The Penn's Grove record., 1913-08-01
RAISING QUAIL
AND TURKEYS
Wild Fowl IN Captivity at Game
Farm Attracting Wide Interest
WOODS TO BE WELL STOCKED
Heretofore State Has Depended on
Western Trappers for Supply-5o0
Acres for Breeding Experiment.
Chicks Hatcher by l%ncubators.

ACRES TOR breeding EXPERIMENT.
Chicks Hatcher by I~ncubators.
Especial Trenton Correspondence
Trenton.-The eyes of the fish and
game commissions of the country are
centred on the State game farm at
Forked River because of the success
full attempts made at breeding quail
and wild turkeys. For the first time
in the history of the United States,
and as far as known of any other
country, New Jersey is raising quail
in captivity.
At present forty quail chicks are
running about the quail hennery, all
of which were raised from eggs laid
IN the farm, after which they were
kept in incubators for a period of fiji
teen days and then placed under ban
tam hens that completed the work.
Sixty eggs were thus treated and
forty husky chicks came into the world
and have since thrived under the care
of a foster mother. The use of the
bantams was necessary because the
quail will not remain quiet long
enough to perform the duty of raising
a family. Commissioner Ernest Ma
pier, president of the fish and game
commission, has aidea Superintendent
Dunn in bringing the little strangers
around, and he is so proud of the feat
he Immediately started one hundred
and fifty more eggs on the road to life.
General Interest Excited.
Letters from all parts of the West
have poured into the commissioners
office, seeking information about the
young quail, and even the federal au-
thorities have become interested.
Heretofore the State has depended on
Western trappers to keep them sup
piled with quail for stocking purposes,
but now it sees its way clear to raise
its own stock, as the game farm of 500
acres is amply large enough for the
work.
The hardest obstacle in connection
with the work of raising quail from
the eggs is the vermin that infests
all feathered creatures, especially wild
birds, and the commissioner and SUI
perintendent overcame all this by
sterilizing the bantam hens at differ
ent periods of egg incubation, and to
that alone they give the credit for the
greater part of their success.
Another interesting and original fea-
ture at the farm is the raising of wild
turkey. The hens and cockerels are
given their liberty in the dense under
brush, and being protected at all
times, they have so little to worry
them they mated up and at present
there are thirty four hens with chicks.
The family fever has spread to the
deer, and several fawns have been
added to the lot purchased a year ago
and the superintendent claims that
they are in prime condition and well
certainly live. Even the mallard ducks
have raised families, as fully 200
young can be counted in the en-
closure set apart for them.
P%heasants and Rabbits. f
Four thousand young English pleas
ants have been raised since the breed
ing season started, and 1000 eggs are
in the i~ncubators. In order to
raise such an enormous amount it is
necessary to keep hundreds of the
best breed of chickens on hand, as the
eggs are transferred to the nests as
500 as they have progressed far
enough in the incubators.
Rabbits are increasing with wonder
full rapidity and the commission is pre-
pairing crates to ship them to sections
of the State where they have been
practically exterminated. Success has
attained the efforts of the commits
sioners ever since the farm was pur-
chased, and, the gunners who contrib
ute their mite of 81 can rest assured
that the woods of New Jersey will be
stocked this year as they never were
before.
Experts who have visited the farm
do not hesitate to say that it is the
best equipped preserve in the country,
and they lavish their praise on the
work of the commission and its super
intendent. Many of them are now
seeking information as to the working
methods employed there.
An Ideal Farm.
The game farm is on Barnegat Bay,
about a mile from the Forked River
station, with an entrance on the New
York to Atlantic City boulevard. Visi.
tors are always welcomed and shown
about the place. There are 500 acres
of upland, timber land and meadows
and the climate is ideal, as very little
severe cold and practically no snow
reaches there. The stock have all be-
come acclimated and the methods of
feeding them while in a wild state
has caused them to grow heavy with