The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1898-10-21
CHICAGO's BIG DUCK FARM.
10000 DucLIinGs Raised Yearly on
Land Worth a Million Dollars.
From the Chicago Inter Ocean.


From the Chicago Inter Ocean.
Chicago has duck farm, well in the
heart of the city, and located on land that
is worth about 81 900 O0e.
Chatham Fields as the farm Is called.
is located at the corner of Seventy-ninth
street and Cottage Grove avenue The cars
go whizzing by all day long within quack-
ing distance of 10000 ducks which enjoy
all the advantages of city life In the
end, every one of the 10000 will share the
fate of the ordinary barnyard fowl how
ever, and find its way to the broiler and
the spit And these city-bred ducks run
their reckless and fin de steele careers i'm
about half the number of weeks that it
takes their country cousins to round off
existence.
The duck farm on big scale, located
on a millon-dollar tract of land is owned
by l.. G.. Fisher, a capitalist and manu-
facturer. He holds the land as an invest
ment, and while holding it he decided to
indulge his taste for amateur farming At
first he invested in few fancy chickens,
ducks, and geese. The chickens came more
nearly eating their heads off than the
ducks did, and were not so satisfactory. A
year ago Chatham Fields was converted
into a duck farm almost exclusively, with
400 or 800 chickens to make things more
home-hke.
These ducks are Matched in incubators
and brought up by hand Mother Nature
is allowed TO have as little to do with IL
as possible. The fowls are turned out by
machinery, fed by machinery, and meet
their death by guillotine at the tender age
of ten weeks.
The 100 acres OF the farm are a rolling
piece of ground. sloping away from a
clump of trees. The main building Is a
big, fat, steam-heated brick barn, 800 by
$50 feet In size. This is divided into two
parts, the larger section being subdivided
into pens which will hold about 500 duck
hngs each. The other subdivision Is COW
cred with steam pipes raised slightly above
the ground. A loose burlap curtain swings
between the two. The little ducks are put
into the pens which are kept al an even
and moderate temperature. If from any
cause the ducklings become chilled or
damp, they poke their knowing little necks
under the burlap curtain, push through,
and huddle up under the steam pipes. The
whole floor Is of clean dirt, the top layer
being changed often.
The entire philosophy of scientific duck
raising may be given i'm a sentence, Keep
the ducks dry and stuff them all the time"
According to Manager Bellows, ducks
don't take to water. At Chatham Fields
they would not be allowed to II they felt
50 inclined on fine days the pens are
opened and the thousands Of ducklings are
allowed for a while to get out of the big
building and play in the sunshine. At the
least sign of rain, back they are all hus-
tied indoors. They never swim and never
enjoy a drop of water, except what they
drink This is provided at a watering
trough constructed like a saucer, with
teacup inverted in 1t.
During the season about 900 ducks are
set aside for breeding purposes. These are
selected for their size, robustness, etc.
THE season. on the duck farm reverses
the ordinary poultry season as the farm
er's wife knows It, At the duck farm eggs
must be laid from December to April and
the ducks Matched and sold from April to
August. The thousand fowls set aside for