Developing a female-only flock for artificial insemination purposes in ostriches: Progress and future directions

•Female ostriches appear to ovulate spontaneously.•Presence of males not needed to stimulate egg production.•Pairing with males results in more and heavier eggs.•Large variation observed between females.•Consideration to be given to studies investigating stimulation of egg production. The development of a flock of females that can produce eggs and maintain egg production rate without the presence of males is a prerogative for a viable artificial insemination protocol in ostriches. Over six consecutive breeding seasons (May–December, 2009–2014), we recorded the egg production performance of 40 single-penned (ART) South African Black ostrich females (2–9 years of age), and compared these records with the egg production of 162 pair-mated females of comparable age from the breeding flock (BP). ART females laid significantly fewer eggs than BP females (mean±SEM: 3.49±0.13 eggs per month vs. 4.64±0.09 eggs per month respectively; P