The ostrich eggs are nutritious and so is the ostrich meat. Ostrich eggs constitute a part of a healthy diet for many.
One of the facts about ostrich eggs is that these are the largest eggs laid by any living bird, till date. The ostrich is a large earthbound, flightless bird native to Africa. It belongs to Struthionidae family and genus Struthio. The male ostrich is referred to as rooster and the female as hen. A grown male ostrich is taller than the female and each of them are taller than 8 feet. This marks ostrich, the great nomad of Africa, as the largest living bird on the planet Earth.
Ostrich Eggs Facts
The South Africans have been raising ostriches for at least 150 years to obtain the meat, feathers and hide. At present, there are more than 2 million ostriches in different parts of the world. One of the astonishing ostrich eggs facts is that an ostrich hen can lay 40-200 eggs per year, and around 5-20 eggs at a time. The eggs are guarded and incubated by the hen during the day. The same task is performed by the ostrich male, during the night. The following is a list of ostrich eggs facts:
- An ostrich hen lays one egg every two day, from the middle of March till the middle of August.
- In favorable conditions, an ostrich female can remain productive for 25-35 years.
- Average incubation or hatching period of ostrich eggs is of 42 days.
- The shell of the ostrich eggs is strong, and is 0.06 inches thick and can bear the weight of an adult man.
- On an average, the weight of an ostrich egg is close to 1 kg.
- The color of the ostrich eggs range from a pearl white to cream color.
- Ostrich eggs are approximately 6-7 inches in length and 15-18 inches around.
- If you are looking for nutrition facts for an ostrich egg, you will be surprised to know that it can provide a whopping 2000 calories.
- Another ostrich egg fact is that the contents of the ostrich eggs in dry form contain 47% of proteins and 44.3% of fats.
- The ostrich eggs also contains calcium, phosphorus and vitamins such as vitamin A, vitamin E, riboflavin and thiamin.
- Trace elements such as magnesium, manganese, selenium, zinc copper and iron are found to be present in the contents of the ostrich eggs.
- Eggs laid by the elephant birds of Madagascar (now extinct) and the giant moa of New Zealand were bigger than that of the ostrich.
Boy, you have found yourself a very interesting task. Cooking an ostrich egg is not a task that can be completed in a hurry. If you are planning to have ostrich eggs for breakfast, it will be a good idea to have some spare time on hand, whilst going about it. The following instructions explains how to cook ostrich eggs:
- You will need a sharp, thin and strong instrument such as ice pick because ostrich eggs have a very tough shell.
- Pierce the egg shell, in order to make a hole, at the pointed end of the egg.
- If the ice pick or the instrument you have chosen, is not enough for the task, you may use hammer with it. Tap the head of the ice pick with hammer lightly which may drive its pointed end through the egg shell.
- Next task is to cut through the inner membrane. It is tough, hence, use a knife to complete the task and stir the content of the egg.
- Place the ostrich egg in boiling water and cook it for about an one and half hour. Take precaution of maintaining the breeched end of the ostrich egg up.
- Alternatively, you can pour the egg contents onto a hot pan and make yourself, an omelet.
- You may have to invite your friends to eat a cooked ostrich egg because its contents amount to that of 2 dozen chicken eggs.
