The Ostrich Farm

One of my Saturday get-out-of-the-house efforts brought us to Kiev's ostrich farm. Yes, there is an ostrich farm. With a small bird / random animal zoo. And a restaurant that features healthy ostrich meat dishes.

We saw the ostriches, saw the small birds and random animals. Did not try the ostrich meat. Uuuhhh....Maybe next time.

But here are some pictures from our day out.

This is a baby ostrich. I liked the pattern of stripes and spots in their feathers.



They are about this big (below) when they are a couple months old. (They hatch from eggs that are about the size of a rugby ball.)



They were so cute because when the crowd arrived at the fence, they all came running full speed out of their little hut, flirted at the fence a bit, looking side ot side and cocking their little heads at people, then ran full speed back in. They did it about four or five times while we stood there. They're so little and curious compared to the bigger ostriches.



This is a teenager ostrich. Their eyes are really bright and big and they have amazing eyelashes. They give inquisitive looks that are a little disarming, because they are otherwise such an awkward, kind of strange creature to look at.

This is the big daddy ostrich.


I was trying to capture how tall they really are full grown, but it was tricky. Basically, when the ostrich would stand with his neck fully up, he was taller than Henry on Megan's shoulders. That's really pretty tall when you're up close.



I'm really enjoying my child carriers, by the way. Makes for a much easier day out.



Aside from the ostriches, there were a great variety of birds in the little zoo - peacocks, beautiful pheasants, interesting varieties of chickens - as well as sheep and goats. All of which the kids could feed. Calvin got to feel a peacock peck. He didn't like it so much. I wasn't able to get very good pictures of the birds because of the cages, so we moved on.

And then suddenly there was a very large (and I think very old) camel in the field beyond zoo. Camels seemed big when we were in Egypt, but not quite as big next to the Pyramids as this one did in a green field in Ukraine.




But truthfully? I think the favorite animal at the farm / zoo was the calico cat. My boys go to mush over cats. I'm allergic to them, but it becomes almost irresistible when I see how Calvin and Henry get so gentle and soothing with a soft little animal, and how Charlie kneels to look closely and then tentatively touch their backs. The boys seriously spent about fifteen minutes just petting and following this cat around. Maybe a baby sister could be like a pet cat for them?



My personal favorite of the random animals, though, would have to be the guinea pig. Because it was trying to chew out of its cage and because it has hair just like Calvin's.



And that was our day at the world famous Kiev Ostrich Farm. If you ever need a place to roam or a day out of the city, it's not a bad place to go.

Give the healthy ostrich meat a try and let me know how you like it. You just can't tell me that it tastes just like chicken.