Ostrich Incubation  a ground breaking first in OZ 1988 

 We were fortunate in our shop in Belgrave South  to not only be making the Bellsouth 100 but also to be experimenting. A customer came in wanting to incubate ostrich eggs. A quick search showed it was; 

A, not being done in Australia, and

B. quite difficult to do, and little or now with no literature to support the process.

The customer offered us some eggs, and we took our basic Bellsouth 100, and after cutting and joining 3 apart to give the height, went back to basics. Bird body temperature about 103 F on top of the shell,  desert bird no humidity, manual turning three  times a day. It took 2 days before the temperature stabilised. One egg was not fertile, but 42 days later 2 chicks arrived.  The local paper heard about it as lots of people saw this all going on in the shop  on a table in the showroom.  Next week the local paper has a front page, quickly followed by the Melbourne Sun pictorial. The follow up from Chanel 9 or 7 I forget which, was declined. One of the chicks had died and then the second followed. We could get them out but couldn't  get them to stay alive.  I have since been told by many people that they were doing it  long before this, but I still cant find any evidence, note the dates , so I claim to be the first to artificially incubate the ostrich in OZ.   Scroll down for the Sun.  I still have the two rather decrepit stuffed chicks in the bindery.  See other article Hight Points in Bellsouth History Jim Finger 2021