The hatching of Ubizane's Ostriches:

There has been much anticipation here at Ubizane Wildlife Reserve, as we patiently await the arrival of our baby Ostriches. We first noticed one of our females sitting on eggs on the 27^th of September, and many of you who follow our blog posts will recall the details.  

After the torrential down fall our excitement soon turned to fret, as we found the eggs submerged in a puddle of ice cold water abandoned by the parents, and after much consideration and discussion, we decided to remove the eggs and attempt to incubate them ourselves.

2 weeks of careful monitoring and care finally paid off on a Monday evening, at  22:00 pm one of the eggs began to move and  small hairline cracks began to emerge. The little ostrich proved to be a real fighter, only resting momentarily from its constant struggle against the porous egg shell. Not long after the first cracks were made, a tiny beak emerged through the jagged egg shell, under the constant watch of the staff, the large tangled mass of a chick struggled some more, breaking the shell more. An hour soon passed , and a soft muffled  ‘cheep’ could now be heard as the ostrich fought beak and nail to come into this world.

3 hours and countless cups of coffee later, you could now make out the shape of the mini replica ostrich, tightly packed into the shell that it has called home for 6 weeks. Its powerful leg kicking, with what looked liked frustration, and its large black eye peered out on to it’s new surroundings, almost in amazement. The excitement reached the tipping point as with one last push, the chick pushed free of it’s egg. Lying with it’s legs tucked under its body and it’s neck stretched out, the tiny life form breathed heavily, exhausted I’m sure. True to it’s instincts, after a short power nap the chick struggled to its feet, feathers still damp and neck still supple and wobbly but the exhaustion of coming into the world proved to be too much, and it soon collapsed into a sleeping bundle. 

The newborn chick is still being kept in the glass cage with its unborn siblings, here he or she will stay under the warm light until it is strong enough to stand and eat, then it will be relocated to a larger enclosure. We all at Ubizane are delighted to welcome yet another addition to the family and are holding thumbs for the rest to arrive sooner rather than later!

Be sure to keep a watchful eye on all our social media pages, as we will be sure to document every milestone in these precious chicks’ life!