"In Search Of Ratites" -an autobiography-

[mr.mc.]

I have been researching ratite farming for several years now, and I have officially decided that I'm ready to start.
At the moment, we just raise chickens, and grow alfalfa (which I hear is quite good for ostriches & rhea), but we also have dogs -that i pray will get along with whatever BIG BIRDS we end up getting.
If any of you lovely BYC people (or anyone you know) are selling ratite chicks/hatching eggs, (with the exception of Kiwi Cassowaries) in or near Indianapolis, I would be happy to take them off your hands!

Now, i know how hard they can be to find, so in the meantime, could you guys give me the pros/cons of Ostrich, Emu and Rhea? (Before you say anything though, I DO KNOW how dangerous large animals can be; I've been working with exotic animals since I was 3 years old, and I also dabble in training them, so I am familiar with their temperaments.)

 

[Tame Emu Guy]

Morning, Mr. Mc.!!

‘Pros and cons’ is a big big question. Specifically?

Supreme Emu
Western Australia

[I got cockies like those in the trees by the house!!]

 

[mr.mc.]

True enough; that IS a bit big of a question.

Lets talk feeding then.
What are the differences in their dietary needs?

 

[Tame Emu Guy]

Wa ha ha . . .

I am not being very helpful here, Mr. Mc.
I am the only BYC person who doesn’t have to feed his birds. They are free-range: I am in the bush in Australia. They get a double handful of wheat twice a day.

So, others must help you with details of commercial feeds. Breeders here understand this stuff. Roughage is really important: spinach etc. is good for them.

Meanwhile:

wild emus eat a really wide range of foods: grass, seeds, berries, flowers. It is a ‘zesty’ diet: absolutely fresh off the stalk.
Everyone’s birds get treats, but I don’t think they need to be expensive. Sultanas or other dried fruit. Nuts. They’ll eat pasta and other flour products.

I always recommend Swarbrick’s ‘Emu Husbandry Guidelines.’
Keep reading. Even surf past threads. There is a wealth of information.

S.E.

 

[smokeyjoe]

we have creeks around here in Tennessee and they are full of water crest my emu love it and eat it like ice cream lol , but they will eat most greens and a lot of fruits , my layer pellets seems to do the job ratti feed is hard to get around here but the layer pellets seem to do everything for me , someone else may have different experence then me , but a lot of greens and various fruits

emu seem to be the best for me mine are not mean at all they are just big pets , , however if I leave the babies out there they seem to get defensive of them so I get them as they hatch and this way I don't have any prob , wouldn't trade them for anything , and if the emu set you don't have to worry about a incubator till they start hatching then you need a brooder .

 

[29PalmsRanch]

True enough; that IS a bit big of a question.

Lets talk feeding then.
What are the differences in their dietary needs?

It depends what you are going for. If meat, 22% protein is the target I use. If for general layer production/pets... 18% - 22% will do it. I have a flock of blue/black cross ostriches. First, clean fresh water is a MUST. If you live in a hot area, fungus is your enemy.

(The following is for 3 - 4 adult birds or 6 - 8 juvies. If there is feed on the ground at the end of the day, then you are feeding too much.)

I feed the following to non-layers (juvies and chicks):
In a 5 gallon bucket... 2 feed scopes of high protein catfish food (33.3% protein), 1 scoop of alfalfa pellets. Top it off with 12% sweet feed. You are going to end up very close to 20%

I feed the following to layers:
In a 5 gallon bucket... 2 feed scopes of high protein catfish food (33.3% protein), 2 scoops of alfalfa pellets. Top it off with 12% sweet feed. Once every 3 - 4 weeks I dump a bag of calcium (oyster shells, 50lbs) in the general feeding area. They take it at will.

For meat birds, I feed the same as I do the layers, but no calcium. We try to sell off our extra hens instead of sending them for meat processing. The majority of our meat birds are extra males that we cull.

However, because my flock is getting so large and we are adding another 60 birds this season, we have hooked up with a couple of breweries for their processed grains. We are just waiting for the nutritional value of the grains to come back to us from the samples submitted to the lab so that we know how to best round it out and with what. Our feed costs will shrink to next to nothing. 10 tons - 800.00 - 1200.00.

Remember, the animals will graze all day long and will CHOW on alfalfa pastures. We plant our pastures with both alfalfa and whatever season of rye is in so they can graze all winter long without a problem. But I'm down in the south

 

[mr.mc.]

Remember, the animals will graze all day long and will CHOW on alfalfa pastures. We plant our pastures with both alfalfa and whatever season of rye is in so they can graze all winter long without a problem. But I'm down in the south

Thats good to know! (after all, ratites that come to join our farm will be joining an alfalfa farm)

 

[29PalmsRanch]

Thats good to know! (after all, ratites that come to join our farm will be joining an alfalfa farm)

Then that dog'll hunt!

 

[Tame Emu Guy]

They get to graze on standing rye??

Gee, that's interesting.

I'd be prepared to try that for an experiment: throw down handfuls of wheat or other seed at the right time; let it grow; and then see if the emus eat it 'off the stalk.'

Supreme Emu

 

[29PalmsRanch]

They get to graze on standing rye??

Gee, that's interesting.

I'd be prepared to try that for an experiment: throw down handfuls of wheat or other seed at the right time; let it grow; and then see if the emus eat it 'off the stalk.'

Supreme Emu

You know what? I hadn't thought of that. We have a summer rye and a winter rye. Alfalfa doesn't do too well in the winter Our pastures all brown out. Well when that first cold snap is coming, my farm and and I take out a couple of tractors and disk the dog snot out of the pastures... all of them. And then we seed winter rye. Rain usually comes before the first cold snap and it gets watered down pretty well. In a couple of weeks, the pastures begin to turn from brown green to green green again The trick is to be careful about planting too soon. We don't get snow here so... it works. When we seed for spring it's alfalfa and then we mix in 10% 'summer' rye. Well that's what our feed store calls it. I have no idea what the latin name for it is. But they seem to really enjoy it.

I'm going to do some wheat and barley and see what happens. Not too much just some here and there. It should be a cool experiment.