70 OSTRICH-FARMING IN SOUTH AFRICA. 



years old they often suffer terribly from internal para- 

 sites,, and occasionally, especially if food is scarce, require 

 to be pli}' sicked {see Diseases, &c.). If your fences are 

 ^ood, once a fortnight is quite often enough to muster 

 them. 



Every farmer should keep a stock book, and carefully 

 note the count in each camp. Trusting to memory is 

 uncertain; a bird is taken out for some reason, or some 

 are sold, or one dies, and these are very apt to be for- 

 gotten, and much trouble and uncertainty as to what the 

 count should be is thus caused. 



The days of cutting the feathers or pulling the 

 stumps of every bird on the farm should be carefully 

 noted in a book. If this is not done the feathers will be 

 very apt to be left a few days too long, and be consider- 

 ably damaged ; or else, perhaps, in a very busy season, 

 much time will be lost by getting the birds up to pluck, 

 and then finding that the feathers are not ready. 



BRANDING. 



Every bird should be branded with the owner's ini- 

 tials in large letters of about four inches. The branding- 

 iron should not be more than an eighth of an inch broad 

 on the burning edge. If many birds are to be branded 

 there should be tliree irons, to ensure their being red- 

 hot. The birds should be put in the plucking-box, and 



