By Ferd. J. Sudow, Poughkeepsie, N. Y. 



85 



Ostrich Breeding 



Within the last twenty years the ostrich has been successfully transplanted to this new 

 world and is now bred in many southern States, California and Arizona, etc. There are some 

 five thousand ostriches at this writing, solely kept for the production of their plumage. The 

 ostrich feather trade now amounts to about twenty million dollars in value annually. A 

 large ostrich farm is situated in Arizona, where some fifteen hundred ostriches are yielding 

 about ninety thousand dollars' worth of feathers yearly. 



Every four months the ostriches are deprived of their superfluous finery that adorns 

 them, for the benefit of the millinery trade. The ostrich is a peacefully disposed creat ire 

 and its domestication has proven a success. Each bird yields about sixty dollars' worth of 

 ostrich finery every year. As an ostrich is believed to reach the good old age of sixty years, 

 there is a very profitable and steady income in view for the ostrich farmer. The expense of 

 keeping ostriches is about the same as sheep. They live on grass principally. The ostrich 

 is a multiplier, the hen lays an average of some two dozen eggs every season. The eggs weigh 

 about three pounds and a half each and taste the same as chicken eggs. 



Of course, they are somewhat an expensive article of food. One will make an omelet 

 for a dozen people. The male and female take turns in setting on the eggs, — the male setting 

 at night when his black feathers are not easily seen, and the female in the daytime, as her 

 plumage closely resembles the color of the ground. If a pair is not allowed to set, sixty or 

 more eggs will be laid in a season. 



OSTRICHES AND THEIR YOUNG— FROM 1 DAY TO 2 MONTHS OLD 



The laying time is February and August. They first proceed to dig a hole in the ground 

 some twelve inches deep; the hen lays 12 to 15 eggs when she will become broody and set 

 down to hatch. Two weeks after she has been engaged in this useful occupation the ostrich 

 farmer removes the eggs to the incubator and hatches them by machinery. It takes almost 

 nine weeks to hatch ostrich eggs. The young are extremely hardy and raised in brooders. 



The chicks, when hatched, represent fluSy little creatures with striped, velvety necks 

 and plump, well-shaped bodies. They are about a foot high and grow at a surprising rate. 

 They increase about a foot in height each month until six months old, after which they are 

 full grown birds. 



