How to Feed Rheas

Rheas are ratites, part of the same family as ostriches. Birdseed doesn't cut it for these large, flightless birds. Because ready-made ratite feed isn't always available in every area, many farmers make their own. Here's how.

Instructions

Difficulty: Challenging

Things You’ll Need:

• Rhea feed base mix
• Grains
• Feed grinder

1. Purchase a high-quality base from a reputable feed mill. The base usually consists of at least protein from soy and fishmeal, vitamins, minerals, cornmeal and alfalfa meal.
2. Mix the base with grains like oat, wheat and barley. If you are a rhea farmer, invest in a feed grinder. It will thoroughly mix the feed and produce easy to digest pellets. The ratio of base to grains varies depending on the age of the bird. See Resources for charts detailing the recommended amounts of nutrients, vitamins and minerals.
3. Feed chicks less than 3-months old a premium starter mix. Crumble their feed, rather than offering adult pellets. Because ratite chick mortality is high, proper feeding is an important step to ensure young chicks make it to adulthood.
4. Maintain older chicks and adult rheas with recommended feed mixes for their stages of growth. Offer breeder rheas diets designed specifically for them. Ground oyster shells provide grit and extra calcium for egg layers.
5. Aim for quality nutrients, rather than quantity. The key is balanced nutrition. It might be tempting to increase a certain nutrient because you hear it is important, but too much of one nutrient can decrease absorption of another, causing more harm than good.
6. Offer only what the birds will consume in one day. This method serves multiple purposes. It keeps away predators and rodents, it reduces waste and disease and it encourages a balanced diet by discouraging the birds from picking out what they like and avoiding what they don't.
7. Change feed slowly. Mix the old with the new, increasing the new a little each day until the switch is complete. Rheas don't readily accept changes to their diet.