Describe the feeding and management of Ostrich.

1. FEEDIND AND
NUTRIENT
REQURIENMENT
OF OSTRICH
Presented By:
Dr. Dharmesh Tewari
Assistant Professor, C.V.Sc. & A.H.
ANDUAT, Kumarganj, Ayodhya, Uttar
Pradesh

2. Introduction
 The nutrients requirement for ostrich and the standards
are not well established.
 The day - old ostrich chicks up to 13 weeks of age may be
fed on chick starter which is high in crude protein.
 At 13 weeks of age the birds should be switched to grower
feed and continued until 40 weeks of age.
 From 40 weeks to slaughter, the ostriches should be fed on
maintenance diet.
 The birds meant for breeding purpose should be fed with
breeder ration from 40 weeks of age.

3. Digestive system of ostrich
● Crop is absent in ostrich.
● The ostrich have two chambered stomach.
● First chamber is proventriculus which secrets
digestive juice.
● Second chamber is gizzard which grinds up the
food with the help of small stones swallowed by
ostrich.

4. Nutritional peculiarities
● Ostiches are monogastric herbivores.
● They also eat insects, rodents, and lizard occasinolly.
● They have no teeths so they directly swallow the food and grinded in gizzard
● They can go without water for many days using metabolic water.
● They can survive by loosing 25% of their body weight by dehdration.
● In commercial poultry farming you can fed them normal poultry feed
● They require about 20-24% of CP , 12-19% of CF, 1.2-2% of calcium, 0.6-1%
of phosphorus
NOTE- During breeding period feed formula should be same but 2.8% of extra calcium
should be added.

5. NRC requirement of ostrich