1382 
The RURAL NEW-YORKER 
September 20, 1010 
Domesticating the Wild Duck 
Jly the enactment of the Federal law 
against killing wild ducks anywhere in the 
United States for commercial purposes, a 
new and profitable industry is opened up 
in the domestication of the wild fowl. New 
York is the first. State to start work in 
this new field, the present efforts being 
confined to the Finger Lakes region of the 
central counties. It is expected that. So¬ 
rt us Bay, another favorite rendezvous of 
the duck, will soon be deeply interested in 
the project. Cut below shows a flock at 
will become droopy and stagger, their 
neck and head drops down and they have 
no control over it at all. Fat laying hens 
die in a day. Three had the disease in 
two days. I am feeding a mash of wheat 
bran, ground oats and corn in the morn¬ 
ing, whole wheat, oats and buckwheat at. 
noon, and corn in the evening. Chickens 
have been quite healthy until recently. 1 
have lost about a dozen in a few weeks. 
Pennsylvania. .T. M. k. 
Your description indicates that these 
fowls may be affected with “limbemeck,” 
which is not. a disease but a symptom of 
some affection of the nervous system pro¬ 
ducing lack of control of the neck and 
Domesticated Wild Ducks on Sodus Bay 
Sodus Bay, sufficiently doemsticated to 
to allow the photographer to make a close 
range snap. 
The ducks are prevented from flight by 
Clipping one wing, liens are used for 
hatching the eggs at first, and the duck- 
lings are branded by a puncture through 
the web of the foot, signifying, after the 
bird is grown and killed, that it had been 
domesticated. Raising of the wild fowl is 
looked for. As treatment of the affected 
birds, give a promptly acting cathartic, 
like one or two tablespoonfuls of castor 
oil or a teaspoonful of Epsom salts dis¬ 
solved in a little water, and then remove 
the fowls to a separate pen where they 
can be fed upon light, soft, food until re¬ 
covery or death. M. B. 0. 
Blind Hens 
other muscles. This disturbance is 
thought to be the result of indigestion, 
intestinal parasites and ptomaine poison¬ 
ing from eating decaying meats or spoiled 
food of some kind. Search should be 
made for the cause, the food being first 
inspected to see that nothing unwhole¬ 
some is being fed and that the fowls have 
not obtained access to dead rats or other 
animals somewhere about their runs. 
Other poisonous substances about, the 
premises, such as Paris green, paint skins, 
spraying solutions, etc., should also be 
Will you tell us what is the trouble 
with our Black Minorca hens? We have 
had three apparently go blind within six 
months, although their eyes do not look 
blind. We first noticed they are on the 
roost early at. night and will not come 
out to eat. with (he others: some have not 
had anything in their crops, and others a 
little. In the morning they are off and 
eating, but. do not move around very 
quickly. We separated the first from the 
(lock, thinking if we took extra pains with 
her she would pick up, and gave her two 
doses of castor oil. Finally we noticed 
she would bump against a box when she 
would pick up wheat all right; she gradu¬ 
ally grew worse until she would not eat. 
unless placed in a barrel with feed sur¬ 
rounding her, when she would eat. and 
seemed hungry. These hens seemed to be 
in good order, combs red and plumage 
slick. They scratch their heads a good 
deal, yet there is nothing to be seen on 
head or eyes, and when apparently blind 
keep going in a circle. Their feed has 
been wheat, barley and peas, oats and 
corn, with some scraps from table. These 
hens are two years old and have laid well 
all Winter and Summer. s. M. o. 
New York. 
<1 
These hens may be blind, but I am 
more inclined to think that they are suf¬ 
fering from an obscure nervous trouble 
which not infrequently attacks well-cared 
for liens and causes them to act in un¬ 
accountable ways. Such fowls often stag¬ 
ger or walk in circles, twist their heads 
about, throwing their heads backward or 
dragging them upon the ground, decline 
to eat. and, unless disturbed, sit. quietly 
by themselves, paying little attention to 
their surroundings. Indigestion, intes¬ 
tinal parasites, injuries to the head, etc., 
are invoked to explain the occurrence of 
the trouble, but there is lit tle really known 
about it. If a cathartic dose of castor oil 
or other purgative, followed by light feed¬ 
ing in a quiet, place fails to relieve the 
birds, I know of no further treatment 
worth while. If intestinal worms are sus¬ 
pected. a teaspoonful or more of turpen¬ 
tine may be given, either preceding or 
with the oil. this being one of the most 
efficient remedies for these parasites. 
M. B. fi. 
Chemicals for Poultry 
T was reading W. G.’s experience on 
page S02 in regard to chicken remedies. 
I got a number of these remedies for trial 
and am giving them a fair test. I note 
that you stated you were not in a position 
to state definitely what the stimulants 
were composed of, so I am sending you, 
under separate cover, samples in their 
original containers and wmuld like to have 
you tell whether the contents are of any 
value as guaranteed. w. F. V. 
Massachusetts. 
There is no method, except by expen¬ 
sive chemical analysis, to determine the 
ingredients of secret mixtures, and this is 
not. warranted in the thousand and one 
cases where the claims made by the ven¬ 
dors of secret nostrums are obviously 
false. Eggs are made from food, not from 
stimulants, and there is no reason to be¬ 
lieve that, any of the so-called stimu¬ 
lants can increase the activity of the egg- 
producing organs. Neither, for that mat¬ 
ter. is there any evidence that mustard, 
pepper, ginger, and like irritants are 
stimulating. Alcohol was long .con¬ 
sidered a stimulant of great, value; it is 
now pretty well understood that it stimu¬ 
lates only by cutting the traces and ap¬ 
plying the whip. The condiments which 
add zest to foods contain volatile oils 
which are irritating to the mucous mem¬ 
branes and give a pleasant sensation of 
warmth and comfort. Properly and mod¬ 
erately used, they need not. be condemned, 
but their place is as condiments, not as 
foods or stimulants to vital forces. 
The experiments which you propose are 
not worth your while. To be of any 
value they would have to be carried out 
with a system of checks and safeguards 
against erroneous conclusions that would 
make them long-conl inued and expensive. 
Few have the time, patience, facilities and 
money, even if they possess the knowledge 
necessary, to conduct scientific experi¬ 
ments in the nutritive values of foods, and 
experiments of this nature that are not 
conducted scientifically are valueless. 
M. B. D. 
Mrs, Bentox tasted the dainty she had 
compounded in the chafing dish, and 
looked at her husband. Then she said : 
“Somehow it doesn’t taste just as Mrs. 
Miner’s did the other night. I thought 
I remembered the recipe, but I think I 
must have left something out.” Mr. Ben¬ 
ton tasted reflectively, and replied: 
“There’s nothing you could leave out that 
would make it taste like that,” he said, 
with conviction. “It’s something you put 
in.”—Credit Lost. 
being carried on along Cayuga and Seneca 
lakes. The new migratory bird act. 
strengthened by treaty with Canada, and 
going into effect with the opening of the 
duck hunting season on September 16, 
has.caused the unique venture. It is now 
estimated that ducks will rapidly increase 
in number, offering better sport for the 
Nimrod, and will be raised in quantities 
in a few years, which will add materially 
to the supply of fowls. 
The Finger Lakes region, together with 
Sodus Bay. make some of the principal 
stopping places for migratory birds on 
their way from Alaska to the Southland 
for the Winter, and large quantities in 
the past have been killed in open season 
and many sold. The commercialized kill¬ 
ing of the game, however, has chiefly been 
practiced near Chesapeake Bay and far¬ 
ther south. But the Finger Lake sports¬ 
men and farmers are the first to begin to 
supply the metropolitan table demand 
which will be left unfilled by the gunners 
farther south, now unable to kill for the 
market. 
Shortly following the enactment of the 
New York law against. Winter and Spring 
shooting of wild fowl, some years ago, 
the number of ducks at Sodus Bay and 
other points during the Winter materially 
increased. They did not all go to the 
Southern feeding grounds when some pro¬ 
tection was afforded. During one of the 
severe Winters the game protectors wmre 
authorized to provide the birds with feed. 
Speaking of his experience in feeding 
them, Game Protector DeVille of Sodus 
Point said: 
“At first the ducks were very wild when 
I tried to approach them, but. in time 
they became accustomed to me as a friend, 
because I brought them much needed food. 
They wmuld follow' (he pails of food and 
swim after me wherever I went and wait 
for me to put out the food for them. At j 
first I made them dive for it; then I 
tried putting the food on the edge of 
the ice, and the plan worked fine. As 
many as 300 to 400 ducks wmuld feed at 
one time, like domestic ducks. The flocks 
that have come to Sodus Bay in recent 
years are canvassbacks, redheads and blue- 
bills.” _A. H. P. 
Limberneck 
I have a lot of hens that have been 
attacked with some strange disease. They 
man can 
Copyright 1919 
Henry Sonneborn 
te Co., inc. 
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