Declawing ostrich (<i>Struthio camelus domesticus</i>) chicks to minimize skin damage during rearing

Declawing ostrich (Struthio camelus domesticus) chicks to minimize skin damage during rearing

Leather is one of the main products derived from ostrich farming. Current rearing practices lead to a high incidence of skin damage, which decreases the value of ostrich skins. In the emu and poultry industry, declawing is commonly practiced to reduce skin damage and injuries. We consequently investigated declawing of ostrich chicks as a potential management practice to minimize skin lesions th...

Yolk sac utilization in ostrich (Struthio camelus) chicks.

The mass of residual yolk sac expressed as a percentage of initial mass of the egg from which the chick hatched decreased sharply in the first 2 days post-hatching. A gradual reduction occurred between 3 and 10 days after which a sharp decline was noted between 11 and 13 days post-hatching. The highest number of chicks with unabsorbed yolk sac was noted on day 5 post-hatching followed by days 6...

The influence of separate-sex rearing on ostrich behaviour and skin damage

Separate-sex rearing of slaughter ostriches was investigated as a management strategy to minimize skin damage. Day-old ostrich chicks were divided into three treatment groups; a group of mixed-gender and two single-sex groups, one male and one female. At three months of age, because of the large variation in live weights, the birds were sorted within treatment according to weight. Each gender t...

Development of microsatellite markers for parentage typing of chicks in the ostrich Struthio camelus.

Bacterial enteritis in ostrich (Struthio Camelus) chicks in the Western Cape Province, South Africa.

Ostrich (Struthio camelus) chicks less than 3 mo age are observed to experience a high mortality rate that is often associated with enteritis. This study was undertaken to investigate the infectious bacteria implicated in ostrich chick enteritis. Postmortems were performed on 122 ostrich chicks aged from 1 d to 3 mo and intestinal samples were subjected to bacterial culture. Bacterial isolates ...