Comprehensive detail on ostrich farming

1. OSTRICH FARMING
Submitted to: Sir Javeed
Submitted by : ABDUL WAHAB

2. Contents:
• Intro to ostrich farming
• Breeds
• Habitat
• Brooding rearing managenent
• Breeding management
• Feeding management
• Laying management
• Incubation of eggs
• Quality of meat

4. Intro to ostrich farming:
• Ostriches are of the Ratite family, which means
flightless bird and it is the largest bird in the world.
• The Ostrich is native to Africa, yet present in
countries all over the world.
• Adult males are eight to nine feet in height and
weigh 350-400 pounds.
• Females will weigh up to 300-350 pounds.
• A male Ostrich is called a rooster or a cock and a
female Ostrich is called a hen.

5. Conti…
• Farming originated in South Africa(Karoo and
Eastern Cape regions) in the 1860’s
• In early 1900’s there were many large farms
throughout Australia.
• In 1914,following a world wide fall, the ostrich
virtually disappeared from Australian agriculture
but interest was revived in the late 1970’s.
• Douglass a pioneer in ostrich farming and also
patented the first ostrich incubator (“The
Eclipse”) in 1869.

6. Conti….
• Ostrich are raised for Meat, Leather as well as for
Egg purpose. Especially good for their meat.
• Eggs are edible but they are mainly used for
breeding and art purposes.
• One pair of mature ostrich is worth about 8
ostrich eggs
• One adult ostrich yields around 100 kg of meat
• 100 kg meat is worth about 9 eggs
• One adult ostrich consumes about 35 kg of feed
per day.

7. Breeds:
• Maasai Ostrich is Pink Necked with more quills. It’s
the largest and can lay up to 40 eggs in one laying
season.
• Somali Ostrich is Blue Necked with fewer quills that
are far apart. Lays fewer eggs in two seasons/ March
& August about 30 eggs. The have smaller carcass.
• Black necked Ostrich smaller in size and mainly
found in temperate regions in Europe &
South Africa.

8. Conti…
• Crosses of Maasai & Somali Ostrich have a
faster growth rate, higher mature weight,
better quill spacing than the Somali ostrich.
• Arabian Ostrich
• Southern Ostrich is the black necked ostrich.
Found mainly in temperate regions especially
South Africa.

10. Inhabitats:
• The towering birds live in sandy and arid habitats,
particularly in open country.
• Common environments for these birds include
savannas, woodlands, desert, plains, semi desert,
dry grasslands and scrubs.
• These birds are also prevalent in environments
that completely lack trees.
• Ostriches frequently bathe and swim, and
typically stay in areas that are not far from
reliable bodies of water.

11. General Management Tips for
Housing:
• Temperature should be located inside shelter
to condition birds to enter the shelters freely.
• Feeder and waterers should be in open type
and adjustable so that they can kept at chest
height of the birds. Clean the waterers daily.
• Ensure proper mineral and vitamins in the
feed for healthy growth of chicks and to void
leg deformities.
• Commercial feed is absolutely essential.

12. Conti…
• Each ostrich require 60-80 square feet space
inside the house.
• Birds require at least 1 acre floor space with
six feet high chain link fence.
• Birds produce hide, leather or feather are sold
at high price.
• Build a house according to the number of
ostrich and your farming place.

14. Brooding rearing managenent:
High mortality in ostrich chicks occur due to
improper brooding and poor early management
practices and these points should be kept in mind
for brooding rearing management:
• Chicks should not be allowed to get soaking wet.
• It must be kept dry and sanitary at all times
• Should be designed for effective ventilation and
ease in cleaning. Concrete floors in brooding units
make them easy to clean.

15. Conti…
• Temperature at chick level should be 88 to 92 F
during the first 10 days of life, then 80 to 85 F
until they are 3 weeks of age. From 3 through 8
weeks the ideal temperature is between 70 and
80 F.
• If chicks are placed on litter material such as
wood shaving, rice hulls, or washed builder's
sand, the litter should be covered with burlap for
the first 7 to 10 days to keep chicks from eating
litter and developing intestinal obstruction
problems.

17. Breeding management:
• Ostrich hens become sexually mature when
they are between two and three years old,
males usually a year later.
• In the Northern hemisphere the breeding
season runs from March till October.
• In the Southern Hemisphere the breeding
season runs from August till February.
• The increase in day-length is the determining
factor for the start of the breeding-season.

18. Conti…
• At the beginning of the breeding season, males
show a distinctive reddening of the shins, the
beak and the rims of the eyes.
• The intensity of the reddening is correlated with
the virility of the male, and consequently with
the fertility rate of the eggs.
• Sometimes they fill their esophagus with air so
that their neck looks like an inflated balloon. They
then make a low monotonous booming sound.

20. Feeding management:
• FEEDING YOUNG CHICKS:
• Shallow food containers should be arranged all
over the floor to make the food easy to find.
• It is also possible to use long narrow troughs or to
spread the food initially or empty bags.
• Mixing of chopped greens grated carrots and/or
chopped hard-boiled eggs on or in the dry feed
ration.
• Even coloring the food green is supposed to have
a positive effect on the birds feeding.

21. Conti…
• Young chicks prefer roughly ground meal to
pellets.
• Generally the birds like moistened feed better
than dry meal.
• Chopped stinging nettle leaves can he given as
a supplement and without limitation.

23. Conti…
Feeding roughage:
• They like fresh greens. Fresh greens stimulate
appetite, chopped greens like stinging nettles,
clover, Lucerne or cabbage should be given three
to four times a day in addition to the chick meal.
• The birds pluck the leaves off the bunches and
the remaining stalks can be removed later.
• Such roughage, whether fresh or dried, must be
ground or finely chopped.

24. Conti…
• For young chicks the length of chaff should be
approximately 6mm but always less than the
length of the small toe of the birds.
• The quantity of roughage in the ration can be
increased with the age of the birds, and at the
age of ten weeks may amount to up to 20% of
the dry feed mass.

26. Conti..
• GRAZING AND RUNS
• From the age of two or three weeks grazing on a
Lucerne or clover range is a viable alternative to
greens feed.
• From the age of two weeks on chick's benefit
from a run in the sunlight as it promotes the
formation of vitamin D in the bird's body, which is
important for bone growth.
• Exercise is very important. From about one week
old chicks should be allowed space to run to
exercise their legs and promote healthy growth

27. Conti…
Drinking Water:
• First food on their second or third day the chicks
should be offered drinking water.
• There should be one water container for every
three food containers. The half size Agee
preserving jar is a good size for the first two
weeks.
• Whether the chicks are kept in a shelter or in a
paddock, water intake, faeces and urine should
be monitored closely.

28. Conti…
• The urine should be white.
• Water containers for chicks must be cleaned
daily and refilled with fresh water.
• Chicks and growers should never drink stale,
warm water.
• Accordingly, water containers should not be
exposed to direct sunlight and birds should
not be kept on poorly drained range

30. Conti…
• Feeding related problems of Ostriches
• Generally poorly balanced rations (low food conversion
rate, erratic weight gains, poor growth of feathers,
bone and joint deformation in the legs, diminished
resistance against infections)
• insufficient roughage in the rations (excessive ingestion
of foreign matter like pebbles, branches and sand
leading to impaction in stomach and intestine),
• too much fiber or too long fibers for chicks (impaction
in stomach and intestine),
• insufficient supply of minerals (ingestion of soil and
sand leading to impaction in stomach or intestine.

31. Conti…
• Roughage chopped too long for chicks (impaction in
stomach and intestine).
• Too finely ground feeds (problems during ingestion,
wastage of food, increased intake of foreign matter.
• Too large quantities of fresh greens for hungry chicks
and adolescent birds (over- loading of the digestive
tract, leading to impaction in stomach and intestine) or
chronic diarrhea,
• Feeding stale food stuffs to chicks (impaction in
stomach and intestine),
• Too much water intake by chicks (diarrhea)

32. Laying management:
Well-nourished ostrich hens begin laying at
approximately 2 years of age and are reported to
have a productive life of more than 30 years. Egg
production is variable but can exceed 70 eggs per
year.
• Juvenile hens and cocks should be reared separately
from 1 year of age to sexual maturity.
• Mature hens and cocks should be separated after
the breeding season.
• Eggs are usually infertile during the early part of the
breeding season. This is usually caused by infertility
in the cock.

33. Conti…
• Breeding cocks should receive 16 hours of light
per day beginning 3 to 4 weeks before being
penned with their hens.
• Day length must never be shortened and light
intensity must never be decreased during the
laying cycle.
• The breeding pen for each cock and his two to
four hens should be 1 to 3 acres in size and well
drained.
• Birds in larger enclosures are more difficult to
manage.

34. Conti…
• Eggs also will be more difficult to find and collect.
• Ideally, there should be a 6 to 8-foot-wide lane
between pens to prevent fighting between cocks.
Egg Production:
• Begin lay at 2 years of age
• Produce eggs for 30 years
• Produce 40-70 eggs per year
• Fertility rate 80%
• Incubation time to hatch 39 to 44 days
• Hatchability rate 80%
• Livability 80%

36. Incubation of eggs:
Incubation parameters:
• In nature both males and females brood the eggs,
hens during the day, cocks during night.
• The eggs are in contact with the parent bird's
bare skin.
• The temperature at the top of the egg is always
higher than at the bottom.
• When changing shifts, the eggs are turned and
aired.

38. Conti…
• Incubation of an ostrich egg takes 42 days on
the average.
• In artificial incubation the temperature has to
be around 97.5 degrees F.
• Towards the end of incubation the
temperature may be a bit lower since the
embryo also produces heat at a later stage of
development.
• Relative humidity is set between 20 and 35%.

39. Conti…
• Embryonic development:
• Eggs should be placed in the incubator with the
air gap upwards.
• Eggs must be turned 2 to 8 times daily. This helps
avoiding build-up of waste products inside the
egg.
• The embryonic development can be followed by
candling the egg, with a torchlight for instance.
• Candling is usually done once a week.

40. Conti…
• Hatching:
• The temperature in the hatcher has to be 2 - 3
degrees C lower and the R.H. slightly higher.
• Eggs are transferred to the hatcher room at 39
days or as soon as internal pipping can be
heard.This happens when the fully formed
embryo breaks through the membrane into
the air sac for its first breath of air.

42. Conti…
Incubator room:
• The environment (temperature, relative humidity) of
the incubator room has to be controllable.
• The room should be ventilated, exhausting air directly
to the outside rather than re-circulating the same air.
• All parts of the room should be washable.
• No visitors must be allowed, and a foot bath and
hygienic clothing for the personnel is necessary.
• Before introducing eggs the incubator and all
equipment must be cleaned and disinfected, using hot
water and a disinfective soap or Vircon.

44. Quality of meat:
• You can find no better meat in existence today than
ostrich meat.
• When it is combining great taste with healthiness.
• Ostrich is a red meat and is lower in cholesterol,
calories and fat than chicken or turkey.
• It still remains high in protein and iron.
• Due to this meat having good nutrients, it comes highly
recommended as the leading protein source from the
American Heart Association, the American Diabetic
Association and the American Cancer Association.

46. Conti…
• Ostrich meat has a pH balance that is ideal, so
this meat doesn't harbor harmful bacteria
such as salmonella or E. coli like chicken and
other meats do.
• The combination of good taste, great flavor
and nutrition and the veritable ease in
cooking is the reason ostrich meat is found on
the menus of several of America’s finest
restaurants.