Emu egg season Fall of 2013 to 2014

[yinepu]

My male has decided to sit. He has 13 eggs under him.

 

[smokeyjoe]

one of my girls has finally decided to lad on the coldest night 4 degrees and windchill -15 of course it froze oh well at least they started laying , never been this late they always started around November, I had almost gave up.

 

[Ellamumu]

smokeyjoe, how are your birds doing in that cold, one of mine is so miserable, he goes out for 5 min, and then limps back in to warm his feet. My other does the same but doesn't limp. I feel so bad.

 

[briefvisit]

The poor quality of data on dromaius novaehollandiae drives me up the wall! Every thimblebrain Safari Park Guy is happy to churnalise stuff that's untrue: 'This male has been sitting on these eggs for a few months now.' Really? Three months? Six? Ten?

My point is that there's so much to learn about the time between the copulation and any given male choosing to begin the incubation. You mention that an egg froze. I surely don't question a first-hand observation. Is it possible that the 'modes' are different in different geographical regions? that emus DON'T, in snowy regions, leave their eggs sitting on the ground ('pre-nest'), under a few leaves and twigs, for days before the male chooses to sit on them? That is, that emus in different areas have different practices that have never been researched?

Although we finally got all manner of titbits of info from Planet Rothschildi, we gotta remember that it's only one emu environment (about 'mid-range': pretty durn cold in winter, but now snow).

There is . . . somewhere . . . a Youtube clip by 'envirowarrior,' you'll have to hunt it down, that has THE ONLY intelligent info I could find on pre-nesting. It shows a pre-nest: emu eggs. On the ground. Covered. Not being sat on. We assume fertile. The only other quality info came from Emu Hugger.

Somewhere I read that five eggs is the 'quorum' that triggers the male's decision to undertake an incubation. There is an clear evolutionary logic to this.

One could get a Ph. D. on this aspect of emu life. Wish I could . . .

Supreme Emu

 

[yinepu]

The poor quality of data on dromaius novaehollandiae drives me up the wall! Every thimblebrain Safari Park Guy is happy to churnalise stuff that's untrue: 'This male has been sitting on these eggs for a few months now.' Really? Three months? Six? Ten?

My point is that there's so much to learn about the time between the copulation and any given male choosing to begin the incubation. You mention that an egg froze. I surely don't question a first-hand observation. Is it possible that the 'modes' are different in different geographical regions? that emus DON'T, in snowy regions, leave their eggs sitting on the ground ('pre-nest'), under a few leaves and twigs, for days before the male chooses to sit on them? That is, that emus in different areas have different practices that have never been researched?

Although we finally got all manner of titbits of info from Planet Rothschildi, we gotta remember that it's only one emu environment (about 'mid-range': pretty durn cold in winter, but now snow).

There is . . . somewhere . . . a Youtube clip by 'envirowarrior,' you'll have to hunt it down, that has THE ONLY intelligent info I could find on pre-nesting. It shows a pre-nest: emu eggs. On the ground. Covered. Not being sat on. We assume fertile. The only other quality info came from Emu Hugger.

Somewhere I read that five eggs is the 'quorum' that triggers the male's decision to undertake an incubation. There is an clear evolutionary logic to this.

One could get a Ph. D. on this aspect of emu life. Wish I could . . .

Supreme Emu

lol.. Dorian proves your point.. he is so frustrated with me stealing his eggs and only has three empty shells in his nest that I left there in exchange for the eggs I stole.. but if Rose lays ONE egg now his fluffy behind is parked on the nest and I have to reach under him to steal it!... luckily I know when she is due to lay an egg.. so I get to it well before he has a chance to incubate it for more than a few minutes...

 

[briefvisit]

Wheeeee!! I'm here, Yinepu (with my head under a sheet). Just got your question:

My place ('Planet Rothschildi') is on the very bottom left corner of Oz. We have here what we think are bitchin' cold winters. However, most Australians wouldn't know what a real winter was if it fell from the sky on their head. So, at worst here, Yinepu, we get a fair frost two days in a row. It snowed once when Granpa Jones was a kid.

We get a lot or rain at times, and wind-chill factor.

As I noted elsewhere, there is snowsnowsnow on the southern section of the Great Dividing Range.

S.E.

 

[yinepu]

Wheeeee!! I'm here, Yinepu (with my head under a sheet). Just got your question:

My place ('Planet Rothschildi') is on the very bottom left corner of Oz. We have here what we think are bitchin' cold winters. However, most Australians wouldn't know what a real winter was if it fell from the sky on their head. So, at worst here, Yinepu, we get a fair frost two days in a row. It snowed once when Granpa Jones was a kid.

We get a lot or rain at times, and wind-chill factor.

As I noted elsewhere, there is snowsnowsnow on the southern section of the Great Dividing Range.

S.E.

Sounds a lot like Texas (where I am in CenTex anyway).. snow never lasts for more than a day when on the rare occasion that we actually get any... a few cold cold days with wind chill and frost then warms back up a bit.. at least this isn't the Northern US where they end up waist deep in snow for weeks on end!
This year we have had more bitter cold days than most years.. had two eggs freeze and split since they were laid on a north facing slope (the north winds got to them before I could)...

 

[briefvisit]

I am gonna have some fun. Back in an hour.


S.E

 

[briefvisit]

Information!! S.E. rang around some towns on the Great Dividing Range. A local in Oberon was kind enough to track down a National Parks and Wildlife Services guy, who flatly contradicts what The

Maps say. The maps show that emus range most everywhere. The N.P.W.S. guy says, 'No: not above about 400 metres elevation.'

Hmmm . . .

S.E.

 

[smokeyjoe]

Well Ellamumu , they don't do well in the cold they have straw and heat lights , they seem to like sitting under it and I feed them close to there sleeping quarters , they come out , but like you said they normally come bake in a few min limping , I feel for them however they do like to hibernate in the building when the weather is like this , we don't get the weather this cold too often here in TN but when we do it seems harder on them then I like .

but I do love spoiling them .