Barn Owl chicks rehabilitating at Ubizane

On Thursday morning the Ubizane team found four Barn Owl chicks in one of the Tree Lodge rooms.  Our first instinct was to search the area for signs of entry to ensure their mother hadn’t been entering and giving them food.  Unfortunately we realised that these chicks were placed there by their mother by entering in a gap that was closed a few days ago.  Sadly this meant that these poor chicks have been without food for almost three days!  Three of the chicks are about five weeks old with the smallest only about two weeks old.  We suspect there were two batches of eggs that hatched because of two empty eggs found in the nest and the varying sizes of the chicks.  The Ubizane team have decided to bring these chicks back to health until they are ready to survive in the wild.  We feed them raw meat every day to ensure they become stronger.

One of the older chicks and the baby chick being held by a staff member

 

Feeding raw mince to the smallest of the lot

Ubizane staff feeding the little ones

It is hard to believe that these fluffy little fragile creatures grow into the beautiful Barn Owl, one of the most gracious birds of prey.  We are excited to keep you posted on the progress!

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!

Extending our Family:

One of our gorgeous female ostriches is about to become a Mom! We could hardly believe our eyes when we came across her nest, or more accurately just a simple hollow in the ground. Ostriches generally nest communally, so we are very excited to see if the other ostriches will join the nest.   

Laying up to 20 eggs the female Ostrich is able to distinguish between her own eggs amongst the others in a communal nest. The glossy cream coloured eggs average 15cm long and 13cm wide, and can weigh up to 1.4 kilograms in weight. Interestingly the yolk of an ostrich egg is the largest single cell but the smallest egg relative to the size of the adult bird. 

The clutch is incubated mainly by the female during the day and by the male during the evenings. This is a rather ingenious way of sharing a duty, as this uses the colouration of the two sexes to blend into the natural environment and prevent the detection of the nest. The female with her drab plumage blends in with the sand, while the black male is nearly undetectable in the night. The pair shares the incubation process for 35 to 45 days. Typically, the male defends the hatchlings and teaches them to feed, although males and females cooperate in rearing chicks. Fewer than 10% of nests survive the 9 week period of laying and incubation, and of the hatched chicks, only 15% of those survive to 1 year of age. 

  

We are hardly able to contain our excitement, as we anticipate the arrival of our ostriches chicks. Watch this space as there will soon be new hatchlings running around here at Ubizane, extending our feathered family one step further!