Apr 11
30
Causes of Ostrich Chick Mortality
Chick Mortality in Ostrich Farming discusses the variable symptoms observed preceding death in ostrich chicks, but what are the causes?
The causes are many, and often one or more of the following factors working together contribute to the death of the chick.
- Breeder Nutritional Deficiencies
- Chick Nutritional Deficiencies
- Poor Chick Feeding Management
- Stress
- Chick Gut pH Factor Changes
- Clostridium Bacterial Invasion
- Poor Chick Bio-Security
It is usually a combination of one or more of the above – here is an example:
If the breeders have insufficient nutrients to produce ostrich eggs with strong developing embryos, the chicks can be weak at hatch. The degree of weakness will depend on the degree of nutrient shortages and/or imbalances.
Chicks weak at hatch with poorly formed internal organs are unable to absorb the nutrients from the yolk sac adequately. As the photo in Chick Mortality in Ostrich Farming illustrates, some chicks have great difficulty digesting food adequately. Clearly this situation leads to nutritional deficiencies. Another cause of nutritional deficiencies is inadequate nutrients in the chick rations. Baby ostrich chicks require rations of high nutrient density. Inadequate nutrients may be a result of poorly designed rations, poor ingredient use or they may also be as a result of poor feed management that results in the chicks not consuming sufficient feed.
Inadequate food and/or water can leave an ostrich chick stressed as a result of hunger. Inadequate nutrients also leave chicks less able to handle stressful situations. Chicks under stress and failing to grow at a good rate are less able to handle extremes of temperature or other stressful situations.
A chick under stress is one reason for the gut PH to change to a more acid environment. This alters the digestive system of the chick. The lower gut PH levels enable an overgrowth of negative gut bacteria that survive in the more acid environment. Gut PH changes affect many things in the ostrich chick’s metabolism required for good health.
The bad bacteria are usually Clostridium Perfringens and a major cause of death in ostrich chicks. Most often it is triggered by one or more of the above causes that bring about the situation enabling the bacteria to overgrow. In some situations, especially if biosecurity is poor, bacterial infection can be the primary cause of chick mortality and aggravated by one of more of the other causes.
As mentioned in Ostrich Farming Flock Security the biosecurity plan forms the foundation for disease control by creating reasonable methods to prevent bacterial contamination from farm to farm, from pen to pen or from one group of birds to another group of birds.
Understanding causes of ostrich chick mortality is the first step to putting place preventative measures when ostrich farming.
