MY PARENTS RAISED OSTRICHES… by Greg Lammers
My parents raised ostriches after I left home. I helped with them some, built some fence, that sort of thing. I didn’t like that they would peck at you, and the rest of the time they were pecking on the ground, where they did their business. So it wasn’t only the pain of being pecked at but the stuff that was on the end of their beaks.
One way we were told to keep them at bay was to “become bigger (taller) than them.” This could be accomplished by simply holding up a broomstick or other long-handled tool.
Male ostriches engage in a “courtship” or mating dance to draw attention to themselves. They drop to their knees, puff out their feathers, and rock from side to side. My Dad had an old International 300 tractor he used around the place. The big male ostrich who was called Mel, would drop into that mating dance every time Dad went past on that red tractor.
A female ostrich named Maggie had some chicks. My Dad set up a shed for the chicks to bed down in. It had a little door which was a few inches off the ground. My Dad built a ramp up to the door for them. The chicks would run around the sides of the ramp and then jump up onto it and make their way in the door, I never saw one walk all the way up that ramp.