Can you keep a single emu?

[reptichick]

I realize you can keep an emu alone, but can they live happily this way? Can they get their companionship from other animals and humans?

 

[mich9510]

My little Daryl is a lone emu. I put some chicken chicks in with him a few days after he was born and he was fine. Now that he's a little older (8weeks old) he hangs out with them all the time. Until recently I was bringing him in at night because he's not fully feathered yet and it got pretty cold. I always had to bring in two of the chicks in addition to Daryl or he would sing out his distress call. The one chick actually lays on top of Daryl when they sleep. He also loves the dog and follows him around a lot.
It seems to me that they have to have companionship but that can be in the form of another animal.

 

[briefvisit]

My little Daryl is a lone emu. I put some chicken chicks in with him a few days after he was born and he was fine. Now that he's a little older (8weeks old) he hangs out with them all the time. Until recently I was bringing him in at night because he's not fully feathered yet and it got pretty cold. I always had to bring in two of the chicks in addition to Daryl or he would sing out his distress call. The one chick actually lays on top of Daryl when they sleep. He also loves the dog and follows him around a lot.
It seems to me that they have to have companionship but that can be in the form of another animal.

The years of past posts agree with mich's proposition: emooz can be happy around other animals. Having said that, I note that ornithologists describe emus as 'solitary'; but that has a different meaning than for hoomernz. Emus love to 'schmooze' with other emus; and when you see them in the wild, you see how their yearly cycle is focussed on those Lovely Big Green Eggs (laying them or sitting on them) . . . well, if you have the room, a pair of emus is happy emus.

 

[Ellamumu]

My 5 year old was raised with a goose that he really bonded with , they hung out all day and swam together in their pool. One day a dog came and grabbed the goose and my emu looked for it for awhile and was quite bummed out so when a lady offered me a three month old emu that needed a home I took him. It took a few months for them to get along but eventually they became friends. They've been together about 3 1/2 years now, I'm glad they have each other because NH is pretty cold in the winter but they sleep cuddled up in one of the stalls in my barn.

 

[briefvisit]

Oooh, Ella, you can add a datum: do they sleep breast to breast?

[They do in the wild, but we have little data.]

SE

 

[Ellamumu]

In the summer they do sleep breast to breast with space between them but in the winter they sleep side by side as tight together as possible for maximum heat. When I put my hand between them it's red hot even when it's freezing out. Even though they are in an enclosed horse barn at night They definitely need each other in the winter in northern New Hampshire.

 

[Ellamumu]

 

[Ellamumu]

. They really would like if I slept with them all the time

 

[briefvisit]

In the summer they do sleep breast to breast with space between them but in the winter they sleep side by side as tight together as possible for maximum heat. When I put my hand between them it's red hot even when it's freezing out. Even though they are in an enclosed horse barn at night They definitely need each other in the winter in northern New Hampshire.

Thanks for the data. A while ago -- but too tired to do anything about it -- while over at 'Oudman's' (site of observations years ago), I found an absolutely perfect poop ring, indicating a male with a number of chicks had roosted there. Best one I've ever seen. Yes, would have been spring, so warm. The poop shows that all five or six birds were all breast to breast.

SE

 

[reptichick]

Thanks for the replies everyone!