Literally 15 min out from Solvang, CA is this absolutely MUST STOP destination! When I had read about this place online, I was pretty skeptical about actually wanting to go. I mean, ostrich’s are cool but was it going to be worthwhile to get out and see in person?

Having visited and FED the ostrich’s I can now absolutely say YES! And I hope anyone else on the fence about it, can read about my experience and decide that they too will stop and visit. It’s $5 a person to get into the area and then for $1 you can get a bowl of food to feed them. So for $6 why not??

One of my best friends’, Steph, and I were taking a little girls weekend getaway to Solvang and just thought what the heck. Let’s check it out. We surprisingly learned A LOT about ostrich’s and having stood next to a couple, I am actually more fascinated with them than ever before. They look like literal dinosaurs. I mean their feet! They reminded me of the feet of a T-Rex. And their bodies! Like everything they are is at least 2 feet away from their head. Steph and I just kind of stood for a couple minutes just staring at them. Like how are they actually considered birds???

Some fun facts about Ostrich’s

• They are the largest and fastest birds in the world- with sustained speeds of 35 mph and bursts up to 45 mph.
• They can weight up to 350 lbs and live up to 75 years.
• They are they only bird with 2 toes per foot.
• Their eggs weigh 3-5 lbs each
• OSTRICH’s DO NOT burry their heads in the sand! This is a myth!
• They co-parent; females lay/protect the eggs during the day and the male will lay on the eggs at night.
• Ostrich’s grow about 1 foot per month till they hit between 8/9 feet tall.
• They are flightless birds.

At the farm, they also have emus! Which are another “big” bird but much, much smaller than an ostrich.

Fun facts about Emu’s

• They are the 2nd largest living bird by height-second to their relative the Ostrich.
• They can reach up to 6 feet tall.
• They can sprint up to 31 mph.
• They young are nurtured and raised by the male emu.
• They will reach full size around 6 months.
• Like their relative, emus cannot fly.

The land on which they are able to roam is absolutely HUGE and very open. And because of the typical California weather, in Solvang it is much like their native weather in Austria/Africa.

When you pick up your bowl of food, you’re warned multiple times that the ostrich’s and emu’s will bite and that you must hand on to the handle with 2 hands so that they do not force you to drop it- and once feeding them, you’ll see exactly why. They are so powerful and just bang their heads down into the bowl to get the food. If you don’t hang on with both hands, that bowl is for sure long gone.

We had so much fun feeding these large birds and walking around the land. It was a very eye opening experience for sure!

Hope you enjoyed reading a bit about the first stop of our Solvang adventure!

xoxo,

Amanda