236 OUR DOMESTIC BIRDS 



nearly all the ostrich farms are in Southern California and 

 Arizona, but there are some in Texas, Arkansas, and Florida. 



Management. In the places where ostrich farming is carried 

 on, the birds need no shelter. They must be kept in inclosures 

 fenced as for cattle. As ostriches are bred for their plumage, 

 and that of the male is most valuable, the breeder does not 

 object to their following their natural inclination and mating in 

 pairs, but many males are so injured in fighting that they 

 must be killed. This leaves an excess of females, and so two 

 or more females are sometimes mated with one male. The 

 birds are mated for breeding when they are about three and 

 one-half years old. The object of mating them before they are 

 fully mature is to prevent them from selecting for themselves 

 partners contrary to the ideas of the breeder. Each mating must 

 have its own yard, unless the place where more than one family 

 is kept is large enough to allow each family the exclusive use 

 of a part of it. Under such circumstances each group will keep 

 to its own range. 



The natural food of the ostrich is grass and the leaves of 

 shrubs and trees. In domestication it is usually pastured on 

 alfalfa, or fed on alfalfa hay, according to the season. The 

 alfalfa is often supplemented with grain (principally corn), and 

 grit, bone, and shell are provided as for other birds. 



Most ostrich growers prefer to hatch the eggs in incubators, 

 because by removing the eggs from the nests they induce the 

 hens to lay more, and because the young ostriches are much 

 easier to manage when by themselves than when with the old 

 birds. When a pair of ostriches hatch their own eggs, the hen 

 sits during the day and the cock at night. The period of in- 

 cubation is six weeks. 



Young ostriches are fed the same as old ones. They are 

 kept in flocks of fifty or more until about a year old, when the 

 sexes are separated. The plumes are cut for the first time when 

 the birds are between six and seven months old. Although the 



