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INDIAN BUHNER DUCKS.
WONDEBFUL EGGLAYING.
Last August tbe 'Mail' pubEahed fiie
figures of eaaae tall laying by a. pen .of
four T'^'' Runner Aicks owned by Sir.
RueseS Smith, of New Glenelg. Rirtfcer
particnlars-of tte complete record to De
cember 31 Iiave just been furnished by
thoir owner as promiBed. From. Angnst
6 (up to wfoich period tie four docks naa
laid 172 eggs in the forty-three days— the
rwKKihlo ? uritVirmf. miaailis one eSS). to
Dec&nber 31 they iaid a further 478 egRe.
made up -m&i—. Angnst 6 to 31 (25 days),
90 eggB; Beptonber, lfll egga; October, 104
eg^; November, 96 eggs; December. 87
eggs — or an average of a trifle more than
162 eggs a duck for the 190 days. When
the lact is borne in mind that one of the
and atopped laying Hie result is remark
able. These ducks have not been housed'
in any -way whatever, and have not had
an ounce of q''''! food supplied, being
fed on maah composed of 'half -fredi-cnt
chaffed lucerne and the other half com
posed of one part bran and two parts pol
lard (by measure) morning and evening;
mdddav cut lucerne, daznped wilili irater
and' slightly dusted with dry pollard, ?witii
the exception of two evenings a week,
when whole wheat was substitntedfor tne
Tngrth. Sod jiTrrm^ food -been tiujtiplicd no.
doubt the result wotdd iave been even a
greater performance, as it is a well-known
fact among poultry men that no poultry
respond so quickly in increased egg pro
duction- when fed a liberal supply of ani
mal food as docs iht Indian Runner. The
young birds hatched thai were twelve
weeks old at Christmas were perfection.
As regards table quality certainly email,
but :the texture and flavour of the flesh
caiuaoT vs exceueo, bw wiuexi tun* ? uk
performance is compared with .the com
position of their food and its cost the true
economic valne of the -Indian Runner for
home purposes, so often brought under tbe
notice of readers of these columns by
'Practical,' can easily, be gauged. There
is madk for tbe ordinary person to team
in Hie profitable -feeding of docks, but
when such' results can be obtained on half
greenfeed the possibilities of expansion- of
duck-breeding should be enormous where
water is easily obtainable ' and. green feed
easily grown, and these conditions a/ppiy
generally to Adelaide and its enburbe and
district 'Surnrandinfcs. -?-???? ?'?- ? '
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