Part 8

The amount of heat requisite to hatch the eggs is too much for the young birds already hatched and dried off. With chamber at 102 degrees, they will be seen crowding around the sides of machine with their little bills wide open, gasping for breath, when, had they been placed below, the proper temperature can be maintained in both, as the bottom of machine runs at least five degrees lower than the egg-trays.

Be sure and Follow Instructions.

Another fertile source of trouble is removing ducklings from machine, putting them behind the stove, or somewhere else to dry off. For every fifteen birds removed, the heat in egg-chamber is reduced at least one degree, as you are removing so many little stoves, and if the machine is not gauged higher, to correspond with the number of ducklings taken out, the result will be fatal to the unhatched eggs.

I corresponded a whole summer with one man on this very point before I found out what he was doing. He said he had never been able to get out more than fifty per cent. of fertile eggs. His machine ran splendidly until his chicks were about half hatched, when it would drop down to 90 degrees, and the rest would die in the shell, after they were nearly all pipped. At last a letter came from him stating that he had just had a worse experience than ever. He had a most promising hatch of three hundred fertile eggs, nearly all of which were pipped, and that, after a little more than half were hatched, he took them out as usual, about one hundred and fifty in number, and put them behind the stove to dry off, and his machine dropped to 90 degrees at once, and not another chick came out. The cat was out of the bag.

I wrote him at once that for every fifteen chicks he had taken out he had taken one degree of heat from his machine, and had he followed instructions he would not have suffered loss. He wrote back that he had shut up his machine for the season, but that he should run it one more hatch just to prove that I was wrong. At the end of three weeks a letter was received saying, "I tender you my hat. I got a splendid hatch of 88-1/2 per cent." Proving that occasionally there is danger of the operator knowing too much. After the ducklings are all out, the egg-trays should be removed, the valves opened, and the machine cooled down to 90 degrees, and the birds allowed to remain in the machine for at least twenty-four hours. I always cover the bottom of machine with an inch of fine wheat-bran, otherwise the ducklings would soon make it filthy and offensive. This acts both as absorbent and disinfectant.

After each hatch there will be more or less fertile eggs left in the trays with dead ducklings in them. There will be, comparatively, but few of these in the spring of the year, but during the latter part of the summer there will be more of them, and many of the eggs will have but little vitality in them.

Forcing the Bird Reduces the Vitality of the Egg.

The reason is this: the bird in its natural condition does not produce her eggs in our climate until April. She will lay twenty-five to thirty eggs, then show a desire to incubate, then will recuperate, and set a second time, perhaps giving a total of thirty-five or forty eggs. Now, we have completely reversed nature in this respect. By judicious feeding, good care, warm quarters, and careful breeding, we have induced the bird to produce her eggs in winter instead of summer, and, not only that, we compel her to lay three or four times as many of them; and when the poor bird shows a desire to incubate and recuperate her exhausted frame, we induce a change of mind, as soon as possible, and set her at it again.

As a natural consequence, as the warm season advances many of the birds are off duty, as it were, and the eggs not only decrease in numbers but in size as well, and during the extreme heat of summer, the later part of July and August especially, the eggs show a decided want of vitality. I never expect, at this season, to realize more than one duckling from two eggs. The same machine full of eggs that would give a hatch of 350 ducklings in the early spring, at this season will not give more than 175 to 200. The eggs appear to be as well fertilized during the first two or three days as in the early spring but evidently there is not vitality enough to carry them through, as the germs soon begin to die, and before the hatch is out you have taken nearly one-half of the eggs away as worthless. Nor is this all.

There is always a far greater mortality among the later hatched birds than in those got out earlier. They are more uneven in appearance, and never attain the size of those hatched earlier in the season,--convincing evidence that the old birds have transmitted their enfeebled, debilitated constitutions through the egg to the young ones. The natural laws of cause and effect are plainly represented here. I have tried repeatedly to overcome this difficulty by changing the feed and quarters of the old birds, dividing their numbers, but without effect. This shows the absolute necessity of selecting large, vigorous breeding stock. This principle applies equally to both land and water fowl.

The Absolute Necessity of Good Breeding Stock.

Debilitated, degenerate stock will not produce healthy and vigorous young. This is a prime cause of failure with many of our poultry breeders. They say that they cannot afford to breed from their early-hatched stock. They are worth too much in the market, so they are sent to the shambles, and their owners breed from the later-hatched, inferior birds. A few years practice of this kind soon degenerates the stock so that you will hardly recognize the original in it, and both birds and eggs are not only thus, but a very small per cent. of those eggs can be induced to hatch, and no amount of petting and coaxing can induce those that are hatched to live.

Every young breeder of poultry should inform himself of these facts before he starts in, for no living man can afford to breed from inferior stock. I passed through experiences of this kind many years ago, and always found that the laws of primogeniture cannot be lightly set aside. I invariably select the choicest of my early hatched birds for breeding stock, and no matter how high the price in market, I cannot afford to sell them. A gentleman, who is a large breeder, said to me the past spring: "How is it that your ducks are so much larger than mine? I bought stock from you four years ago, and have been breeding from it ever since, and now your birds are six or eight pounds per pair heavier than mine." "True, but you bought my latest-hatched birds, because they were cheap, and have been breeding from your latest-hatched birds ever since, while I have been breeding only from the choicest of my early birds. You have been steadily breeding your stock down, while I have been breeding mine up. There is now a wide gap between them."

Caring for the Ducklings when Hatched.

The little ducklings should be left in the machine for at least twenty-four hours longer. Be sure and open the air-valves and give them plenty of air, so that they may be well dried off. A uniform heat of 90 degrees should be held in the egg-chamber. The outer doors of the machine should be closed and the little fellows kept in darkness the first twelve hours. After that the outer doors should be let down. Then you will see some fun, for the little ducklings are far more active than chicks, and will begin to play at once. In the meantime the brooding-house should be prepared for the reception of the young brood. The heat should be started some twenty-four hours previous to use.

The brooding-house should be the same whether you are growing on a small scale or a large one, with simply the length proportioned to your needs. But always recollect that heat should radiate from above on your ducklings, as bottom heat will soon cripple them in the legs and render them helpless. In fact, I do not consider bottom heat as essential even for chicks. The most successful grower I know of, who grows 3,000 chicks each spring, getting them all out between January 1st and March 1st, and closes up the whole business by July 1st, uses top heat exclusively. He has experimented fairly with both, and says he wants no more bottom heat. If the breeder is growing on a small scale it will be economy for him to use brooders instead of a heater.

Figure 11 represents the best duck brooder I know of. As there is no patent on it anyone can make it who has the conveniences. This brooder is six and a half feet long by three feet wide, and will accommodate 150 ducklings. These brooders are of the most improved construction, are intended for both indoor and outdoor work, keeping the young ducks dry and warm in cold, stormy weather, even when located out of doors. The heat is generated in copper boilers, the water flowing through a galvanized iron tank, under which the young ducklings hover. This tank is five feet long, twelve inches wide, and about an inch thick, and is hung about eight inches from ends and back of brooder, leaving nearly eighteen inches in front the entire length of brooder, in which to feed the first day or two. The case of this brooder is made of matched boards and thoroughly ventilated and furnished with glass doors to admit light. This brooder should be used in the brooding-house during winter and early spring, after which it can be used to better advantage out of doors.

Let it be understood that a good brooder is, next to the incubator, the most important thing in the business. It is worse than useless to get out large hatches of strong, healthy birds, only to have them smothered or chilled in worthless brooders. Numbers of the patent brooders now on the market are made by men who never raised a chick or duck in their lives, and are regular fire and death traps. Many instances have come under my personal notice where not only ducks, chicks, and brooders, but the buildings themselves have been entirely consumed by these fire traps.

Again, those brooders are always rated for higher than their actual capacity. Ignorant parties buy them, fill them up according to instructions, when a sad mortality is sure to follow from overcrowding and consequent overheating. This is especially the case with chicks. Ducklings never smother each other from overcrowding, but, of course, will not thrive when too closely packed. These 150-duck brooders can be run at an expense of two cents per day for oil. In extreme cold weather artificial heat should be kept up in these brooders for three weeks; in warm weather, a week is sufficient. The same brooders can be used over and over as fast as the new hatches come out. When brooders are removed, closed boxes can be used instead.

When the operator does business large enough to require the use of five or six brooders, it would be cheaper for him to put in a heater at once, as the original cost of the heater would be less than that of the brooders. Years ago, when the question of heaters was first agitated, the cost was enormous, and the consumption of coal in proportion. Large hot-house boilers were used, often at a cost of several hundred dollars before the thing was ready for use. Now a good heating system can be arranged for a building one hundred feet long at an expense not exceeding $100. This, of course, would be much less than a complement of brooders for the same building.

Advantages of the Heating System.

The heating system has several marked advantages over the brooders. One is, that during the extreme cold of winter the building is always warm enough for the little birds, while with nothing but brooders it would often freeze around them, necessitating feeding inside the brooders, which would not be as healthy for the ducklings. Again there would be a great saving of labor, as a self-regulating heater would require no more care than a single brooder, while the oil consumed in the brooders would fully equal the cost of coal required for the heater.

There is one point here which the beginner should always take into consideration in the selection of a heater, and that is, be sure and get one that will give you the greatest amount of heat for the fuel consumed. The patent steam and water heaters now upon the market are too numerous to mention. But there is a vast difference in the economy of these heaters.

When contemplating the purchase of a heater, several years ago, I called upon a party who was running a newly-purchased heater. He seemed very much pleased with it, and said it ran admirably,--warmed his buildings nicely, and only cost about one dollar per day for coal. I made up my mind then and there that I should run my brooders a while longer. But on interrogating another party using one of a different pattern, he assured me that his heaters warmed both brooders and buildings in good shape at a cost of fifteen cents per day. This was presenting the matter in a new phase. The difference in cost of running these heaters one year would purchase two. I am now running three heaters called the "Bramhall-Deane Heater" and am heating two brooding houses (one 250 feet long, the other 175 feet long), at half the cost per day. Either steam or water may be used. I prefer water for both safety and economy.

For instance, should the fire go out accidentally the heat would cease at once where steam was used, while water would hold its heat for hours, and would continue to circulate just so long as the water in the boiler was hotter than that in the pipes. I do not know but there are other heaters in the market just as economical as the "Bramhall-Deane," but I know of several prominent poultry men who are changing their heating principle, not because they are dissatisfied with the work done by that now in use, but solely on account of the expense attending it.

Figure 12 represents our brooding-house as it appears outside. Its dimensions have already been given. It is boarded in with closely-fitting hemlock boards, the whole being covered on the outside with the heaviest quality of "Paroid" Roofing.

This roofing is manufactured by F. W. Bird & Son, East Walpole, Mass. We have more than an acre under roofing, a large proportion of which is covered with Paroid. We find it strong, pliable, insusceptible to either heat or cold and to all appearances will be more durable than anything we have ever used. I have many buildings covered with this roofing. In applying it, begin at the eaves, lapping it 1-1/2 inches. It is so heavy that it does not require wooden strips to hold it down, simply nails and tin caps, which should be about an inch apart. A coat of the liquid, which goes with it, will glaze it over in good shape. For a flat roof, it is far better than shingles at less than half the cost.

Interior Arrangement of Brooding-House.