San Marcos free press. [volume] (San Marcos, Tex.) 1877-1892, 1882-06-08
ADUCK FACTORY.
A.. of the Curlositles OF San Francisco Early Ed.
oH' " ucation Of the DurklIngs.
From the San Francisco Chronicle.

Ala ducks in therel" exclaimed young
iady looking over the fence into a large
sonare of ground surrounding dilapi.
Jated three story brick structure at the
cor. of Eighteenth and Folsom streets.
The words fell 80 sweetly on the ear
tbat a Chronicle reporter, who was
passing and heard them, also took q
peep. The most prominent thing in
tbe grounds was the crumbling old
building, formerly occupied by the Pa
ci6c Wooden Mills, while on the west.
ern side of the building, probably ten
feet below the street, were ranged q
number of lathed pens, resembling
chicken coops. From these little doors
led into the lower floor of the building
and out of the grounds. Through these
pateways, in and out of the pens, and
from an artificial pond, marched an
endless procession of little ducks, keep.
ing time by uttering asqueaky "quack,
ouack, quack." After admiring the
sporting and marching ducklings for
few moments, an entrance was made
into the place. Ira p. Clarke, one of
the proprietors, was encountered, and
the duck factory" for such it is called,
was inspected.
THE HATCHING PROCESS.
The factory proper is located upon
the top floor, and comprises fourteen
Affords incubators, with capacity of
800 eggs each. The process used is
hot water, furnished to the incubators
through pipes leading from small coal
oil stoves, and one stove supplies hot
air for four incubators.
"We started first on chickens, but
gave it up" said Mr.. Clarke, "and now
raise nothing but ducks. The chicken
making was abandoned because the
climate of this city is not favorable to
raising fowls by the incubation pro-
cess"
The profession was then explained,
and consists in placing the eggs into
triangular pans about one inch deep
The bottoms of these pans are filled
with sand, which is kept moist, and
then they are placed on the machine
Twice day, for the first ten days, the
eggs are turned by an attendant, and
afterward once day until the Goth day
after the eggs have been placed, when
the little ducks break through their
shells, which are removed, and the lit
tie ones left in the incubator until the
next day, when they become thorough
ly dry and ripe. They are then placed
in small pens on the same floor, through
the center of which pass steam pipes,
keeping the atmosphere warm, and the
ducklings are kept here until about six
weeks old, when they are removed to
the pens in the yard and allowed to
sport in the ponds. As the party passed
incubator No. 10 myriad of bright
eyed and yellow little heads were thrust
through the wire grating, and as the
bills of the one-day-old bipeds gave
voice to failure at quack, they eyed
the stranger mysteriously, and began
crowding and fighting each other for
eligible positions at the grating for
view of the outside world.
FIRST SIGHT OF THE WORLD.
"You have come in good time," said
Mr.. Clarke, "No. is Just Matching out"
No. 8 was visited, and looking thro'
the wire netting one would see first
little bill breaking through the shell,
followed by head; then wing would
force itself out, and in few moments
be followed by whole duckling. The
little strangers would straighten up,
and blink their little eyes around.
Almost the first object that attracts
their attention is their bills, and after
wondrous look at the novel appur
tenance, they begin pecking with it
This amusement they keep up until the
next day, when they are given food and
eat ravenously of bread crumbs mixed
with the yolk of hard-boiled egg
The little ones Matched out very rapidly
and were soon crowding and pushing
over and against each other. In order
to prevent their smothering the later
arrivals, Mr.. Clarke removed them to
another incubator, and in going over
the eggs in removing them, found
number of the little fellows trying to
get out into the world, but their shells
were too tough and they could not sue
coed. To these Mr.. Clarke gave help
Ing hand and lifted them into the world,
as it were, by breaking off the cap and
twisting the head of the bird out of the
shell. He would then put it back, leav-
ing the little one to struggle out of the
other half of the shell itself. In do
Ing this Mr.. Clarke came across chick
en- and was at great loss to conjec-
ture how it came to be in the incubator,
and how it took so long to hatch, the
usual time for a chicken being only 81
days.
FREAKS OF AIDED NATURE.
oh yes" said Mr.. Clarke, eve have
had several monstrosities, or rather de-
formed ducks and chickens, born here,
and they frequently come out with
crooked legs that spread out, but that
defect is easily remedied. All we dois $
tie their legs together at the hook joint