The effect of feather harvesting on the production of ostriches

Thirty groups of ostriches with seven slaughter birds per group were subjected to two treatments where the feathers of 15 groups were harvested (clipped) at six months of age, while the feathers of the other 15 groups were not harvested (clipped) at that stage. Birds were keep in groups up to slaughter at 12 months of age while production of the different groups in terms of feed intake, growth rate and feed conversion ratio were compared over this six months period. By: T.S.Brand, J.C.