Currently when talking about ostrich feeding we must discern if we are referring to the black-necked ostrich, Struthio camelus var. domesticus, which is the farmed or pet ostrich; or we mean the wild varieties.
Wild varieties are: blue-necked ostrich and red-necked ostrich.
In this article we will refer to pet ostrich feeding and farm ostrich feeding. Later we will talk about the feeding of the wild ostrich.
Continue reading our site to learn more about ostrich feeding.
Pet Ostrich
The pet ostrich, or african black and also known as black-necked ostrich, it is a hybrid between the two species of wild ostrich: the blue-necked ostrich and the red-necked ostrich. This hybrid is somewhat smaller than the wild specimens, and is not as aggressive as these.
It is well known that the best way to raise an ostrich as a pet is to subject it to imprinting. Imprinting is a phenomenon that occurs among birds when, upon breaking the egg and going outside, they accept the first being their eyes see as if it were their mother.
The ostrich at birth weighs 1 kg, and is 25 cm tall. It has a voracious appetite, as it gains up to 400 grams daily. In a couple of months the pet ostrich can weigh between 15 and 20 Kg.
Domestic ostriches lose weight immediately if starved and die easily. They are also not resistant to thirst, which wild ostriches do take well. Pet ostriches can live up to 50 years.
Feeding the pet ostrich
A pet ostrich should be fed a high-fiber diet: livestock fodder (hay, alfalfa, etc.), legumes, mulberry, water lettuce, cassava and endless plants, fruits and flowers suitable for consumption. They don't like leaves. There are also balanced feeds in livestock stores. It is very important that the pet ostrich eat and drink every day, since it does not tolerate fasting or lack of water well.
These feeds provide proteins that are difficult to find in a strictly herbivorous diet. The vet will give you the dietary guidelines to follow based on the age and weight of your ostrich. He can also give you vitamin supplements
Ostrich digestion is very slow. It usually takes 36 hours to complete the entire digestive process.
We must bear in mind that after a year an ostrich can weigh 100 kg, and its growth will continue until adulthood, a fact that happens at 3 years. Therefore their food consumption will always be important.
Feeding farmed ostriches
In the ostrich farms the forage and feed provided to the ostriches is very well balanced, as it is used for to the organoleptic improvement of the meat. It is a very expensive food and all the treatment given to the animals is one of the best in terms of space, hygiene, he alth and nutrition. Ostriches adapt to any climate. For this reason, ostrich farms have been created in more than 50 countries around the world.
Sadly for these animals, the use of the ostrich is comprehensive, since they are marketed: eggs, meat, skin and feathers. Even brushes are made with their eyelashes, and certain parts are used for the cosmetic industry. Ostrich eggs weigh between 1 and 2 kg, being equivalent to 24 chicken eggs.
Because ostrich farms are open-air and have a lot of space, ostriches forage for local plants and eat insects, lizards and some small rodents. Which gives them extra protein.
On farms, ostriches are fed 3 times a day. At 7:00 in the morning they are given the first meal of the day. At 11 a.m. it's time for the second serving. At 3:00 p.m. the last meal of the day is provided. Apart from all this, ostriches peck and eat all kinds of food that they find in their large breeding areas. Coleoptera, lobsters, lepidoptera, lizards and other small vertebrates are eventually consumed as an extra protein intake.
Wild Ostriches
Lately, wild ostriches have been considered in scientific circles to have an omnivorous diet.
The wild ostrich, Struthio camelus, feeds on savannah grasses, flowers and fruits, ignoring leaves. However, it also eats insects, spiders, small reptiles, and other minor vertebrates. There are even records that it occasionally consumes carrion remains that large predators have not devoured.
Wild ostriches occasionally ingest stones to grind food from their diet in their stomachs. They do this because they don't chew food, they swallow it and they need extra help to grind their food and speed up digestion in their intestinal tract.
The longevity of wild ostriches is up to 40 years.
There are 2 species of wild ostrich: the blue-necked ostrich, which is distributed throughout the non-wild sub-Saharan African continent. It is not threatened. The other wild species is the red-necked ostrich, an endangered species that inhabits North Africa.
Ostrich digestive system
The ostrich, like the rest of the birds, does not chew its food. Swallows fragments or all of the ingested matter. Unlike the rest of most birds, it lacks a crop to store food. Instead, the greater dimension of their proventriculus and gizzards compared to the body volume of the rest of the birds, makes the feed fermentation take place in these organs.
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