The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1912-01-09

NO. she IS not one OF the $1,000
| biddies we sometimes read about, /
especially when it comes to laying
eggs. She is any one OF the several
thousand ostrich hens that may now
\ be found in California and others Of
aEr western states. You can figure
~ vIt for yourself. An ostrich-hen.
S1e,e, d one, will lay about one hum
oeggs a year, and each egg con
t"ins as much food-material as thirty
! ordinary hens eggs That gives the
! ostrich credit for furnishing egg food
amounting to 5000 hens eggs per
Year.
But lets not all so into the ostrich
+, business. There arc several draw
! backs. one of them is that it costs
about twenty dollars q year to keep
an ostrich, and they do not begin to
lay until they are four years old Then
there is the first caSt-nO little item,
as siX-months old chicks are worth
S100 each, While birds old enough to
begin l;lying cost $500 a pair. Rather,
they are held to be worth that, as the
ostrich breeders will seldom sell 81
bird at any price.
There is also the Inconvenience of
handling The kick of an ostrich will
discount any exercise of Il mules hind
legs about zoe per cent, and they are
said to be far from sWeet-tempered,
/ EpcciallN during the pluclling season.
i:oihg eight feet tall, an ostrich that
got really out OF patience at a person
would be rather more difficult to
handle than 4 mad sitting-hen, and
: most of us lind the latter lady all we
want to tackle. On the whole, per-
hapS We should be wise to stick TO
the harnyard biddy for ordinary pur-
poses though the beauty Of the aris-
tOcratic Mrs. Ostrich should prove q
! great temptation to desert our first
love.
: Then, too. the Lady of the plurnes
is, if the truth were told, rather lazy.
{ She does not even lay her eggs in the
t nest her mate has carefully prepared
: for her, half of the time She leaves
7 them scattered about just as it hap
$ pens and her patient consOrt has to
' roll them into the nest himself. Then
t too, he gets most of the sitting to do,
u as his proud wife refuses to do nest
e duty except for q little while in the
e daytime.
Often incubators are used for the
Matching of the OStrich-chickS, and
then there need be no family quarrels
or the subject. The incubators useC
st niust be peculiar in construction, as
o one Of the eggs is five inches long
e Machines holding about fifty eggs are
l. generally employed.
h The "pluclzing" Of ostrich feather!
d is really a ''cutting' for only the small
le cnes ready TO fall. are plucked. The
1t large plumeS are carefully cut. leaV
IS ing about an inch of the quill.
s AS these feathers are cut at the sea
son when they would naturally fall
e the vitality Of the stub is soon ex
IF hallsted, and it is easily removed.
:e The operation of ''plucking" is en-
y trely painless to the ostrich, but 70
n all that he resiStS vigorously.
han ha fri al haq
is brought together, they are driven int
to q small enclosure about forty yard
rs square IN this corral the pluclxing
box stands.
The birds are then caught and a
Quickly as possible small linen bag
are slipped over their heads, a process
which immediately conQuers the bird
le for finding himself in darkness h
le will stand trembling and ready to b
y pushed in any direction.
With these bags over their heads
IS they are then pushed into the pluck
~ ing boxes. \ man standing outSld
'e the box at each side gets hold Of tn
/ wing and clips the feathers from il
~ then watkins around to the tail, clip
Is the tail feathers, also. until the Who'll
AT troop has passed through the pluck
ing-hoNes.
" Six men will pluck 50 birds in on
"a dav The birds are now again turne
lS adrift to run in their large enclosur
in peace for two or three months unit
OF the uuillS are ready to be drawn
io when they are again collected an
as pass through the plucking- boxes.
Ia The feathers are usually clipped a
= six months growth; that is from tn
- date OF drawing the Quills. At thi
90 stage the feathers are we'll grown an
arc just in the pink of their bloor
and beauty, rich and full Of lustre.
@ To draw the feathers at this stag
CT would mean great pain, besides ruin
IL ing the sockets in which the feather
u grow. For this reason, therefore, til