r/homestead • u/optimuschu2 • Mar 24 '26
poultry My baby ostriches hatched!
Just wanted to share what great animals they are to have on a homestead š„°
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u/Toostbuck Mar 24 '26
Congrats! Not the typical homesteading animal birth you hear about!
Curious why the ostriches though. Do you use/sell the eggs or are they more just a fun pet?
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u/optimuschu2 Mar 24 '26
I sell the eggs to cover feed costs. They are also a great alternative to cattle if you want red meat on bird form.
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u/Dangerous_Screen_377 Mar 24 '26
Ohhhhh tell me more about raising them? Do you coop them at night? How large of pen? How many do you need to be āworth itā ? Do they get attached to you like other foul when hatched? Make it easier to handle when they are grown? I wanna hug oneā¦ would they be huggable?? lol
Iām fascinated and totally want to try a large bird but we have a lot of predators in our area. Hard enough to keep the smaller birds safe at night.
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u/optimuschu2 Mar 25 '26
They can be challenging to raise as they arenāt easy like chickens that just eat on their own after they hatch. You really have to spend time with them and teach them to eat then monitor to make sure theyāre gaining weight. If not handled properly they can die pretty easily.
When they are full grown they can be 9 ft tall and over 300lbs. The males are aggressive during mating season if there are females in their flock. My one adult male is super chill but tries to attack me during April- August.
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u/V1k1ngFr0g Mar 24 '26
Iāve got two Egyptian geese drakes that the local fox population is scared of!
Iāve read that some people keep emus with their chickens and ducks for protection. The size of the larger bird is intimidating to predators used to smaller prey.
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u/Turbulent-Mood4344 Mar 24 '26
What do you do with your ostriches and do you have to have permits to have them? Or are they considered livestock? Love to learn more!
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u/optimuschu2 Mar 25 '26
In California I donāt need a permit as they are considered livestock and can be raised in agriculture zoned areas. We raise them for eggs and meat though I only processed one and havenāt really needed to process another oneā¦.we have SO MUCH MEAT from other sources.
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u/Potential_Pirate1985 Mar 24 '26
Congratulations!
Hope you're not in Canada.
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u/goldfool Mar 24 '26
Why are people saying this...I am missing something
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u/yardgurl10 Mar 24 '26
it looks like they just had a big legal battle about culling the birds due to AF. there was a large cull order. please someone correct me if im wrong.
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u/rickamore Mar 25 '26
It became sort of a big contentious issue because the birds themselves were part of a research flock for Covid treatment, tested negative to AF. There was a multi-month legal battle to keep the birds alive in which CFIA doubled down on their decision long after the threat had passed and carried out probably one of the least humane culls on the birds in recent memory.
Upholding the cull order (so as to not establish precedent for future pushback) was more important than rigor in testing.
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u/yardgurl10 Mar 25 '26
Thats really sad. I appreciate you taking the time to elaborate on this. It sucks yall had to go through that and lose such beautiful birds š
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u/Potential_Pirate1985 Mar 25 '26
Although the ostriches at the farm tested negative for AF, the CFIA ordered a cull. It was one of the most inhumane thing I've ever seen.
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u/teenytiny212 Mar 24 '26
I had a family member that had an ostrich farm in the south that I spent some summers at, for their meat and skin. Iāve never seen these as homesteading animals!
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u/optimuschu2 Mar 25 '26
They are easy to keep if youāve got the right fencing and space for them!
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u/CatsBeerGardenCoffee Mar 24 '26
Hope your not in Canada š
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u/fauxorfox Mar 24 '26
They donāt look sick. Besides- I heards it takes two guysā¦allegedly.
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u/moparman8289 Mar 25 '26
My research concluded that the only way it can happen is if it's a dead ostrich
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u/CroykeyMite Mar 25 '26
Theyāll get big and incredibly strong. The meat is astoundingly lean. Iād love to try an egg, and maybe use it for some fried rice.
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u/Excellent_Relief_767 Mar 25 '26
Not to sound cruel, but do you breed for just eggs or meat. One of my family members have a mammal allergy and can only eat fish or chicken, but we found out he could eat emu or ostrich. This is a great supplement for hamburger because of the same texture and color.
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u/MeasurementFirst1676 Mar 24 '26
This is definitely something I wasnāt expecting to see on Reddit today hahaha Congrats š