The Roanoke times. [volume] (Roanoke, Va.) 1890-1895, 1895-04-26
ON A DUCK RANCH.
Pennsylvania Farm Sells Twelve
Thousand Ducks q Year.
An Interesting Account OF n Visit to This
Unique Institution How tho
Fowls Are Handled and
Marketed.

During my vacation days last sum-
mcr, says u writer in Country Gentle
man. l found in n valley under the
shadow of the Blue mountains of Penn
sylvania what the proprietors called
''duck ranch" The name struck me as
being odd. If it means broad acres,
'ranch" is Il misnomcr; if it signifies q
place where large numbers of animals
or fowls are reared, this place was we'll
named, since during the past year
twelve thousand ducks were reared on
the few acres of the ranch.
The story told by the proprietor was
confirmed by their New York buyer.
AT the time of my visit, early in Sep
TENDER, there were about four thou
sand nearly ready for market, and such
multitude of pure white birds was
pretty sight. The variety grown is the
Pcllin, that at maturity will weigh
fourteen to twenty pounds to the pair.
They have rich, yellow skin, and or
ange colored bills and legs They bear
confinement we'll, and it is claimed they
may be reared successfully with water
sufficient only for drink. However, it
is found that without water in which
soilcd 10y the mud, and the feathers,
worth from forty to fifty cents a pound,
are injured in market value.
The Pckins arc prolific in eggs, lay
ing from l2j to 100 each in Il year, but
many of the eggs are infertile. In fact,
the proprietors of this ranch thought
they did not get to exceed fifty ducks
from 100 eggs. The duck naturally, or
as ordinarily kept on the farm, rarely
lays before spring time. Ducks reared
i'll the approved modern style, Matched
in May, will begin to lay about the
holidays and continue laying all win
ter, and this wcakcns their vitality.
But why is not the constitution weak
cned also i'll respect to making rapid
and great growth of frame? The barn
yard fowl has undergone the same rev
olution of habit, and have found their
eggs as fertile in winter as at any other
time. Is not this lack of fertility at
tributable rather to the fact that the
natural habit of the duck is not com
pletely rcvolutionizcd by domestica-
ton? BY nature the duck is mono
gamous-tha is, the drake mates only
with one auckland it is probable that
=
will mate each only with one duck,
while other brakes will care for two or
more each, and thus the fertilization
proves unequal and irregular. Ducks
at their best do not show the develop
mcnt of the polygamous habit to the
same extent as barnyard fowls. The
best authorities recommend in-breeding
only five or six ducks to one drake.
The eggs are hatchcd in incubators,
which are set in operation as soon as
there is complement of eggs to fill n
machine. On we'll managed duck
farm the ducllings should begin to
peep about the 1st of February, and
incubators are kept running until the
LIST of July. The ducks are reared un-
der artificial breeders in their houses
and in small yards, and not allowed ac-
cess to water for bathing until Il month
old l presume in winter they never
go out of their yards until killed.
From the time they are Matched until
ready for market the duclllings are fed
all the wholesome food they can digest,
and at ten weeks old the Pellins should
dress ten pounds to the pair.
OF course, such weights arc obtained
oiiiy ~ 'ui Hiti = w ~ IIOIOuEIllN un-
dcrstand the business. The men Wis
tied had been i'll the business several
years and had learned by practical ex-
pcrcncc how to achieve success. For
anyone to try it, relying on book
knowledge alone, would simply be in
viting failure. In competent hands
| poultry farming may be successfully
| conducted on Il large scale; hence it
was Il great satisfaction to see this no.
ton illustrated on this ranch did not
inquire how we'll it was paying, but
that it was Il paying business was evil
| dent. 1t is proposed to try and rear
10000 ducks at this ranch next year
| 1t is estimated that Pckin ducks may
| he reared to the age of ten weeks for
cents pound, and the price re-
ccivcd will probably average 20 cents
4 pound. The earliest shipments will
realize 80 cents Il pound or more, and
Is cents is about the lowest figure for
them at any season.
There is one peculiar feature in the
market for choice poultry--thc breeder
need not consign his stock for sale and
take the chances of the market. a
class of New York dealers arc always
in search of poultry of superior quail
ity, and will buy it outright at excel
lent prices. These dealers supply the
large fashionable hotels and restaur-
ants, that will have only the best, and
it is often more of a question of ability
to get what they want than of price.
The house handling these ducks in
New York was getting 90 cents n
pound for choice spring chickens when