Freeland tribune. (Freeland, Pa.) 1888-1921, 1895-09-09
AN OSTRICH FARM.
VISIT To A TROOP OF THE BIG
BIRDS IN CALIFORNIA.
The Laying Hens and the Sitting
Cocks-Ugly When Provoked
Plucking the Feathers and
Counting the Profits.

across the bay from San Diego, The
latter has sixty five birds. Whether
spreading their wings and fitting
along in their peculiar Delsartean
gait, or greedily snatching at what
ever morsels come in their way, they
are droll and interesting.
Everybody has heard the expression
ga stomach like an ostrich's," but no.
body can quite realize the significance
of the comparison until he attends n
luncheon given to the creatures and
watches them despatch their food.
| They eat all sorts of vegetables, but
above all things they like oranges.
The avidity with which they seize and
| gulp down whole oranges is at once
startling and amusing. When their
keeper appears with fine orange in
his hand there is scramble and fut-
tering OF great fluffy wings. The for
tunate fellow who gets the fruit bolts
it at once and stands blinking his sat
isfaction while the orange slowly
travels by easy stages down his long
throat. Cabbage leaves. beet tops,
natural grasses, alfalfa, bits of br oxen
shell and gravel gre all esteemed great
luxuries by these ungainly birds.
A three-months-old chick stands
fully four feet high. The female does
not mature until four years old, nor
the male until five. The color of the
young birds is brown in general effect,
and the hen retains that hue. As the
cock nears maturity he turns deep,
glossy black and gets row of pure
white plumes among those of jet.
Down the front of each leg is strip
of vivid red, and ring of the same
color surrounds the big, vicious eyes,
giving the creature peculiarly rakish
and dissipated appearance. The cock
is at times very ugly to manage, and
the hens, too, must be carefully
handled. They particularly dislike
strangers, and visitors are always
cautioned to keep long way from the
paddock.
AS fast as the birds mate the pairs
are confined in the paddock. just
after the rainy season sets in the hens
begin to lay. The nest is q most
primitive merely an ex-
cavation, about three feet across,
scratched in the sandy soil. Every
other day an egg is deposited in this
nest until the hen is satisfied with the
number. Then the cock turns to and
does the principal part of the sitting.
Every afternoon ut o'clock he re-
lieves the hen and does not quit the
nest until o'clock the next morning,
thereby giving the female only the
short daylight watch. The usual GUS
tom, however, is to remove the eggs
to an incubator as fast as they are
laid. In this case the hen will often
lay thirty eggs before resting. Then,
after an interval of six weeks, she re-
sumes her work. The ostrich farmer
can count upon three periods of pro-
ductiveness in q year, and an aggre-
gate of seventy.iive to ninety eggs
from each hen. In California the eggs
hatch in forty days-two days sooner
than in Africa. The minated birds
arc allowed to herd, and are known as
the 'feather troop"
The plucking comes once in ten
months, and is difficult undertaking.
The first plucking takes place when
the chick is six months old. The
feathers are of inferior quality, and
are used to make busters. These first
feathers are called spadones. When
the chick Is one year old its feathers
can be used for trimmings. At two
years n good plume can be obtained,
and after that the bird is n regular
producer of fine plumes. As rule
each wing furnishes 104 plumes, while
about 125 are obtained from the tail,
making more than 800 feathers to each
bird. The tail feathers are termed
"boos" in ostrich slang.
The members of the regular feather
troop are docile enough when undis-
turbed, but if provoked in the least
grow very ugly. 1T is necessary to
blindfold the birds before the pluck
ing. They are brought into the pad
dock, and while engaged in feeding on
the corn or cabbage leaves which have
been thrown to them, two men
who have had experience in the
work approach, seize n bird by
the neck, and quickly thrust long
hood over its head. Tne ostrich
is then forced into an enclosure about
three feet square and gate is closed
behind it. 1t is necessary still to hold
the bird, though while thus hooded it
rarely shows fight. The plumes are
shipped of, and the stub of each quill
is allowed to remain until the juices
have been diverted into other grow
ing feathers. The stub then becomes
transparent to the eye and is pulled
out. After the ostrich has been plucked
its thigh is marked with red paint;
also after the stub has been pulled out.
Thus it requires but n glance from the
ostrich farmer to learn the condition
of any bird in his flock.
When breeding cock is to be
plucked real trouble begins. This
bird is always defiant and ugly, and,
if one simply approaches the paddock,
will glare and hiss viciously. He is a
II 0bter too ucinc. b,a <,,onr