Forest City press. (Forest City, Potter County, D.T. [S.D.]) 1883-19??, 1907-07-25
WOMAN IS THE OSTRICH
QUEEN OF WHOLE WORLD

Mrs. Katherine pearson of Phoenix,
Ariz., and Havana, Cuba. is not only the
ostrich queen of the western hemisphere,
but the world at large. Her ostrich farm
near Phoenix is the largest breeding
ranch in America. and the farm near
Havana on which she has just settled
forty-tivc birds is the first Of its kind in
Cuba. She owns more birds than any
other woman ostrich farmer on the face
of the earth.
ITO begin at the beginning of my ex-
perience with ostrichcs l must tell you
that my husband first bought Il farm and
a few birds near Jacksonville. Fla" said
Mrs. Pearson when talking to a reporter.
NJ Pearson was the manager of the
theatre OF Union Square now known as
Keith's.
shortly after our marriage he develop
ed consumption and we had to so south
for his health. After a few years, the
climate not having proved beneficial. he
decided to go to Phoenix. We sold out in
Florida and started breeding ostriches on
the Phoenix farm with $50 birds.
My husband was becoming more feeble
every day. l tried to do my duty and as a
result i learned all the ms and outs in
breeding birds and selling feathers.
Since my husbands death i have in
creased the Phoenix flock TO $50 breeders
and the acreage to 2.G0, making it the
largest breeding farm in America. On the
Havana farm there are at present only
twenty-seven acres and forty-iive birds.
1t is only an experiment. and j do not
think it wise to get more birds until after
these have proved the healthfulness of
the climate.
while in Arizona and Florida we never
lost a grown bird except through accident
The climate of Cuba may not prove good
for them. There are the long rainy sea-
sons. and the ostriches are not fond of
foo nlch rain We povpr chnltoroJ thn
grown birds in Arizona or Florida, but
during the rainy season in Cuba it may
be necessary. The food is another prob
lem to be solved.
"Ostriches mate when they are about
33 years old and. like pigeons. remain to-
getlier. entirely faithful, until they die. AT
least l have been told that they mate for
life. and SO far as / know it is true,
though, as l said before, ] never knew one
to die a natural death. In case of an ac-
cideatal death 1 have Known the widowed
bird to accept a second mate, but not I'M
til after several years.
"They usually lay two nests of eggs of
from twelve to fourteen each. and you can
count on getting an increase of from ten
to twenty-five chicks. i have often known
a pair of good breeders in a good season
to hatch every egg and raise every chick.
Then again 1 have known less than n
quarter OF the eggs to hatch and as few
OF the chicks to reach maturity.
while l advocate using incubators to a
certain extent I am convinced thIS it
would not prove beneficial to a flock to
use them altogether. So far as my ex-
periehce has gone the birds do not Law any
more eggs. and when their nests are rob-
bed too often they seem to lose all desire
to sit.
1.-The proper use of an incubator on ON
ostrich farm is al adjunct in case of
emergency. Where there is danger of the
eggs getting chilled 1t Is better to take
them al once to the incubator.
Sometimes In spite OF the care of the
best breeding BIRDS a heavy rain will soak
the ground in such a way that the nest
is flied with water. Then, again, the
male bird sometimes refuses to do his
share of the sitting. and as the female
never returns to the mes; until her APP
pointed hour something has to be done,
or the whole sitting is lost.
IF they beha,e. as they should the fe-
male sits on the nest during the day and
the male takes his turn during the night.
But if for any reason his lordship gets
suiky' he goes OF on strike, and the female
being equally independent the nest is left
to take care Of itself.
Put. as. a. rule. 1 think they try to do
their duty by the Eost. When the chicks
ccma. however. Z is quite a different mat
tar The parents seem to be perfectly
Indifferent ;o their fate. Unless the young