Warning to perspective first-time emu owners!

[yinepu]

Emu all have different personalities. Mine get along fine.with all my great pyrenees dogs.....fainting goats...mini horses...mini cows...llama...alpaca. ....mini pig....horses etc. Never had them.be aggressive towards any new animals.of that size. Smaller poultry are normally a concern. I have some Emu that won't bother the.chickens...the younger 2 like to chase them sometimes...but not the ducks. They don't bother the geese to much either...but during breeding season my one male.will chase the geese. They don't mess with the swan or.cranes.....the turkey.and peafowl chase the Emu..... So I think for the most part, if it won't run and it stands its ground the Emu leave it alone. The fun for th is the chase. I have roosters that will beat up a Emu....lol
But smaller birds that run are a target and anything that gets an Emu excited.
Never had any of mine be aggressive to people but have heard of some.
Luckily most of the people who contact me ask a lot of questions about them before deciding on one and I wouldn't sell one to someone who wasn't fully.committed and prepared.
They surely aren't for everyone.

They are just plain weird critters.. lol

My Great Pyr was their "mom" until a couple of weeks ago.. They would even snuggle next to her to sleep
now they try to fight her and chase her off.. No idea why unless it's because they are nearing the 1 year mark. They will actually corner her and attack.. I was shocked when I caught them in the act.. it got so bad that now she's retired from being their mother... So hopefully some of these eggs hatch so she has some new kids to look after.

 

[chickenzoo]

Strange...... I have 5 GPs. ....its so funny to watch peoples faces as the dogs come running to the fence barking with Emu following right behind...hehe. my Emu and.GP often sleep together....play around.etc.... My one male is sitting.and some of the GPs sleep near him at night. If the dogs try to seal some of the Emu food then they might get a peck....but otherwise they are good. My cat...well most get along with him.....because he grew up with them and stands his ground.....but if he runs they will half heartly run after.
The turkey and peafowl however.....they rule. The turkey will run after the Emu...run them off their food...jump up and flogg them.....funny to watch a fat tom turkey wattling after an Emu...lol. The peafowl are worse. hehe

 

[yinepu]

Strange...... I have 5 GPs. ....its so funny to watch peoples faces as the dogs come running to the fence barking with Emu following right behind...hehe. my Emu and.GP often sleep together....play around.etc.... My one male is sitting.and some of the GPs sleep near him at night. If the dogs try to seal some of the Emu food then they might get a peck....but otherwise they are good. My cat...well most get along with him.....because he grew up with them and stands his ground.....but if he runs they will half heartly run after.
The turkey and peafowl however.....they rule. The turkey will run after the Emu...run them off their food...jump up and flogg them.....funny to watch a fat tom turkey wattling after an Emu...lol. The peafowl are worse. hehe

I wish mine still loved my Pyr.. she misses being out with them.. but when I take her out to the pasture she takes one look at them and her tail drops down and she gives me that look like "do I HAVE to go in there with them??" I don't know what happened to change the dynamic between them literally overnight. one day they were snuggling up next to her.. the next morning she was the enemy. I know she didn't snap at them or anything because she won't even defend herself from them when they do attack. She is a great protector though.. she has killed a coyote and chased off numerous foxes..

 

[Going Bhonkers]

It seems like emus are becoming fashionable to own again, as I have been contacted by record numbers of perspective egg and chick buyers. Many of these people have never raised or even been around an adult emu. One of the first questions that I ask any potential customer is, "how much space do you have for your pen?".

I have been amazed at the number of people who have not considered how much room an adult emu requires and planned to raise then in an "old dog or chicken pen". When I get that for an answer, I refuse to consider selling them an emu, even if they get mad or offer me more that what I would normally charge.

Emus are very large birds (duh?) and need to be able to run in order to strengthen their legs and get their exercise. They are not birds that can typically be kept in a back yard "cage" or even the typical residential back yard!. They can run at speeds in excess of 30 miles per hour and take up to 9' in a single stride! Their pens need to be very long (120' or more), although they can be narrow in design.

If you are thinking about becoming an emu owner, remember that an emu, as a rule, requires about the same space that a horse would and you would not (hopefully) think about keeping a horse cooped up in an old dog pen!

Great advice! I know emus are NOT a possibility for me, so I live vicariously through you guys!!

 

[HouseMouseHens]

I just want to say that this post made me laugh a little bit. Until about five minutes ago when I accidentally clicked on the wrong board, I had no idea that people raised emu as pets. I can't imagine having an emu in my backyard!

 

[Chickie Mama]

I agree with the starter of this tread!

Emus are fascinating creatures but there is no doubt about it- they are not for everyone. All of our emus are tame. Hand raised from hatching, but I find that they are more "wild" than any other feathered critters in my care.

Newbies should be aware:
The female emus can be aggressive towards female people when laying eggs.

Emus have a pecking order and the smallest are sometimes bullied pretty badly. (Picture above)


Emus should have weather proof shelter with a large enclosure with high fence and plenty of space to run eat grass and bugs. (Pictured above... It is hard to see in this pic, but the enclosure goes into that green grassy area in front of the barn as well.)Emus do not have a homing instinct (because they wander and migrate in the wild) so if they get out of their enclosure they can be incredibly difficult to get back in. Not to mention they can cover a lot of ground in a short span of time.


I encourage everyone to make well informed decisions.

 

[Tame Emu Guy]

Hi, Chickie Mama,

Great photos!! – isn’t it funny that we just don’t have barns like that in Australia.

But a note: yes, emus do have a homing instinct. Indeed, it is true that in certain times and places they are pressed to cover hundreds of miles to forage for food.

Normally, though, they seem to have ‘overlapping major and minor territories,’ around which they move on a yearly cycle. For example, Eric the Emu – whom I have been observing for over five years – will turn up in spring, within a time-frame of just two or three weeks, to tax the fruit that falls from the trees.

Here is Eric with the 2012 clutch:


There are still lots of gaps in my data, but it seems that females come back to their ‘home turf’ to breed.

However, you are still 100% right to say that catching them if they escape is no picnic!!

Supreme Emu
Western Australia

 

[kathyinmo]

Homing instinct? Well, I just know that my 1 year old male, Fred, stays home. He is not even penned. Likely this is due to his disability. He has a bad foot (or leg) and is gimpy. Anyway, he wanders all over our property (4 acres), but always stays here.

 

[MimiLolly]

Hi...a friend has a 54 acre ranch in Wimberley, Texas. A female adult emu came with the ranch...there was a male but he died while sitting.
Now the female is lonely and we would like to get a male...probably a chick that she could raise. Could you help with advice on this, as well as cost, shipping, etc. Thanks so much.

 

[yinepu]

Hi...a friend has a 54 acre ranch in Wimberley, Texas. A female adult emu came with the ranch...there was a male but he died while sitting.
Now the female is lonely and we would like to get a male...probably a chick that she could raise. Could you help with advice on this, as well as cost, shipping, etc. Thanks so much.

ok.. first of all.. the females don't raise the chicks... the males do

Now having said that.. normally a captive adult emu will attack and try to kill a strange animal that enters it's domain. So the baby would have to be raised separately.. then introduced slowly in the hopes that they would get along. Not every emu will accept a new bird into it's home, so long term arrangements would have to be made in case the second emu needs a permanent area away from the older bird.

As for cost and shipping. Look on Craigslist and the local thrifty nickle during February to about May here in Texas. There are usually ads for emu chicks at that time.
As a note: Don't believe the crap that one seller that I know of likes to spread about emu being great livestock guardians (I would avoid those sellers altogether) since a coyote or stray dogs CAN kill emus very easily once the sun goes down. Sure they may attack and kill a critter that wanders through their pen during the day.. but at night they are very vulnerable.