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The Rhea (South American Ostrich):
Management
June 2008:
Availability of rhea eggs and chicks
We are not selling chicks or fertile eggs this season.
We are currently the only farm in
the US actively doing research and maintaining a strict breeding program.
We are selectively breeding for large eggs and large, docile males.
By selecting eggs that are at least 650 grams, all chicks are hatching at
approximately the same size. They double in weight by 18 days old, so any slow growing chick is quickly apparent.
The rhea is listed as a threatened
species in the CITES list. This incredible bird is threatened by shrinking
habitat and increased chemical farming practices in its native
environment. During the early nineties, at the height of the ratite boom, there
were over 1000 people farming rheas in the US. This number has dwindled to
just a handful, with most rheas currently in zoos or hobby collections.
Two reasons for this decline is the
rhea's susceptibility to dog attacks and the staggering chick mortality problems
under management practices extrapolated from confinement livestock
methods.
It has taken 11 years to completely
solve the mortality problems. We now know more about rhea pediatrics than
any person, any zoo, or any institution on the planet. What has happened,
and is still happening, to the rhea is nothing short of criminal. The
birds we raise now grow THREE TIMES faster than they did on commercial
"rhea feed" in 1996-without the horrifying deformities and tragic
deaths. Link
to 2-4 month old chicks gallery. Note the excellent bone development
and thickness of the legs. These chicks to not have delicate bone
development that plagued the breeding programs of a decade ago.
| Rhea chicks 3-4 months old with
a 3 foot tall welded wire fence around the tree. Under optimum
conditions they can grow 1 foot per month up to the age of 5 months.
Hatching at about 1 pound, they should weigh 4.5-5 pounds at 30
days. The legs are like tree trunks. |
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Solving
Fading Chick Syndrome: It is not
a virus, it is not a bacteria. It is toxins and lousy nutrition. Always.
Totally preventable with basic nutrition feeding the chicks the way nature
would.
Banning
animal protein products from ratite feed: This myth will kill
your chicks! Chicks eat insects not soy. Soy inhibits the
thyroid and thymus (immune system).
Home
and Introduction A MUST Read
A great synopsis of the whole site and how the story played out. The
moving dedication to all the chicks and humans who have suffered
needlessly.
Ratite extracts as therapeutic agents (Link
to patent)
Abstract Adenosine triphosphate (ATP) deficiency is the
cause of many autoimmune, muscle and bone wasting disorders in humans and
animals. Ratite muscle and bone extracts prov8e a rich source of ATP and
regulatory proteins which can be used in treating conditions associated
with ATP deficiency.
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Toxin Lipolysis in Rhea and Ostrich and Toxin Lipogenesis in Emu, includes
A History of Fats in Healing A referenced talk delivered at the 1998
American Oil Chemists' Society meeting in Chicago. Excellent
charts, photos. An original slant on how fats have been used
in medicine as healing agents, how the natural toxin storage function of
fat doesn't seem to occur in rhea and ostrich fat but does in other
animals, and why this should be considered before generalizing that other
animal fats should be used as healing aids.
Impact of Toxins on Rhea Chicks (and
how it mimics autoimmune diseases in humans)
A referenced article describing the syndrome of Rubber Rhea Syndrome and
Fading Chick Syndrome in rheas and ostriches as accelerated autoimmune
diseases. Excellent diagnostic photos
Effect
of Intraperitoneal Injections of Rhea Oil (1996) Referenced talk
delivered to the American Oil Chemists' Society meeting in 1997. Was
the basis for the patent, Injection of Rhea and Ostrich Oils in Animals.
Interesting weight gain charts
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BIRD
FAT REDUCTIONS IN FORESTS TREATED WITH DIMILIN Environmental
Toxicology & Chemistry. 12(11):2059-2064, 1993
Adipose
Depletion Chart 1 Technical flowchart
Adipose
Depletion Chart 2 Technical flowchart
Adipose
Depletion Chart 3 Technical flowchart
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