The star. (Reynoldsville, Pa.) 1892-1946, 1897-08-25
THOUSANDS OF DUCKS.
RAISED ON A PENNSYLVANIA FARM
FOR THE MARKET.

In many instances the rise of modern
farm industries has been so sudden
that few city dwellers are yet aware of
: their importance or of the extent to
which they have been carried out.
Think of poultry farm, for in
stance, seven acres in extent, where
$4,000 ducks are confined. II seems
almost incredible that such place
should be under our very nose, so to
knowledge of it, situated, too, in the
heart of one of the richest farming
districts in the state, near Allentown.
II one becomes accustomed to the
deafening clack- -clack made by the
thousands of feathered denizens of
this novel duck farm, which is owned
by Oliver Gittnet, most interesting
holiday can be spent on the place.
Close by,at the Duck Farm hotel, kept
by Alfred Griesimer, entertainment
for man and beast to suit the most
fastidious, is to be secured. Mr..
Griesimer's duck suppers are
speciality we'll worth the trip alone,
the very finest ducks from the farm,
selected with great care, being served
on these occasions.
The most interesting feature about
the modern poultry farm is the wooden
mother or incubator, indeed, it Ms just
this Yankee invention which has made
duck farming on the scale to which it
is carried on the Allentown farm pos
sible. There are two classes of this
apparatus, one heated by hot water,
the other by hot air. Some are regu-
lated by thermostatic bars made Of
brass, iron, rubber and aluminium:
others by alcohol, ether, electricity
and the expansion of water. Naturally
the first place to be inspected on the
duck farm is the incubator cellar, a
room especially constructed for the
purpose, partially underground TO
secure more even temperature, as
the eggs during the process of incuba-
ton are most susceptible to sudden
changes of weather.
When the poultry farmer prepares
to hatch out brood in his incubators
he places the eggs in trays, which
trays are put in the incubators
directly under the tank which supplies
the heat to the egg chamber. The
incubators are built double-walled and
the air space packed with asbestos to
prevent the sudden changes of tenn
perature from affecting the egg
chamber. In size the smaller incuba-
tors range from 25 to 600 eggs capac-
ity, and can be operated the year
round.
The most successful seasons, how
ever, are in the spring or fall, or even
in the winter, the results in summer
, being the least satisfactory. During
the period required to hatch the eggs,
81 days, the temperature in the incu-
bators is maintained at 103 degrees.
However change of two or three
degrees in either direction will not, as
rule, result seriously.
For "a hours after Matching the
young ducks are left in the incubators
to dry. Then they are transferred to
brooders, some of which are made to
hold as many as three thousand ducks.
These brooders are constructed in long
narrow houses about IA feet wide and
800 feet in length They are heated
by hot water, and the ducks are re-
tanned in them for five weeks, after
which they are transferred to the cold
brooders or ordinary houses affording
them comfortable shelter. The per-
centage of eggs successfully Matched
in the incubators is about 60 per cent,
while the loss of young ducks is about
10 per cent Thus about 80 per cent.
of the eggs resultin marketable ducks.
One great advantage of duck farm
ing over chicken farming is that the
ducks are ready for market weeks be-
fore the young chickens can leave the
farm. At the age of eight or ten
weeks the ducks are usually in a con-
dition for sale, weighing about four
and half pounds.
Another feature of duck farming and
an important item in the profits, is
the feathers. About 1000 pounds are
secured annually on the Allentown
farm, these feathers fetching on an
average about Is cents per pound. In
the popular mind ducks are generally
associated with water, and many small
poultry raisers bar ducks from their
farmyard because there is no suitable
ichui III thC NiNiAitN iOi thCii w
paddle about in. 1t is, therefore,
rather interesting to learn that the
ducks which are bred for market on
the Allentown farm are not allowed to
go near the water, although Cedar
creek, stream of the purest water,
flows through the farm. The breed
ing ducks, however, are allowed the
free run of this creek, much to the
envy Of their brothers and sisters, who
are being fattened for sale on the
other side of the Enclosure,
Although the modern incubator has
simplified and made poultry farming
on large scale possible and profit
able, at the same time the incubator
does not fulfill all the requirements in
the successful breeding of ducks.
Great care must be taken of the young
broods after their arrival in this world.
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