Ostrich Farming in South Africa

Ostrich Farming in South Africa BY FRANK J. HEWLETT, LATE PRESIDENT OF THE AFRICAN MISSION As the South African train carries one along at a twenty-twomile gait, it is noticed that the soil everywhere is a bright red, in some places fertile, in others hard and barren. We passed through numerous ostrich farms. It is an interesting sight to see the huge birds run alongside the train, only a wire fence separating them from danger and perhaps death. ^ All of a sudden they realize that there may be trouble, and with a dash they are off in full flight. They can run at a tremendous speed, and do so with head erect and wings extended, showing all their plumes. In United South Africa it is only recently that ostriches have been domesticated. Young birds were first enclosed in 1857, but the returns show that only eighty were in captivity, in 1865. When about four years of age, the male bird selects a female, and once they become attached to each other, no ceremony is needed to bind them together for life. The natural and primitive way for them to raise a little flock of ostriches is to commence the work by scooping out a nest in the warm sand, and here the eggs are deposited at the rate of one every alternate day, until they number from sixteen to twenty-one. An average ostrich tgg will weigh about three pounds. The hen bird covers the eggs during the day. Her plumage is of a dull, brownish gray, like the ground. The male bird sits on the nest at night. His black plumage, we have been told, is invisible in the darkness. Ostrich eggs are sold in the open market for $3.25 per dozen. Our party ate one for breakfast, but I must confess that we ate it more out of curiosity than because we relished it. The color of

460 IMPROVEMENT ERA the meat of an ostrich egg resembles that of an ordinary hen's egg, but the taste is strong. One ostrich egg is considered about equal to 24 hen's eggs. The ostrich eggs are a great asset in South Africa in the food line. Hen fruit is very scarce, but the eggs of the ostrich can be purchased at a reasonable figure ranging from eighteen cents to forty cents apiece, according to supply and demand. There is a fine of £100,or nearly $500, for exporting ostriches, and $25 for exporting eggs, from South Africa. In 1869, ostrich eggs were first hatched in incubators, and from that time the birds became a little easier to handle. In 1875 there were 21,751 domestic ostriches in Cape Colony, and in 1897, 237,960. In about 1880, the great boom in ostriches began. People, of all vocations left their employment to raise ostriches, which business was thought to bring a fortune in a few years. One thousand dollars for a pair of birds was a common price. When particularly fine, they were auctioned off for as high as $5,000 a pair. The most successful method now employed for breeding ostriches is by means of incubators, but some farmers still place the parent birds in camps, measuring some twenty-five acres, where they are fed daily, and not disturbed in any way. The chicks, at the time they are hatched, are odd little creatures, covered with tiny gray feathers that look like fuzz. After the first month, the youngsters grow at the rate of a foot a month, and are about seven feet high when eight months old. They are located in camps of about one hundred acres where they are cared for by native herders and fed on chopped meat, pebbles, broken bone and alfalfa. The jackal is their greatest enemy, and is often destroyed by poison. When full grown, the birds are allowed to run in camps of from two to three thousand acres, some twenty acres being allowed to each bird. Cattle could be bred at the rate of one head to thirty acres, as they improve the pasturage for the ostriches. Where the land is sufficiently irrigated, and a rich supply of alfalfa is grown for them, the birds can be kept permanently in enclosed spaces. In such cases four or five birds can be fed to the acre. Camps are usually enclosed by wire, which need not be high, as the ostrich is a poor jumper. The male bird is always dangerous, and cannot be trusted, but can easily be warded off by means of a stout stick. If any one who is surprised in the open can pluck up enough courage to lie down, the bird cannot harm him much, and will be content to sit upon his enemy until driven off. The length of time during which the ostrich will sit upon his victim has not yet been scientifically determined ! When the bird is nine months old, the first crop of feathers