, 1890-05-29
GROWTH OF 4 UUlkLING
THOSE AT COLUMBIA POULTRY FARM
CONT KNOW HOW TO SWIM


tho Breast Of Her Duck,hiP-Hatoh-
ing o.Ooo Eggs at one Time.
VIII a duck swim?
Not all ducks. The ducks Of the Column
bin poultry farm will not. This farm is
at Red Bank, n. J., and is the largest Of
its kind in this part of the country.
The ducks on this farm are divided into
two classes, the breeding focks and the
1ocks Of ducklings preparing for market.
All the breeding focks have to do is to
lay eggs; having done that all response
bility On their part ceases. The incubator
and the brooder do the rest. Year after
year the ducks of these breeding fiocks
nave been carefully selected and bred to-
gether with the single idea Of making
them good layers.
It is seldom that a duck in the breed
ing fOcks wants to set, and when recent
ly Mr.. Burr, the proprietor Of the farm,
put a tank of water in one of the breed
ing pens the ducks had 10 be driven into
it, and when they got there were SO scared
that they got out again, heaping wild
anathemas in duck language On the head
of Mr.. Burr for trying to drown Thorn.
But when 1t comes to the business Of lay
ing eggs these ducks are in their element,
and for about five months in the year
each self respecting, hard working MEM
Der Of the flock will lay one egg a day.
HOW THE BIRDS ARE CLASSIFIED.
The 500 ducks which compoS the breod-
ing focks at the Columbia farm are kept
during the breeding season in a long,
low house divided into twelve compart-
ments. Twelve yards, of which they
have the rua, adjoin tho compartments.
They arc divided into twelve tribes in
order TO facilitate selection and observa-
ton, for a duck that falls below tho stan
dard is eliminated. Mr.. Burr has been
for five years experimenting with artif-
cial incubation, and has finally got it to
a point which is nearly perfection.
Having got the breeding ducks to lay
POLITICALLY and confne thsir attention
entirely to that one branch Of tho bust
ness, the next thing was to got eggs from
them best suited to the personal pecu-
~liarities and habits of life Of the incuba-
tors. It was found that in order 10 mako
good egg shells, the ducks needed to DO
furnished with some sort of sea shells as
an appetizer, as it were, for their other
food. Oyster shells were tried, but the
result was an egg with a shell 30 hard
that the duckling which the inoubators
tried to hatch gave up the struggle to
get out of his shell and quietly settled
down to die before he had fairly begun
to live. Finally, fine, brittle shells, col
lected on the selshore, were tried, with
the result of forming an egg shell just
firm and hard enough to give tho duck
ling a little healthy exercise when he
picks his way out under tho genial
warmth of the incubator.
Given the proper breeding focks and
the proper eggs, the next problem was
the management of the incubasors. 1t
was found absolutely necessary to have
perfect control Of the regulation of the
temperature, An incubator house was
built partly under ground 30 that the
effect of sun and the varieties Of the eli
mate would nave little effect. Twelve
incubators, in which are 5000 eggs, are
at work in this house, quietly and unos
tcntatiously doing the work Of which
they nave relieved the ducks which laid
the eggs. The incubators arc heated by
hot water. the heat coming from above,
which arrangement has been found to
give the best results.
WHAT TIE INCIBATOI3 CAN DO.
When a duck sets on a nest of eggs
and the germ of life begins to grow in
them, evaporation takes place through
the porous shells and the water elimi.
mated from inside tho shell leaves room
for the embryo ducklings to grow. Al
the incubation proceeds. the brooding
duck furnishes from her feathers an oil
which Govern the shell and stops the
evaporation. Mr.. Burr has accomplished
the same results in his incubatorB by
regulating the moisture. When the egg
are first put in there is only one pan Of
water put in with them, but as the pro-
cess OF incubation proceeds other PAM
are added, until the hot, dry air which
first filed tho incubator has been re-
placed by n moist atmosphere, In which
evaporation is almost impossible.
1t was also found that os ducklings
grew in the eggs II large amount of
animal heat was generated. This rem
dered it necessary to diminish the ex-
ternal application of heat, and now the
last day or two Of the Matching Is done
almost entirely by the heat furnished by
the ducklings themselves, The incu-
batoIs are kept ut n temperature of l0a
degrees Iol inc nfsl Twelve or fourteen
days. After hat slight variations in
temperature will do no harm. When
the egg begin to hatch the Temperature
is put up to 1903 degrees, and kept there
until all are ont. For thirty,six hour,
after they are Matched the ducklings are
kept in the incubators. Then they art
taken to the brooding house.
The brooding house is nearly 200 feet
long and plays the mother duck to 5000
ducklings at the same time. 1t Is divided
into pens communicating with glas.
yards, and here n be seen ducklingl
ranging from one day to ten weeks ole
all divided off according to their age
When one of the ducks in the breeding
pens looks over at the incubator hous,
and thinks what II tedious job is beinl
taken of her hands there, and ther
catches sight Of the brooding house
which is relieving her Of all the response
biities of motherhood, she is so grntefu
that she goes and lays another egg New
York Tribune
The Safer Styles.
1"I.,., l,,,-a ln,p 4, ,,,,pp ;,-t.-.- 4.