Elmore bulletin. [volume] (Rocky Bar, Idaho) 1889-1906, 1893-02-04
ON AN OSTRICH FARM.
AN AFRICAN INDUSTRY TRANSPLANT.
ED TO CALIFORNIA.

There are at least half dozen ostrich
farms In southern California. They have
ceased TO be curiosity there, aud each
now represents a commercial enterprise
Americans buy one-half the millions Of
ostrich feathers produced annually. Ii
Is estimated that this country expends
S5,OO0,000 year for these ornaments
Each ostrich when full grown Yields n
feather income of from $500 to $500 per
annum. The elegant, long black and
white plnmessell for g each at the farms
and readily bring $40 each at retail in
New York or Chicago.
Every feather has a value, IL IL Is
sufficiently large for use it is worth at
least 10 cents. The very small ones.
otherwise useless, make up into cheap
souvenirs and are eagerly purchased by
visiting tourists at prices varying from
10 cents to ST. The plumes produced i'm
southern California are fully as valuable
as those from the far away Cape Colony.
The eggs, if fertile, sell for $25 each,
and generally from 20 to so per cent. of
all eggs produced will hatch. III not fer
tile the shells are in demand at from e
10 - each as curios and ornaments. A
young ostrich just out of the shell is con-
sidered equivalent to $50, and his value
increases until he is full grown, when
$500 is low market price.
The expense of maintaining an ostrich
farm is comparatively slight The birds
in this country are usually healthy.
Their appetites are appalling, but they
are satisfied with alfalfa, cabbage and
crushed bones for regular diet. Or
occasions they expect large and small
pebbles, bits of iron, old shoes, tin cans
and such delicacies. A hungry ostrich
Is not particular abont his food. Ii is
merely question of deglutition with
him. Ii what he eats will go down-or
rather up-his somewhat elastic throat
flor he eats and drinks head downward),
hs feels safe to trust his digestive organs
to do the rest
The ostrich has long been maligned.
In our schoolboy days natural history
taught us to despise the ostrich, first, be-
cause OF its lack Of sense. and second, for
its want of parental instincts. We were
told that this great, ungainly bird. when
chased by native South African upon
the back of q fleet horse or a tame os
tr1ch, would hide his weary head in the
sand, under the impression that il he
could not see his pursuer the pursuer
could not see him. This fable is no more
true, at least Of the domesticated bird,
than the other, which actually says that
the mother ostrich lays her eggs in the
hot sand and leaves them to the tender
care Of the sun and the Hottentot.
The ostrich egg shell is sometimes one
sixteenth Of an inch thick. II is fully
twenty-four times the size Of an ordinary
hens egg. Incubation requires forty
days, during which period the male and
female alternate in the domestic duty of
keeping the eggs warm. Most OF the
Matching is now done by incubators. A
700 egg incubator has capacity for but
q ostrich eggs
AT the farm near Santa Monica saw
the birds on the nest, however, and the
young ostriches after they were removed
from the nest. The eggs at this sit
ting nearly all Matched, and as | visited
the farm frequently | grew very much
Interested in both parents and children.
The nest consisted Of pile of sand In the
center OF the field assigned to the two
breeders The male bird manifested the
utmost interest in the business in hand,
and devoted more than fifteen hours a
day to the maternal duty of sitting on
the eggs.
When his mate was on the nest he
would shield her from the excessive heat
OF that semi-tropical sun by extending
his ample wings over her. The two os-
triches were models of parental affection.
The exemplary conduct of the male
specially won my admiration, for he was
ever on the alert to render assistance to
his patient spouse, and when the little
fellows pecked their way through the
hard shell he kept yigilant watch over
them. The old story of neglect Of its
offspring is clearly disproyed. There
are no feathered animals more dutiful.
The old birds are not awkward, but
the young ones have no sense whatever,
and so II is necessary to remove the lat
ter as soon rs possible after they escape
from the shell to prevent them from
wandering into danger. 1t requires
skillfnl coaxing and no little maneuver-
Ing TO entice the fond parents from the
nest, but this accomplished the young
ostriches are transferred to a sand box in
the sun, where they must have close at
tention all day long to keep them from
mishaps which their utter lack of dis.
erection and extreme awkwardness would
certainly bring upon them
At night they are placed in an incu-
bator. Until they are several months
old the absnrdly needless and tender
things require very great care. After
they pass from infancy, however. they
generally thrive. The losses usually oc-
cur within the first month.
When the birds are seven months old
the first plucxing occurs, and from that
time forward they give mp their feathers
twice year. The females begin laying
eggs at three years of age, and produce |
from thirty to ninety eggs each an
nually.
In South Africa, until about thirty |
years ago, the natives kille6 the ostrich |
for his plnmes Since that date tho |
birds have furnished most |
of the feathers of commerce.
Each bird when fully grown has
twenty five plumes on each wing. with 1
two rows OF floss feathers underneath. I
Above the white plumes are row of .
long feathers and under them arc a t
smaller size. IN the male these are
black and in the female drab. The tail /
has also tuft OF feathers similarly ar
ranged. The first feathers are not /
usually as fine in quality. "a large in
sixe or as nraat in nuantify a. tboaa ~