The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1903-09-27
The little incubator duck is tricky baby

The little incubator duck is a tricky baby.
In the first place about one-third OF
the eggs have no ducks in them. They
find this out after they have been in the in
cubator a few DAYS, and then take Them
out and send them of to New York as
fresh eggs.
Then about one-third OF the eggs left
fail to furnish sufficient vitality to enable
the little duck inside to break the shell
when the proper time arrives. SO only
about so per cent. OF the eggs placed IN the
incubator produce duck ling5
Seasons vary in this regard Some
years more ducks hatch out and they are
stronger and grow faster. This is good
year for ducks.
twenty thousand duck farm keeps
eight hundred or nine hundred breeding
fowls through the winter. These begin to
ay in January or February. Each duck
Is generally good for one hundred eggs
during the season.
The timeliness, however, is much more
important than the quantity. The duck
who has the good sense to lay eggs early,
when duck is dear, will net her owner TWO
or three times as much as the aia.oIy
creature who lays When DUCK - uo"h W
IS cents a pound.
The incubators hold three hundred eggs
at a time, and require four weeks TO send
the little ducks sQuawking into the world
On a twenty thousand duck place over
forty incubators viii be used. ahe e, mus
ature kept at iO3 degrees by, means OF
Iamp under each, the racks OF eggs
turned twice day, and sponges inside
Although the incubator is the base and
mainstay of the business, the necessary
hen is not forgotten. She is employed
several hundred q her, on each farm. TO
supply the maternal care which IN the
moor duck is sacrificed to commercialism.
When the little duck breaks his shell
and sauawks defiance to the world ne
| is removed to brooder house with thg
southern windows. 1.-The is an industrious
little duck with fair appetite he will gain
| Ave pounds in ten weeks, And then, alas
he goes up to town in barrel OF ice some
night, and appears next morn IN Washing
ton Market
Then is when the little duck girl comes in
She rises with the dawn and picks DUCKS ei,s
cents apiece for all the ducks she picks.
| If she is really little duck girl, new to
| the business, she may not make more thar
81 a dav. But if she is an old experienced
| hand, she may soar to three-dollar helghts
Sixty day is about the record.
As PASSPORT ships 125,Coo ducks a season
it will be seen that this means the dlstribu'
, ton of $3.50 among the farmers wives
and daughters of the vicinity. 1t is said
that Eastport boasts the most fiourlshlue
millinery emporium on the South Shore.
The feathers are by-product, which
about pay for the picking. They reckon
100 pounds of feathers to 900 ducks
A 90, 900 duck farm will employ nine mel
through the season. which lasts from May
| to November The number OF Passport
duck men has now Increased 70 thirteen
They have an association which has peel
called the duck trust.
1t has never tried to fix prices, but limit
its cooperative action to the placing OF al
its ducks in the hands Of one agent at Wash
inrton Market, with the privilege of chang
ing in body to some other II the result
are not satisfactory ,
There are two big places at Speonk, tn
next station beyond Eastport, and fev
other scattered farms elsewhere: but East
port sent in 125,OOO OF the 5000 duck
that came from Long Island this summer
Long Island ducks control the. market
largely as a result OF the centralizatlon
the industry In one locality, and the conse
ouent wide exploitation OF the name.
Ducks are raised by modern method
here and there through Jersey and else
where, but from the isolation OF the scat
tered farms they have never become famous
Anyone in search of prime duck demand
Long Island duck, because he knows Tn
name If for nothing else.
The price of duck has risen very mucl
in the last two or three years, but the duo
men say they get no more out OF their busl
ness, as the cost Of all supplies, especial.
grain, has increased CORRESPONDENCE.