The Somerset reporter., 1890-05-22

h'e feehngs Of Deepest GratItud. In
the Breast of Her DuckshIp Hatch.
Ing 5000 Egg. at One Time.
VIII duck swim?
Not all ducks. The ducks Of the Column.
bia poultry farm will not. This farm il
ut Red Bank, N. j., and is the largest of
It's Elnd in this part of the country.
The ducks on this farm are divided into
two classes, the breeding fiocks and the
Hooks of ducklings preparing for market
All the breeding focks have to do is to
lay eggs; having done that all RESPONSE
oiilty ON their part ceases The incubator
ana the brooder do the rest Year after
year the ducks of these breeding nocks
have been carefully selected and bred to-
gether with the single idea of making
them good layers.
II is seldom that duck in the breed
ing fiocks wants to set, and when recent
iy Mr.. Burr, the proprietor of the farm,
put tank OF water in one of the breed
ing pens the ducks had to be driven into
it. and when they got there were so scared
mat they got out again. heapins wild
anathemas in duck language ON the head
OF MI Burr for trying to drown them.
But when it comes to the business OF Law.
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 '-;g day
HOW THE BIRDS ARE c. FLED
The 800 ducks which compose the breed
ing f1ocks at the Columbia farm are kept
during the breeding season in long.
low house divided into twelve compart-
ments. Twelve yards, Of which they
have the run, adjoin the compartments.
They are divided into twelve tribes in
order to facilitate selection and observa.
ton, for duck that falls below the stan.
dard is eliminated Mr.. Burr has been
for five years experimenting with artif-
cial incubation, and has finally got it to
Il point which is nearly perfection.
Having got the breeding ducks to lay
prolitically and confne their attention
entirely to that one branch of the bust
ness, the next thing was to get eggs from
them best suited to the personal pecu-
liarities and habits of life of the incuba-
tors. 1t was found that in order to make
good egg Shells the ducks needed to be
furnished with some sort of sea shells IA
an appetizer, rs it were, for their other
food Oyster shells were tried, but the
result was an egg with "a shell SO hard
that the ducliling which the incubators
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
h. l.
the result of forming an egg shell Just
firm and hard enough to give the duck
| ling little healthy exercise when he
picks his way out under the genial
warmth of the incubator
Given the proper breeding focks and
the proper eggs, the next problem was
the management of the incubators. II
was found absolutely necessary to have
perfect control of the regulation of the
Temperatures An incubator house was
built partly under ground so that the
effect Of sun and the varieties of the eli
mate would have little effect. Twelve
incubators. in which are 5000 eggs, are
at work i'll this house, quietly and unos-
tentatiously doing the work of which
they have relieved the ducks which laid
the eggs The incubators are heated by
hot water the heat coming from above
which arrangement has been found to
give the best results.
WHAT THE INCUBAToRs CAN DO
When duck sets ON IA nest of eggs
and the germ of life begins to grow in
them, evaporation takes place through
the porous siliiis and the water eiitni
mated from inside the shell leaves room
for the embryo ducklings to grow As
the incubation proceeds, the hrooding
duck furnishes from her feathers an oil
which covers the shell and stops the
evaporation. Mr. Burr has accomplished
the same results in his incubators by
regulating the moisture. When the eggs
are first put in there is only one pan of
water put in with them, but as the pro-
cess of incubation proceeds other pans
are added, until the hot, dry air which
first filled the incubator has been re-
placed by Il moist atmosphere, In which
evaporation is almost impossible
1t was also found that MS ducklings
grew in the eggs 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-
bators are kept at temperature of l02
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 1903 degrees, and kept there
until all are out. For thirty-six hours
after they are Matched the ducklings are
kept in the incubators. Then they are
taken to the brooding house.
The brooding house is nearly 200 feet
long and plays the mother duck to $500
ducklings at the same time 1t is divided
into pens communicating with glass
yards, and here can be seen ducklings
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
catches sight of the brooding house,
which is relieving her of all the RESPONSE
bilities of motherhood she is so grateful
that she goes and lays another egg. New
York Tribune.