Ostriches On Line - The World's Largest International Ostrich Company
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Newsletter - 14 January 1998

Publishers of the "World's Largest Ostrich Newsletter"

This newsletter goes out to 12,264 people in 123 countries

In this packed issue

1)  Happy New Year from the "warm" UK
2)  Ratite Egg Incubation - Part 2 of a series from Texas A & M
3)  Selenium - an essential nutrient in the Ostrich diet
4)  Enter our FREE competition and win our Ostrich Farm Seminar
    Videos - worth $239
5)  Holiday Season Specials .......... Promotions and Sales
6)  In future issues
7)  Unsubscribing

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Happy New Year from the "warm" UK

I always seem to remember Christmas and the New Year in England as cold
and wet but having spent the last 3 weeks with my family in the UK
I must say that I have had an extremely enjoyable and very relaxing
time - and the weather has been unseasonably warm!!

The UK - like most of the rest of the world is now using Celsius - which
I have to admit is definitely not my "mother" tongue - so 5, 10 or 15
Celsius doesn't exactly mean much to me - on the other hand 41, 50
and 59 Fahrenheit definitely don't conjure up cold and snowy scenes in
my mind - just a pleasant change from the minus 20 and 30 degrees I am
used to in Chicago during January and February.

During my stay I managed to see my football team in action twice -
having been a Manchester City fan since I was 6 it is difficult to
realise that they are languishing at the wrong end of the 1st Division
and we now have the distinction of being one of the few unbeaten teams
of 1998 - which sounds much better than it really is as they lost far too
many games during the first part of the season in 1997.

I can only watch the results and performance with some trepidation and
sincerely hope that the management and team can pull together and get
us out of the quagmire and back into the premiere league where they
so rightfully belong!!

Whilst I have been here I have spoken to a few Ostrich farmers but in
all fairness, most of the time has been spent with family, friends
and fixing computers (and not always in that order) and I will be
traveling in Europe this week before returning to the USA - so if you
are awaiting personal email or fax replies from me then they should be
with you after I return to the USA at the end of January.

In closing this editorial bit, I would like to wish all our readers,
subscribers, clients, colleagues and acquaintances everywhere a tremendous
1998 and all of us here at Ostriches On Line are looking forward to a
fabulous year of growth, expansion and world wide developments which
will prepare the industry well for the new millennium.

Steve Warrington

Please email me at
steve@ostrich.com

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Ratite Egg Incubation - Part 2 of a series

The following articles were written and are used by permission
of Texas A & M University

Gregory P. Martin, Roy C. Fanguy, Joan S. Jeffrey, Texas Agricultural
Experiment Station, Poultry Science Dept., Veterinary Pathobiology and
Veterinary Extension, Texas A & M University System, College Station,
TX 77843.

The Hatchery

The hatchery room is much more than a shelter for your incubator.
The room acts as a "plenum" chamber, that helps precondition
air prior to movement of the air into the incubator.

Most incubators depend on proper room temperature and humidity to make
the work of maintaining incubator conditions easier. Typically the
temperature of the hatchery will be approximately 10-15 Fahrenheit
cooler than the temperature set on the incubation cabinet.

This temperature difference is needed for cooling the eggs as the embryo
develops, and to ensure proper heating of the cabinet early in the
incubation period.

As the embryo grows in the shell, the consumption of oxygen (as well as
the release of CO2) increases with egg age. This is most apparent with the
eggs in the hatcher. The birds will "pip" through the inner
shell membrane, and breath air that is conducted through the shell.

The air in the cabinet has to have a level of oxygen high enough to
ensure proper levels of oxygen in the egg for growth and the strenuous
job of hatching out of the egg.

Because of this high demand , the most frequently overlooked consideration
in ratite hatchery design and construction is the placement of air
handling devices and windows to help move air efficiently throughout the
hatchery.

A one-way flow of air is the optimal situation that will ensure that
fresh air is flowing through the hatchery. A general rule is to have
as much fresh air moving through the hatchery room as possible without
changing the room temperature / humidity requirements.

Drafty conditions can create cold spots in the room that could be
detrimental to proper air mixing. Because cold air drops to the floor as
it enters a room, baffles or circulation fans should be in place to
ensure proper air mixing.

The quality of the air is an important consideration as well. The
location of the hatchery should be as far away from the other pens as
possible, to avoid dust and other particulates from being pulled into
the hatchery. Air Filters should be monitored and changed frequently to
maintain good air quality.

Humidity levels can be controlled to a certain degree by ventilation,
if external conditions permit. By increasing air flow, humidity levels
will drop. As the temperature drops the percentage of relative humidity
(%RH) will increase.

This is the basis of most of the room dehumidifiers that are available
for ratite hatcheries that need to reduce %RH to assure proper water
loss. Adjust humidity for the average eggs that you are incubating, as
some eggs may fall outside this range.

Some producers will have several cabinets set for different humidity
climates to ensure proper weight loss for all eggs being incubated.

The Hatchery needs to be designed for one-way traffic of personnel and
eggs to reduce the possibility of contamination. Both air flow and
personal traffic should move from the incubation (setter) end and exit
at the hatcher end. All surfaces within the hatchery should be washable
with cleaners and disinfectants commonly available.

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QUESTION FROM RANCHER REGARDING SELENIUM:

Daryl,

"I have questions about selenium levels.  A few companies offer selenium
'additives', but I'm worried that people don't know what level the
selenium is at in their local grains.... I'm specifically talking about
people that have their own feed ground locally.  I know that some places
have toxic levels of selenium in the local grains, and I also know that
some places have zero selenium."

"How does a person check their grains?  Is there a lab we should send a
sample of our ground feed to?  And if there is, what is a good level of
selenium?  Should a person do a blood test on a bird or two to see what
their selenium levels are?"

"Just a thought for a future article.  I've been preaching to the
members of our cooperative that they NEED to check their selenium
levels... I just want confirmation that I'm preaching correctly, and if
I am, when it comes from someone like you...it makes much more sense
than from someone like me!!"

"Thanks Daryl for your continued bulletins on nutrition and other
information!  It's been a great source of information for me!"

REPLY:

The subject of Selenium is one of the hardest nutrients to write about
as it is so misunderstood by most ranchers.  Selenium is also one of the
most "touchy" trace minerals that an animal  nutritionist has to deal
with.

A deficiency of Selenium in the feed diet will result in egg
hatchability problems - and if severe enough, will also result in
chick/embryo deformities such as missing eyes or deformed feet and
wings.  An "excess" of Selenium in the feed diet will quickly lead to
toxicity problems in birds that will cause even greater problems than a
deficiency.

In adolescent and adult birds, a Selenium deficiency can cause appetite
problems, blind staggers, lameness, liver problems, poor feather coat,
constant biting and feather pecking, and also may show up in harvest
birds with multicolored meat muscles.

It is easy to understand that the correct Selenium level in the birds
diet is MOST important to the birds health.  But, like many nutrients,
the LEVEL of Selenium by itself IS NOT the only factor as Selenium works
closely with other nutrients in the total ration.  Therefore, the other
nutrients in the feed working with Selenium must also be at correct
levels.

A perfect example of this is Vitamin E.  Selenium is directly
related to the efficient absorption of Vitamin E.  A Vitamin E
deficiency can also effect such things as hatchability, feather coat,
liver functions, and much more.  If Vitamin E is at adequate levels but
Selenium is deficient--Vitamin E will not be efficiently absorbed and
problems will result.

If Selenium is adequate in the feed but Vitamin E is deficient, the
symptoms can closely relate to a Selenium deficiency
when it really is NOT.  There are several other interactions that
Selenium has with other trace minerals and vitamins.  Simply adding more
Selenium to the birds diet is NOT always the answer--in fact, it could
be a toxic answer that will cause greater problems that the ones you
were trying to solve.

I strongly discourage anyone from using the Selenium "additives" to
supplement their birds diet--it is a very risky proposition.  NEVER free
choice any trace mineral supplement with high levels of Selenium.  The
line between a deficiency diet and a toxic diet is very narrow.  I also
don't recommend relying on bird blood tests showing a deficiency of
Selenium.

It has been my experience that when the blood test is taken
again at a different time, the results change.  Besides, even if the
blood tests show a deficiency of Selenium, how do you know how much to
add to correct that without getting into a toxicity problem.

If you are grinding/mixing your own feeds or having custom feed made up
at a local feed mill, you should be sure that a trace mineral/vitamin
pack is being used from a reputable ratite feed company with experience.
You should also be using a ration formula from that same company that
MATCHES the trace mineral/vitamin pack you are using.

All Blue Mountain complete feeds, supplement feeds, and trace
mineral/vitamin Packs are designed to match the formulas provided to
achieve a proper balance and amount of Selenium and the nutrients that
work with Selenium--And, at the same time, prevent any possible
toxicity problems.

In the above question, it is true that some areas of the United States
have grains with very high levels of Selenium.  Other areas are very
deficient of Selenium.  If you are grinding/mixing your own feeds, the
answer to this problem again is to make sure you are using the
recommended ration formula along with a matching trace mineral/vitamin
pack--AND make sure that these formulas and Packs are from an experienced
ratite feed company.

A feed formula that calls for 85% grain in an area
with Selenium toxicity problems in grain is surely going to be a
disaster.  No ratite feed formula should be containing 85% grain in the
first place and that should give you a clue as to the experience behind
this formula.  If the feed formula is balanced using recommended
forages, grains, proteins, minerals, trace minerals, and vitamins,
Selenium toxicity in grains will not be a problem when mixed correctly
with the matching trace mineral/vitamin pack.

In areas where Selenium is deficient in most feed ingredients, it still
won't be a problem IF the correct formula is used with the matching trace
mineral/vitamin pack as there will be sufficient nutrients coming from the
Pack if it was designed correctly from a ratite feed company with
experience.

Another point that is most important here is the protein level in the
finished ratite feed formula.  Higher protein feeds tend to neutralize
the Selenium toxicity coming from areas of high Selenium grain
problems.

If the ration is balanced correctly to a performance level
with the right protein levels, the toxicity problem corrects itself as
less grain/more protein feeds are used and the higher protein ration
helps compensate for the toxic Selenium proportions.

Using a feed formula or premix designed for cattle or hogs is the first
mistake most ratite ranchers make.  Doing this will almost always result
in a Selenium/trace mineral/vitamin  deficiency in ratites.  The reason
is density of nutrients in the total diet versus the intake daily of the
feed.

A cow can eat 50 pounds of feed per day while an ostrich will eat
5 pounds and an emu may eat 3 pounds.  That adult cow can eat 10 times
as much as an adult ostrich, but its body weight is NOT 10 times as much
as an adult ostrich (it is closer to 5 times the body weight of an adult
ostrich).

Therefore, the density of trace minerals/vitamins for the cow
can be far less in the feed than is needed for the ostrich.  Doubling
the cow premix is not the answer as then the mineral portions will be
far too excessive for the ratites causing greater problems.  Using a
premix for ratites that was designed for other livestock rarely results
in good ratite performance.

Remember that it takes at least ONE FULL YEAR to correct a nutrient
deficiency problem in your birds AFTER you start feeding a well balanced
diet.  The full performance effects of a well balanced diet will take
effect after the second year of feeding your birds correctly.  The same
result will happen in reverse when changing to a nutrient deficient
feed.

The first year, not too much difference in production/hatchability is
noticed.  However, the second year problems begin to significantly show
up and the third year production almost comes to a halt.  I have heard
people blame this scenario on weather and environment, but more likely
than not, it is a poor nutritional diet!

‘Til Next Time!

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Daryl Holle is a Ratite nutrition consultant for Blue Mountain Feeds, Inc.
and you can contact him by email at
ostfeed@rmi.net
Tel/fax at +1 800 478 7343

Daryl has written an excellent Ratite Feed Book which is available for
purchase from our internet site at

http://www.ostrichesonline.com/reference/ratitefeedbook.html

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Enter our new FREE competition and win our complete set of Ostrich
Farm Videos - worth $239.00

In our ongoing efforts to bring you the very best on the Internet we
are delighted to introduce a NEW FREE Competition and for the months of
December and January '98 we are giving away our superb 5 tape Ostrich
Farm Training Videos - worth $239.00

The full product details are at
http://www.ostrichesonline.com/seminar/twodayseminarvideo.html

and the new FREE Competition entry form is located at

http://www.ostrichesonline.com/general/freecompetition.html

Enter now ...... everyone is invited and the December/January winner will
be announced in the early February newsletter.

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Holiday Season Specials .......... Promotions and Sales

We have not offered any Holiday Season promotions as yet because of
a few minor (but challenging) Internet connection problems.

We will be open as normal in the USA from the 25th January so an
early 1998 sale is planned - look out for the emails.

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In future issues

I mentioned previously that we would be writing articles on sales
and marketing and this will indeed be happening shortly - space did
not permit it with this issue so stay tuned in future issues.

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rest.

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This material is copyrighted Ostriches On Line 14 January 1998

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Thank you for choosing and visiting Ostriches On Line

Steve Warrington
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Ostriches On Line - The World's Largest International Ostrich Company
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http://www.ostrichesonline.com        steve@ostrich.com