2022/2023 Emu Hatch-a-Long

[AlleysChicks]

What are your experiences with put younger emus with older ones. I have one that is quickly outgrowing its current pen. It is next to the adults, the female could care less but the male does have somthing against it but hes start to chill. It probably can stay in its current pen but defentily not for much longer. What do you think

How big is it compared to the others? Are they similar in size?

 

[ShannonsChimkens]

That’s a tough one. Last fall I put two juveniles with two adults. The adults weren’t friendly and would constantly chase and kick them. Over a long period of time, they started to tolerate the younger ones as they got closer to their size. Now they will tolerate them long enough to eat and drink, but still chase them off.

It’s much easier to put a small chick with larger chicks.

 

[ShannonsChimkens]

Here’s what happens when you put young emus with adults…

 

[5kfarms233]

Here’s what happens when you put young emus with adults…

She's about the size of the ones in the video. They have a fence between them, and i put there water closer to together. THe male gets a little mad at it but compared to when it first was outside for the first time its like night and day. The female donset really care or i haven't seen her care.

Might it be best to keep them apart until they lit down together or something slimier?

 

[ShannonsChimkens]

She's about the size of the ones in the video. They have a fence between them, and i put there water closer to together. THe male gets a little mad at it but compared to when it first was outside for the first time its like night and day. The female donset really care or i haven't seen her care.

Might it be best to keep them apart until they lit down together or something slimier?

It may be best to wait for them to be similar in size. Unless you can be out there to watch and see how it goes. Bring a good stick!

 

[Pyxis]

It was a pain to get my juveniles in with the adults. I too second waiting until they are similar in size. Even then, the adults still gave the young ones a hard time for a bit, but since they were bigger, it wasn't as likely to end in injury.

 

[briefvisit]

Thanks so much for the nine-minute video. I learned a lot.

Is the male attacking his own chicks?!

And: although your paddock is of a good size, it's interesting for me to compare the dynamic with that of the tame-wild birds here.

Thirty, forty, fifty yards is point blank in respect of contending emus. The head-down-lock-eyes-charge behaviour is sooo recognisable. And it's as though once the locked-eyes thing has happened, humans become invisible to them.

I never fail to marvel at the absurd amounts of energy the dominant ones will put into rushing over to attack lesser birds.

And chicks that have for some reason no Dad to look after them will latch onto random adults emu, even if they get repeatedly chased away. I had to dig this photo out:

 

[briefvisit]

The adult is a female. Limpy Chick, I think. These chicks were unattached, and just decided that she was their Dad. She pecked their heads relentlessly . . . for a while, then just let them follow her around.

Supreme Emu

 

[5kfarms233]

Thought i would update my progress with introducing my emus. I did end up introducing them yesterday. Just because she was posing a threat to the other emu chicks. It went really well. I put her in and nothing the male was a little interested and followed her around for a bit then he went on to do his normal routine. (shes 3.5 months)

(please dont think bad about me becasue of this pen. Im still in the process of building there permint one which is much more green and full of life(plus no chickens))

 

[ShannonsChimkens]

Glad the introduction went well! Some emus are more territorial than others. You are just lucky it worked

I won’t judge yours if you won’t judge mine it’s definitely not perfect either.