ONE of our young ostrichs got stuck in the mud !

This is our “little dam” here at Thula.

Only about 20% full with water on the 10.01.2015.

24.03.2016: Our little dam was completely empty !

Only a small puddle of water was left.

This puddle of water dried out and on the 16.06.2016,

one of our young ostrich got stuck in this “looked dry” puddle….

At 5:00pm we found him there and we had to pull him

out fast, before it got dark and he would sink in deeper.

We managed, but the ostrich and we were now full of mud.

The bird went back to his sleeping place near the

ostrich camp and we also went back to our house for a shower.

We hoped he would survive during the night, and he did !

The next  morning he looked like a zombie. His wings were

hanging down from the weight of the mud in his feathers.

You could not see his feathers on his back either,

because the mud was hard like concrete. When our

Zebras saw him coming, they all got a fright and ran

across the farm to the other side.

The next morning, Sunday 19.06.2016, we decided to

bring the young ostrich into a small camp to wash off

the now hardened  mud off his feathers and Body.

We brought our Landy 130 Pick-Up with a 600 litre 

Water-Tank on the back with 35°warm water !

Werner is prepared for the washing and rinsing down the poor ostrich.

I am now also prepared to clean the bird.

An hour later, our young ostrich is looking much better

as you can see, no mud anymore in his feathers.

Now the bird is able to do the rest of cleaning on his own,

but first he and his feathers have to dry off first.

And shortly, the young ostrich will look much better again.....

but his father is still shocked about his appearance….

Now a week later, Ostrich "Muddy" from THULA  is back to normal again.