Technical points of manual egg catching in ostrich farming

The ostrich is a bird native to Africa that is huge in size, cannot fly but runs very fast, and is also the largest bird species alive in the world today. It can reach 2.5 m in height, has black and white feathers over its whole body, a long bare neck, short small wings, and long legs. Its usual speed reaches 80 km/h, and at its fastest it reaches 90 km/h. During the laying period, artificially raised ostriches have relatively regular daily activity. Therefore, feeding should be carried out at fixed times and in fixed amounts according to their living patterns. Every morning at daybreak, the ostriches run around the edge netting in the exercise yard, and after running for 15-20 minutes they mate and feed. So the first feeding time is best set at 6:30-7:30 in the morning. Feed 4 times a day, with the intervals between feedings kept as equal as possible. The feeding order can be roughage first and then concentrate, or the concentrate can be mixed into the green fodder and fed together. The amount of concentrate feed is generally controlled at about 1.5 kg per bird, to prevent overfattening from causing a drop in egg production or stopping production.

Under natural farming conditions, after ostrich eggs fall to the ground they are often contaminated by soil and feces. Even after the contaminated eggs go through multiple procedures such as washing and disinfection, bacterial infection is still unavoidable. During incubation, mid- and late-stage deaths of the chicks inside the eggs often occur, and even “exploding eggs” appear, causing the entire box of eggs to be infected and discarded, bringing unnecessary economic losses to the farm. After observing incubated eggs many times, we found that contaminated eggs show multiple bacterial spots inside the egg during the mid-incubation period, and eggs in the late incubation period, due to bacterial infection, rise in their own egg temperature faster, resulting in late-stage death. It is usually found during incubation that some eggs suddenly lose weight more rapidly in the late stage, and after dissection the chick is found dried up and dead; this is typical bacterial infection.

By implementing “manual egg catching”, after long-term observation and experimentation, the egg-catching rate within a year is above 85%, and the hatching rate is 20% higher than before. This method is introduced below for reference.

1. The technician in charge must know the ostrich's start-of-laying period, and first prepare fumigation-disinfected plastic bags or clean towels.

2. Notify the keeper to observe the birds at the start of laying. Generally, about the first 10 days before laying begins, the male bird helps the female bird “scratch out a nest” in the pen; the female often circles by the pit, her nostrils turn red, and on the day laying begins her feed intake decreases. In particular, before laying the female walks back and forth in the pen, restless and agitated. At this time the keeper should wash his hands clean with disinfectant, prepare a plastic bag or towel, and quietly wait in a place where the ostrich is not likely to notice him to observe. (Ostriches generally lay eggs at around 2 pm to 7 pm.)

3. About 2 minutes before laying, the female will squat down, with mucus dripping from her mouth, flapping both wings and making a trembling sound, and begin to lay. At this moment the egg-catcher must immediately run over lightly, catch the egg with one hand holding the towel, and with the other hand gently lift the bird's tail feathers, to prevent the tail feathers from touching the egg and contaminating it. When catching the egg, the person should squat down to prevent the male bird from attacking you.

4. The caught egg is clean and damp. The keeper should promptly deliver it to the hatching-egg fumigation room, and the hatchery worker takes over to disinfect it and file it for storage. Disinfection must wait until the water on the egg surface has air-dried before it is carried out. (On rainy days, use a plastic bag to catch the egg, to prevent rainwater contamination.)

5. When fumigating or storing bird eggs, place the end with the air cell facing up. When the bird lays, the end with the air cell comes out first; when catching the egg it is only necessary to pay a little attention and inform the hatchery worker, and egg catching can solve a difficult problem in determining the direction of the air cell.