Three new Ostrich eggs (estimated hatched date of October 12, 2013) ~ Update - September 2013: "Pip passed away after one week of wonderful life on August 25, 2013 from complications of intestinal infection and retained yolk sac. Of course we were all devastated by this.
As part of our healing process, our family went a road trip to an ostrich ranch in central California. The rancher was incredibly nice, plainspoken, and spent a couple of hours with us, showing us around and explaining his way of raising these birds.
Although he doesn’t sell fertile eggs to the public to be hatched, he was very understanding of our family’s loss, and gave us three eggs. I understand that they do better in groups, they are social animals. He was reluctant to do this for us because he had some doubts about their viability, especially since it was the end of the season for laying and those eggs don’t usually do so well, and these were a bit small and one was misshapen. I said I would give it my best try.
I showed him my new incubator that I built, (version 1.2 since I threw the original one away.) Basically a cardboard box, with a clothing rod with a sink basket bolted onto it so I did not have to open the box to turn the eggs. A heat lamp and a thermostat. He said he’s never seen anything like it, and thought it should work fine even though it was obviously rigged together from available parts around the house.
The countdown to 42 days begins when you put the eggs in the incubator, which I did on August 31, 2013 at 9 PM. This gives us an estimated hatched date of October 12, 2013.
My hope is that I could continue my journey, to watch ostrich chicks hatch and raise them until they were too big to be manageable at our home. I would have some nice places for them to go if we could no longer keep them. My top choice is the LA zoo since at this time they only have one ostrich, an older male with arthritis.
So I took some initial candling pictures, and tonight I took pictures of the candling for day four, and already I see progress. Unfortunately I still can’t determine which side has the air sac, so the eggs are still in a temporary cardboard carton that I made for them to stay on their sides until they develop enough to show their air sac. If we get a Facebook page together for this new ostrich project, I will post the pictures and updates.
I found that taking the trip to the ostrich farm, building a new incubator, and getting to know these three new eggs has helped me feel better. It also eased my conscience when the experienced rancher advised me that I did not do anything wrong while raising Pip" ... Cam:
Baby Ostrich Cam Live! on USTREAM: Pip's Birthing Video! (3 min) Summary Video of Entire Hatching (12 min) Thank you for making these incredible videos! ... ~LGK~
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I wish him well.
Thanks! Sad too! 
