Baby Ostriches: All You Need to Know (with Pictures)

The mighty ostrich is easily the largest and heaviest bird in the world, measuring about 2.1 to 2.8 meters (6 ft 11 to 9 ft 2 in) tall and weighing around 150 kg (23.5 stone). It’s no surprise that an ostrich egg is also the largest animal egg in the world, with the world record holder weighing 2.589 kg (5 lb 11.36 oz)!

We hear about ostriches mostly because of their size, weight, and running ability, but what about ostrich chicks? This article explores baby ostriches, their size, behavior, and everything else you need to know. There will be lots of pictures of baby ostriches along the way!

What does a small ostrich look like?

Newborn ostrich chicks are at least similar in size to adults, with long necks and plump, egg-shaped bodies. Their plumage is much lighter in color, with fine beige pointed feathers covering most of their bodies. Small ostriches have distinctive stripes on their necks with dark brown spots.

ostrich chick

How big is the little ostrich?

It probably comes as no surprise that ostrich chicks are the largest of all chicks, standing about 25 centimeters (10 inches) tall and weighing about 1 to 1.2 kilograms (2 to 2.6 pounds).

This makes an ostrich chick more or less the same size as a chick and much larger than many adult birds! Once the chicks hatch, they will be relatively dormant for about a day or so, but will be able to walk on day 2 or 3, at which point they will start chasing each other and their parents.

How much does an ostrich weigh?

Ostrich chicks typically weigh between 1 and 1.2 kilograms (2 and 2.6 pounds), making them the heaviest chicks of all birds.

In comparison, a chick weighs only around 30 grams – a baby ostrich weighs 50 times that! They are also very fast growing, reaching adult size in about a year. This means they grow about 30cm each month, reaching the 70kg mark at about six months. A fully grown adult ostrich can weigh up to 156.8 kg (346 lb).

A mother with her brood of baby ostriches on the plains of Kenya

What does a baby ostrich look like?

It depends on whether the juvenile is male or female, as female ostriches retain their lighter, more drab plumage, while male ostriches develop darker black plumage when they reach sexual maturity.

Young male ostriches slowly lose their fluffier, lighter brown plumage and grow darker black or near-black feathers on their large wings. They will remain spotted and lightly colored for most of the year. Juvenile ostriches have lighter, more neutral necks that turn pink as adults, as do their legs.

The plumage of female young ostriches looks very similar to that of young ostriches, which are still a sandy beige.

A male adult ostrich surrounded by many young ostriches

What is the name of the little ostrich?

Small ostriches are simply called chicks. Young ostriches that hatch from eggs are called fledglings, they are called fledglings when they remain in the nest, and fledglings when they leave the nest.

Since ostrich chicks are flightless, they grow their feathers and begin to follow their parents on foot when they leave the nest, which occurs within a few days of hatching.

What is a group of small ostriches called?

A group of young ostriches is often called a brood. A group of juvenile or adult ostriches is often called a herd.

A group of young ostriches running together on a dry road

What do baby ostriches eat?

Young ostriches absorb a large amount of yolk from the yolk sac of their eggs, which often keeps them nourished for up to a week.

During this time, they will learn to walk and begin to follow their parents or other adult ostriches who guide them for food. No parent to feed – baby ostriches instinctively feed themselves.

As omnivorous birds, ostriches eat a wide range of plant foods and meats in the form of arthropods and insects, as well as small rodents, lizards, snakes and most other nutritious foods found in their harsh environment. Young ostriches follow their parents’ cues by pecking at viable food and vocalizing to encourage their chicks to eat.

ostrich chick foraging

Do both parents feed baby ostriches?

No, but parents do guide them and encourage them to eat.

Parents also encourage the chicks to eat by meowing and vocalizing. The human beings who raise the children may not always be the biological parents, as ostrich chicks form communal nurseries of about 40 or more birds that are cared for by one or two adults who take on the entire nursery role.

close up of a young ostrich

How do ostriches feed their chicks?

Ostriches parents do not actively feed their chicks – after about a week or so, the chicks will eat instinctively. Ostrich chicks walk and follow their parents within days of hatching, observing and mimicking their feeding behavior.

Baby ostriches and young ostriches grow exceptionally rapidly at a rate of about 30 cm per month and reach adult-sized food in about 1 to 2 months.

What do ostrich eggs look like?

First of all, ostrich eggs are very large, weighing up to 2 kilograms, making them the largest eggs in the entire animal kingdom. They are about 15 cm (6 in) long and 12.5 cm (5 in) in diameter, smooth white to cream in color, with unusually thick shells and pits.

Ostriches use a communal nest containing about 20 eggs, and the hatching is shared by a male and a female, usually the female during the day – blending into the sand with her drab beige plumage – while the male blends into the darkness with his black plumage at night.

In communal nests, the incubator is usually the “lead hen”, which is the dominant hen in the flock, but this can vary throughout the incubation period. The reproductive hierarchy of ostriches is very complex and there is still a lot to learn, especially with the relatively rare Somali ostrich.

Ostriches and their eggs

How long does it take for an ostrich egg to hatch?

Ostrich eggs can take up to 42 to 46 days to hatch, which is the average incubation period for birds in warm climates. This may be due to the sheer size of the eggs, the sudden drop in ground temperature at night, and the fact that the nests are not insulated at all.

How many children does an ostrich have?

Egg laying in ostriches is complicated largely because there is a hierarchy that prioritizes the dominant “prime hen,” who tends to lay the first egg. Larger hens also lay the most eggs (up to 10), which are also usually located in the center of the nest.

Other hens typically lay 4 to 6 eggs, with a maximum of about 20 eggs per nest. Each nest will be shared by 2 to 5 hens. How and why this hierarchy was established is somewhat of a mystery.

After hatching, ostrich chicks are cared for by their individual brooding parents, but ostrich chicks also form nurseries where up to 40 birds are cared for together. Sometimes they may be with their parents, and other times they will be with their own flock in the nursery.

Parental conflicts can occur, which can result in a child of one parent being transferred to another pair of parents. As a result of these encounters, few ostrich parents were with the approximately 300 chicks. The reproductive behavior of Somali ostriches is thought to be similar to common ostriches, although less evidence is available.

Mother ostrich with many chicks

When Do Ostriches Lay Eggs?

The ostrich breeding season usually coincides with rainfall around June to October in East Africa and March to April or August to October in Southeast Africa and Kenya. Dry season breeding has also been recorded in some areas.

How long do baby ostriches stay with their parents?

Ostriches chicks remain close to their parents for about two months, at which point they gain some degree of independence, but stay in the same flock — or herd — until they’re about a year old. Ostrich chicks have been observed to remain bonded to their parents for up to 1 year.

Ostrich chicks spend part of the day with their parents, but they also form communal nurseries of about 20 to 40 chicks that are closely guarded by a male or a male and a female. Adult supervisors protect the birds from predators and are often observed protecting chicks from the sun with their massive wings.

Kenyan ostrich family

Nursery behavior is relatively uncommon among birds, but the young of some penguins, flamingos, terns, and eider ducks also form nurseries.

A nursery usually forms when most of the other adult ostriches are foraging or looking for water etc. Nurseries can coalesce into huge broods of hundreds of birds, and it’s often not clear whether the chicks are mismatched to different parents, or whether that matters as long as the chicks are under adult supervision.