On the last day as we journeyed south towards Pengelih, we visited the ostrich farm which was born out of a passion to retire with a purpose, keeping 300 odd big birds happy and thriving in an environment that is close to their natural habitat in the wild to let visitors experience interaction with these majestic, tutu-totting bird ballerinas.

Almost like a Mardi Gras, we walked into the farm with Joyce Teh, the owner’s wife, who explained what life in this big pen is like.

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Colin Teh, the owner of the farm, originally intended to start a stud farm in which he did in Semenyih back in 1995.

A life in the corporate world before the farm led him to yearn for simplicity and a healthier alternative. It wasn’t difficult to spot the enthusiasm he has when he talked about these birds.

A loud bang at the far end of the enclosure seemed to have caused a stir when the long-legged birds started running in droves, sending them helter-skelter in the pen.

When they realize that there’s really nothing wrong, they would begin to skip and pivot merrily with their wings flared open while flapping in succession as if to say, “Nothing’s wrong! Nothing’s wrong!”

Their comical faces have a perpetual smile and this behaviour was so fascinating to watch. Another thing the ostriches get anxious about is anything that appears to be taller than they are, would send them helter-skelter again!

So all of us tested this theory by raising both our arms above our heads with our hands clasped to see if they would run and then do the silly dance…….and they did. Makes perfect sense to note that their brains happen to be smaller than the size of their eyeballs!

Though not very smart, they were a pretty sight when their feathers are dried and puffed up in the hot weather, especially when they did their silly dance!

All the while, there were two Cassowaries that tailed us everywhere we went in the farm. It was learnt that this cousin of the ostrich, does not like being confined and would jump out of their pens.

Having two species of big birds roaming freely in the farm as if they were the rulers of the kingdom was truly amazing. And the male Cassowary answers to the name Wary and he can be petted and stroked as he walks beside you.

In addition to the big and mighty, there were the puny punks of the farm, the Polish Chicken, a variety of the stunted Bantam chickens.

With a head full of fluffy feathers, it looked like this odd stunner had a bad hair day but what was to be presented to us was something totally unfathomable, Joyce had trained the chicken to play dead. Just as she grasped the chicken to turn it over to be put on the ground, the Polish Chicken obediently abided and froze with feet in the air. Joyce reminded the Polish Chicken to ‘die properly’ and the chicken proceeded shut its eyes! Absolutely amusing!

One of the caretakers of the farm called Boon, was seen entering a pen that enclosed a trained ostrich for children’s rides. As he swept the pen clean, the ostrich affectionately pecked at the back of his torso from the front and gently tugged at his clothes.

Boon seemed unfazed by this attention of the towering bird and steadily shoved the bird’s chest away. As often as he did this, the ostrich got nearer to peck on his back. His affection for the animal was evident in the response towards one another.

The egg of an ostrich weighs a whopping 1.5kg on the average, with a rare one being 1.9kg. It has a very hard shell and it was demonstrated by Colin by perforating a hole through the top of the shell with an electric drill!

The inner membrane of the shell that holds the embryo is very strong. He punctured the membrane to drain the contents out into a basin. He put a finger through the perforation and carefully removed the entire membrane from the inner shell.

It was surprisingly smooth and was almost the thickness of a polythene bag. One egg is equivalent to 25 eggs of a chicken. Two ostrich eggs can be used to bake 13 cakes! Strangely, they had been baking that day and we were quite privileged to have been given a taste of Marble Cakes made using ostrich eggs. It had a creamier texture and exceptionally rich taste. On days when they do bake them, they would be put up for sale.

Ostrich has very little fat content and taste like red meat. Virtually every part of the ostrich is useful. The bones can be made into a health essence, skin into leather for shoes, bags and wallets, meat for consumption, egg into kaya (smooth, sweet spread), cakes and omelette. The empty shell can be turned into a lamp shade or a decorative light. The eggs which are fertilized would be placed into the incubator with each batch recorded and timed for the day of hatching.

Again, we were privileged to have witnessed two baby ostriches popping out of the shell to begin their lives as graceful tutu-totting big birds.

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