Naturally, the number of eggs you can put down will depend on the size of your stock and the number of sitting hens at your disposal.

A certain amount of care is necessary in preparing the nest for the hens, as ducks' eggs are very fragile, and much more easily broken than hens' eggs.

The following is the method which I recommend. Get any square box of sufficient depth, and having cut some pieces of sod, build up the corners of the box with them: then cut a square sod to fit the size of the box, and having removed some of the earth underneath the centre of the sod, place it grass upwards in the box. By this means you will obtain the proper shape for the nest, viz., a gradual slope down from the sides to the centre; this will prevent your hens accidentally kicking eggs from under them, as owing to the shape of the nest any eggs which are displaced must roll towards the centre or lowest part of the nest; there is consequently little danger of any of the eggs getting cold. After this, line the nest with dry moss. The sod underneath has the advantage of producing greater heat, and gives a more satisfactory hatch out than nests made of other material, and being firm does not lose its shape.

Don't forget to give your sitting hen some ventilation, but be careful that no draught can reach the eggs.

The sitting hens will, of course, be taken off to feed regularly every day, and you will find them give you less trouble if you take care to tether them on the same leg each day.

And now to return to the laying ducks.

As time goes on you must leave more eggs in the nest, as the birds will soon want to sit. A duck shows signs of this by lining her nest with down from her breast, and in a short time you will find the whole nest, sides and bottom, lined with a thick covering of down; while the eggs are covered by what I can best describe as a thick movable quilt, which protects them from the cold, and the prying eyes of carrion crows and other poachers.

At this time you will observe the old duck staying longer and longer on her nest each day as she lays the last egg or two, and you may be sure that she has fairly begun to sit if you find her still on her nest about 6 or 7 P.M. A day or two before she begins to sit, her nest should be made up to its proper complement of eggs, and it is always wise to keep a few eggs in hand for such contingencies. The number of eggs a duck can sit on depends largely on the size of the duck and also the depth and breadth of the nest; given favourable conditions a duck can manage sixteen or seventeen eggs, and I knew of one nest, consisting of sixteen eggs, all of which hatched off. There is, however, this risk, that should bad weather come it is practically impossible for a duck to successfully brood so large a number as sixteen ducklings, even when her coop is turned away from the wind and rain; and it is here that large brooding hens such as the Bufforpington score their strongest point as mothers to young ducks.

Of one thing you may be sure, a duck will not retain any more eggs in her nest than she can conveniently cover. I know of one case where a duck belonging to me was sitting on fifteen eggs. All appeared to be going well, until one morning a friend of mine, on whose veracity I can absolutely rely, saw the duck fly from her nest, close to where he was standing, with an egg in her bill.

"A tidy Mother."
W.L. Colls. Ph. Sc.

She flew to the water, about 150 yards away, apparently without breaking the egg; but unfortunately my friend could not get up in time to see what she did with it. She hatched out the rest of her eggs satisfactorily.

I presume that either the egg in question was cracked and she removed it for the sake of cleanliness, or because she felt herself unable to sit on so many eggs.

On many occasions I have noticed an egg left bare on the top of the downy covering which ducks are so careful to leave over their eggs when they go off to feed, and these eggs, if taken away and placed under a hen, have invariably hatched. To the best of my recollection I have never known eggs disappear from a nest containing eggs up to thirteen in number; but over that I could quote many instances of one or two eggs going.

This has led me to believe that the bird above alluded to had removed an egg from her nest, as she felt herself unable to sit on so many. A good number of eggs to leave under a duck is thirteen, and under a hen twelve.

I have satisfied myself that hens, however small and light, break many more eggs than ducks, and for this reason I do not care to give a hen too many—one broken egg frequently leads to more.

It is advisable when once the ducks have begun to sit, to catch their mates, if possible, and shut them up in some convenient place during incubation, as otherwise they bully the sitting ducks when they come off to feed, and you may have the annoyance of seeing a duck desert her nest just at hatching time, as nature has warned her that she must shortly lay again. I had one instance of this kind, when a duck which had been sitting very steadily left her nest when the eggs were actually "spretched" (cracked previous to hatching), and as later in the day she showed no signs of returning we had to put them under a hen. The duck in question never returned to her nest, but soon made another. She had not been disturbed in any way.

Should a duck forsake its nest, place the eggs under a good hen as quickly as possible, even if they are stone cold.

I had one case last year, which I thought hopeless. The eggs had been sat on for about a fortnight. They were stone cold, and we knew the duck had been off her nest for at least twelve hours, probably much longer. Eventually twelve out of the thirteen hatched. If you are unable to catch the drakes, the best plan is to put food and water near the nest of the sitting birds, the pan containing the water being large enough to allow her to wash herself thoroughly, as it is the daily tub which generates heat, and assists most materially the successful hatching of the young birds.

I will now deal with the vexed question as to the best kind of hens to be employed. Personally I have strong leaning towards "Bufforpingtons"; they are, of course, heavy, and do break a few eggs—ducks' eggs being particularly brittle—but, on the other hand, they are very staunch sitters, quiet and easy to handle, and not likely to get excited when other hens are hatching in close proximity to them. I have tried lighter hens of several breeds, and I find that they break as many eggs, and trample on as many young ducklings as the Buffs, whereas taking them all round, they are not so easy to handle, do not sit so steadily, and have nothing like the wonderful brooding capacity of the Buffs.

Many people put all their wild ducks' eggs under hens, and do not allow the ducks themselves to sit. I think this is a mistake, as nature gives to ducks far greater powers to hatch their own eggs than she gives to hens. The daily bath, already alluded to, and the mass of warm soft feathers, greatly assist in generating heat, and in preventing the eggs from getting chilled.

The old duck treads more lightly when going on to her nest, and certainly breaks far fewer eggs than the hen does. On the other hand, ducks are not such good "brooders" as hens, and are far more likely to get dirty when kept under coops, however