Ostrich Farming in the United States 573 



From Watson Pickrell, U. S. Department of Agriculture 



Plucking an Ostrich, Salt River Valley, Arizona 



feed the inclosure need only be large 

 -enough to allow plenty of exercise. 



Ostriches are easily removed from one 

 field to another by one person going 

 ahead, calling them, and leading them on 

 with grain, while another follows on a 

 "horse. The birds are very timid and do 

 not like to be driven unless some one 

 goes ahead of them. 



After ostriches are over one year old 

 no one should go among them without 

 a brush or stick in the hand, as at times 

 they will want to fight, and a person 

 going among them is liable to injury un- 

 less he has something with which to 

 drive or frighten them away. 



Although African writers assert that 

 ostriches will live without water, Arizona 

 farmers find that they drink water freely 

 every day if it is supplied to them. 



Nothing is positively known as to how 

 long an ostrich will live. Some writers 

 claim that it will live one hundred years. 

 Ostriches which are known to have been 

 in captivity for forty years are still breed- 



ing and producing feathers. It is the 

 experience of Arizona farmers that 

 among birds having good nutritious 

 green feed deaths seldom occur, except 

 as the result of an accident. A dog or 

 other small animal will sometimes 

 frighten ostriches and cause them to run 

 into the fence, which may result in a 

 broken leg. When this happens the bird 

 may as well be killed, as few ever recover 

 from such an injury. 



Chicks 6 months old may be set down 

 as worth $100 each; i -year-old birds, 

 $150; 2-year-old birds, $200 to $250; 

 birds 3 years of age, $300 to $350, and 

 birds 4 years old, the age which they pair, 

 $800 or more per pair. 



An ostrich will yield annually iJ-4 

 pounds of feathers, with an average value 

 of $20 a pound, and from 36 to 90 eggs, 

 which may be used for incubation or 

 may furnish egg food at the rate of 3^2 

 pounds to the egg, if the owner does not 

 wish to increase his troop. 



