Clinch Valley news. [volume] (Jeffersonville, Va.) 18??-2019, 1890-07-11
A DUCK FARM.
tNCUBATED DUCKLINGS THAT
ARE AFRAID OF WATER.
eliminating the Natura! Instincts by
Artificial rOodins-HIanagcInc
ofthe Monster Incubators-lrt
OF fi,ttcnin. fog Market.


and artificial brooding have eliminated
all the natural instincts Of the Pekin
ducks which inhabit the farm, and they
exist and grow with only ore purpose,
and that is to furnish II meal for chi;
cures.
The ducks on this farm are divided
into two classes, the breeding iocs:s and
the .!Jcas of 'iucklin.s prepared Tor
market. All tie breeding iiociis hare to
do is 10 lny eggs; having done that all
responsibility on their part ccascs. The
incubator aud the hrouder do the rest.
Year after year the ducks Of these breed
ing ilocIs have been carefully selected
and bred together with the single idea of
making thcni good layers. So success.
full has this been that every other habit
OF lie seems to have been eliminated
from their nature.
1t is seldom that a duck in the breed
ing flDcks wants to set. and when recent
ly Mr.. Barr, the proprietor OF the farm,
put Il tank of water III one of the breed
Ing pens the ducks had to be driven into
1t, and wien they got there were so
scared that they got out again, hcapin-
with anatilc:nas Ill duck language Oh the
head of Mr.. Burr for trying TO drown
them. But whcn it comes to the bust
ness of laying eggs these ducks are in
their element, and for about five months
III the year each sclf-respccting. hard
working member of the flock will iay
one egg day.
The 500 ducks which comnosc the
breeding ducks at the Colombia farm are
kept during the breeding season in
long, low house divided iuto twelve COM
partments. Twelve yards, OF which they
have the run, adjoin the compartments.
They are divided into twelve tribes in
order to facilitate selection and obserya-
ton, for Il duck that falls below the
standard is eliminated. Mr. Burr has
been for five years experimenting. with
artificial incubation, and has finally rot
1t to a point which Is nearly perfection.
Having got the breeding ducks to Law
proliiicaily and coninc their attention en-
tircly to that one branch Of the business.
the next thing was to get crgs from them
best suited to their peculiaritics and hab-
its OF life of the incubators. Ii was
found that in order to make good cra
shells, the ducks needed to be furnished
with sonc sort OF sea shells as an anne
tier, rs it were, for their other food.
Oyster shells were tried, but the result
was an egg with she'll so hard that Inc
duciling which the incubators tried 10
hatch gave up the struggle to get out OF
his shell and quietly settled down to die
before he had fairly begun to live. FL
naliy, fine, brittle shells. collected on the
seashOrc, were tried, with the result of
forming an cggshcll just firm ani hard
enough 20 give the duckling a little
healthy exercise when he picks his way
out under the genial warmth of the
incubator.
GiVcn the proper breeding focks and
the proper eggs, the next problem was
the infringement Of the iucuLa.ors. 1t
was found absolutely necessary to have
perfect control of.,tbe segtila tilod of the
temperaiurc. AniiR9ubbfa;,Yfs }b}adsez1esszI
effects Of sun and As i saila CT 81 tRRes
climate wo's,i.d 1ii,3U tttie iwelycs
iacubators, in which are 5000 eggs, are
ut work in this house, quietly and un-
ostentatiously doing the work of which
they have relieved the ducks winch laid
the eggs. The incubators arc heated bv
hot water, the heat coming from above,
which arrangement has been found to
give the best results.
When a duck sets on n nest OF cnns
and the germ OF life begins to grow in
them, evaporation takes place through
the porous shells and the water clini-
mated from inside the shell leaves room
for the embryo duckings TO grow. AS
the incubation proceeds, the brooding
duck furnishes from her feathers IN oil
which covers the shell AMI stops the
evaporation. Mr.. Burr has accomplished
the same results III his incuiators bv ren
Mating the moisture. When the eggs are
first put in there is only one pan of water
put in with them, but as the process of
incubation proceeds other pans are
added, until the hot, dry air which first
filled the incubator has been replaced by
"A moist atmosphere, in which evaporation
is almost impossible.
1t was also found that rs duck,inns
grew III the egg large amount Of animal
heat was generated. This rendered it
necessary to diminish the external appli
cation of heat, and now the last day or
w. ~. 'iS HNtShiii9 Is NDuc almost en-
tirely ny heat furnished by the duclilings
themselves. The incubators are kent at n
temperature of 102 degrees for the first
twelve or fourteen days. After that,
slight variations in temperature will do
no harm. When the eggs begin to hatch
the temperature is put up to 102 degrees,
and kept there until all are out. For
thirty hours after they are matched the
ducklings are kept in the incubators.
Then they are taken to the broodine-
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 glass
yards, and here can be seen ducklinps
ranging from one day to ten weeks old
all divided off according to their age.
When one of the ducks in the breeding
pens looks over at the incubator house
and thinks what tedious job is being
taken off her hands there, and then catch
inc siOht of the brOoGInu-hnusc which