classic
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page 273
oven, which may be pursued if they are wanted before five or six months.
Ducks
Generally begin to lay in the month of February. Their eggs should be daily
taken away except one, till they seem inclined to sit; then leave them, and see
that there are enough. They require no attention while sitting except to give
them food at the time they come out to seek it; and there should be water placed
at a moderate distance from them, that their eggs may not be spoiled by their
long absence in seeking it. Twelve or thirteen, eggs are enough: in an early
season it is best to set them under a hen; and then they can be kept from water
till they have a little strength to bear it, which in very cold weather they
cannot do so well. They should be put under cover, especially in a wet season;
for though water is the natural element of ducks, yet they are apt to be killed
by the cramp before they are covered with feathers to defend them.
Ducks should be accustomed to feed and rest at one place, which would prevent
their straggling too far to lay. Places near the water to lay in are
advantageous; and these might be small wooden houses, with a partition in the
middle, and a door at each end. They eat any thing; and when to be fattened,
must have plenty, however coarse, and in three weeks they will be fat.
Geese
Require little expense; as they chiefly support themselves on commons or in
lanes, where they can get water. The largest are esteemed best, as also are the
white and grey. The pied and dark-coloured are not so good. Thirty days is
generally the time the goose sits, but in warm weather she will sometimes hatch
sooner. Give them, plenty of food, such as scalded bran and light oats; and as
soon as the goslings are hatched, keep them housed for eight or ten days, and
feed them with barley-meal, bran, curds. For green geese, begin to fatten
them at six or seven weeks old, and feed them as above: Stubble
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