The Chickasha daily express. (Chickasha, Indian Territory [Okla.]) 1899-current, 1901-02-15
DAIRY AND POULTRY.
INTERESTING CHAPTERS FOR
OUR RURAL READERS.


Experience with Duoz.
J. X. Felch, writes In Farm-Poultry
as follows:
Ny duck experience may please
some young reader in these enlght-
ened days. / had a cousin who with
me purchased a sitting Of eggs. We
set the eggs IN our respective hay
lofts. on the same day. We had be-
come exercised ia our minds as TO
how these ducks with round bills
were to iiberate themselves on the
twenty-eighth day. and We concluded
that they must have help. So early on
the twenty-eighth day we proceeded
to help By breaking al egg. AS the
yolk was found not fully absorbed Ue
concluded that the dueklins was de-
formed and TO put It out Of its mis-
ely We pulled its head oil Thus we
dissccted the whole nestful. and adj
i0urned 10 nay hen On finding the
lrsl tWo in tha same Ok ! vetoed any
further help. saying that they MIGHT
IS wen die in the Shell s. be killed
ont of Is HaFing secured our e1peri-
enea at ChaHlays e1Densa. I coneiud-
"a p lrt tae hen iaes the .e pcn4i-
piiity ot releasing ner gcune lhs re-
slit was SIX dHckiiHss H0 mike them
q swimming pond llor q those days
it was thought that ducks must have
water to DO waiD. sawed a barrel at
the second hoop and sunk Il into the
ground. For few days it WAS kept
even lull Of water. then boy fashion I
neglected g. aud on missing my ducks
one day I repaired to my artificial
pond to find them all in it. an but
one exhausted literally drowned The
one revived hy placing it in the oven
Of the kitchen stove
For night quarters fol another SUBJ
seQuent brood turned a barrel on it's
side, with the open end higher than
the other 4 storm came up IN the
night and beat in. and tie bilge being
water tight. All were drowned. This
was dearly bought experience-this
learning that ducks could drown
Poor consolation I got, for mother
told me I was being punished for
killing Charleys ducks in the nest. as
described But | was getting expert
ence. and after that | would bore a
hole In the bilge Of a barrel and nh
in with earth to the level Of the
ground outside. Barrels. with stakes
driven into the ground TO confne the
hens. while giving the chicks liberty,
were universally used then for chick
IN c0ops. / never saw anything else
used for the old hen and chickens up
to that time. Then on seeing in the
Plowman a cut Of a ient-shaped coop,
I at once went to work to make them
OF that shape. and never used a barrel
again after that summers experience.
But I am running away from my
ducks. Ny lone specimen proved to
be a drake. In the spring 7 procured
a mate for him at a cost OF one dollar
and fifty cents. They were both near
~ white. The duck persisted in lay
ing her eggs In the brook. Morning
after morning I would hunt the water
until found the egg Soon nay duck
was missing. stolen as I supposed by
o fox. But to my surprise and gratiii-
cation in a month she came waddling
home from the swamp with nine
young ducks.
But trouble was brewing for me.
"A vicious cannibal Of a drake win
discount a hawk in his ravages among
young chicks. I was losing my very
young chickens in a most unaccount-
able way. I thought it the work Of
rats. but one day I saw the drake. the
apple OF my eye, grab a chick. He
Drained It in an instant. and shook
It fat, and gobbled it as he would a
frog. Nothing win cure a drake
which once contracts this hablt-so
killed him. To pick him and then to
pick the down was a half a days
work / graduated then and there as
a picker Of ducks. I sold the flock.
and not even the gilded descriptions
of duck culture in the present day
have enticed me to again follow the
breeding Of them.