Ostrich farm "Ostrich Farm"

The main focus of the ostrich farm is the cultivation and breeding of black African ostrich.

Among the products obtained from ostriches are ostrich meat, ostrich eggs, ostrich egg shells, ostrich leather, ostrich fat (as well as high-quality and effective creams made from it) and ostrich feathers. A variety of souvenirs and crafts are also presented. Our ostrich farm organizes excursions (or business excursions, for those who decide to try their hand at breeding and keeping ostriches), during which you can learn about the varieties of African ostrich, biology, history of ostrich farming, their breeding, cultivation, as well as many interesting facts from the life of ostriches.

On the territory of the farm there is a covered gazebo, heated in the cold season, which you can rent for any events (children's parties, picnics, etc.).

Official Website Excursions

Interesting facts from the life of ostriches

For most of the night, a sleepy ostrich sits on the ground with its neck stretched out.

From one to four times a night, for several minutes, the ostrich cannot stand it and lowers its head in its sleep, stretching its neck on the ground in front of itself or along the body. At this time, the rest of the ostriches are awake, guarding the sleep of their comrade. Unable to swim, ostriches roll around in sand and dust, risking their feathers getting dirty.

Dust bathing is a communal pastime, often initiated by the behavior of dominant individuals. This helps ostriches get rid of external parasites. The dust partially protects the feathers from water instead of sebum, which ostriches do not produce. Ostriches can become so fat by eating locusts that their running speed becomes much slower.

Asphodyl roots quench the thirst of ostriches for 5-6 days when there is no water.

Ostriches can drink brackish water in the absence of fresh water, although they prefer fresh water. It happens that the dominant male runs off with a secondary female to build a nest.

In this case, the abandoned female looks for a lonely male to help her hatch her eggs. When out of danger, the ostrich behaves peacefully, always searching for food.

The ostrich, very curious about the world around it, lives in a herd. And only when ostriches lay eggs do they form pairs and harems. In case of danger, the ostrich turns out to be very cowardly and timid.

In panic, the ostrich rushes about and can be dangerous. The very first reflex is to run away. If it is impossible to escape, it defends itself with a beak, two bony spines (spurs) on its wings and powerful claws on its fingers. If little ostrich chicks are threatened by a hyena or other predator, an adult male can put on a whole show, pretending to be wounded.

He runs in a zigzag and falls to the ground like a wounded man. The interested hyena switches its attention and rushes after this easy prey until the ostrich rises from the ground and the amazed predator runs as fast as it can. Meanwhile, the baby ostriches run under the wing of other adult ostriches. It is unknown for what reason the male covers the very first eggs laid by the female with dust.

Ostriches build a nest in a small depression, digging it in sandy soil and covering it with something soft.

The female incubates the eggs during the day because her gray coloration blends well with her surroundings; the male, with predominantly black feathers, incubates at night. The cry of an ostrich is sometimes compared to a groan, which turns into a hiss, similar to the hiss of an angry goose.

The guttural cry of the male “buu-buu-buuuuuuu” is multifunctional: it seduces the female, marks the territory, and keeps a distance from other males. The growl of mature males is produced by inflating the neck. Caring dad.

An adult male digs a nest in the sand, making a hole approximately 30 cm deep. While there are no eggs in the nest, he comes to the nest several times a day and cleans out any debris that happens to be there. Ostriches do not have a special gland that allows other birds to make their feathers water-repellent, so when it rains, ostrich feathers get wet.

At the same time, ostriches do not seek shelter from the rain, even if there is somewhere nearby to shelter from bad weather. Ostriches can eat foods that other animals cannot digest, since they have a long and dense intestine, with the help of which they can obtain useful substances even from the roughest food.

They also have a muscular stomach, which, with the help of sand and stones they swallow, helps digest food. The adult female incubates the eggs during the day, making sure that no rodents get into the nest.

If a female incubates her eggs and the eggs of another female in one nest, then she will certainly place her eggs in the center of the nest. The legend that a frightened ostrich buries its head in the sand probably stems from the fact that a female ostrich sitting on a nest, in case of danger, spreads her neck and head on the ground, trying to become invisible against the background of the surrounding savannah.

Ostriches do the same thing when they see predators. If you approach such a hidden bird, it instantly jumps up and runs away. The ostrich's eye is the largest of all the eyes of land animals, almost five centimeters across.

Moreover, the eye is larger than the ostrich's brain. When the chicks hatch, the adult bird breaks the eggs, which are definitely spoiled (usually they lie on the edges).

Flies flock to them and serve as food for the chicks. The chicks are tightly attached to each other. If two groups of chicks get too close, they mix and cannot be separated. Parents fight with each other. The winners take care of all the chicks. Therefore, groups of chicks of different ages are often found.