Clinch Valley news. [volume] (Jeffersonville, Va.) 18??-2019, 1891-06-12
HABITS OF THE OSTRICH,
LIS PLUMAGE Is RARE. BUT u1s
MANNEE ECCENTRIC.
ostrich Farming in California ana
south Africa = Hos an Agile
Wattzer-OIethod of Pluci.inr

pfairies oil the West will be largely used
LOT inc purpose of ostrich farming" said
n gentleman who has been cnnared in
that business for some years past in
oouthcrn California to a writer for the
car. ION the Pacific coast the industry
has already developed TO point of great
prohtaoieness, and the plains of the in.
t--lor, where not too arid, or in districts
reclaimed to some extent by irrigation.
ought to provide most suitable grounds
for the rearing and keeping of these
pirus' winch require most Importantly
enormous areas for running in. Although
now there are quite number OF ranches
| IN my state devoted to>the enterprise,
inc farming of ostrichcs is rs vet in its
INFANCY In this country. OF the profit
| there Is In 1t when carried on up
on an extensive scale demonstration NAV
DC had from results achieved in South
AFRICA where Mt present 10000 of the
fowls, raised i'll captivity, are kept for
plucking and propagation.
although hitherto the object. of
ostrich farming has been merely to fur
nish plumes to the feather trade, it has
Decn seriously suggested that ostrich
meat may one day form an imports mt
item in food supply. 1t may very we'll
be that in the future the birds will he
raised like turkeys for the table. The
,neat is palatable and in flavor not unlike
beef n domcsticatcd ostrich, fed upon
clover and grain, is far superior for eat
Ing purposes to a wild ono, which has
been subsisting perhaps on scanty and
innutritious fare.
"Ostrichcs and their kind differ from
oil other existing birds in the fact that
their breast bones are fiat and without
any excel"
Every part of the creature is uti!-
lied by the natives of Africa. When one
Is killed its skin is first removed, so as
10 preserve the feathers, and the fat
separated from the meat is poured into
bags made of the skin of the thighs tied
mt the lower ends. The grease OF bird
in good condition will fill the skin of
both legs. which hold about four gallons.
NOT only IS the grease eaten with bread
and used in the preparation of certain
foods, but the Arabs consider it useful
Tor rheumatism and otLcr maladics.
They usually cook the eggs by setting
one OF them upright on II fire and stir.
ring its contents about with II stick. in
serted through hole in the upper end.
The egg shells arc chiefly used as vessels
Tor water. The bird sets upon its eggs
by night, when the cold would be too
great for them, and leaves them to the
suns heat during the day.
Perhaps the most extraordinary fact
about the bird is that it is the male that
does most of the setting. he selects n
convenient hollow in the ground or
scrapes out one and tramplcs it into a
saucer-shaped nest about six feet in
diameter. The female lays her eggs
pretty much anywhere in the neighbor-
hood of the nest, and her mate takes
care that they arc collected. During
his time for setting lie is exceedingly
pugnacious ard very formidable ami
NAL to encounter. The kick of the
bird, which IS its means of fighting, is
enormously powcrful-suGiciently so, in
fact, to disable mau aud very likely
kill him at one blow.
1.-THE natural method of Matching
ostriches, however, because of the risks
from accidents involved, has been almost
entirely superseded on ostrich farr,s by
the incubator. by this artificial method
more than ninety per cent. of the eqrs
are made to produce chicks, which seem
to grow up as healtElly rs those brought
out in the normal fashion. Boxes
heated by hot water are employed aL.l
the eggs are turned and aired twice n
day. The period of incubation is forty
TWO days. 1t is not always done, but 1
tElnk 1t best, about week before the
expiration of the time, to carefully punc-
turc each egg near the top with sharp
pointed steel instrument, in order to en-
able any young ones that may be weakly
to more readily break the shells. As
soon us the baby ostriches are Matched
put them into basket full of cotton
wool for twcnty-four hours, giving them
chance to breathe. Then they are put
into coop, from the roof of which is
hung lot of warm chenille. and there
they nestle, the contrivance seryinr as
an artificial mother, or rather father. in
asmuch rs 1t is he who takes care of the
chicks in state of nature. The latter
are fed at first on bread crumbs, brnn
ard water. On the fourth day they are
permitted to so out in little Enclosure
around the broodcr and are given Grain
and green vegetables. Young ostriches
are pretty things, like giant young part
ridges, but with bristlcs all over them
mixed with the down.
"The proper country for ostrich farm
ing is an open region free from timber.
Districts III temperate ATTITUDES with dry
and waste lands afford admirable facili-
ties for the purpose. There is no diff
Guilty IN keeping the birds in an cnclos-
ure with wire or other fences not more
than four feet high, owing to the fact
that they do not fly. Once established
In the interior of this continent upon
runs of great size thus enclosed os-
triches would doubtless increase rapidlv
and attain immense numbers. They are
not expensive to keep, for during the
greater part of the year they can find
enough for themselves to live upon. and
other times they require only little
Indian corn or beans and some additional
green food, all of which may easily be
grown tor their use. But large spaces