free range?

[mr.mc.]

are they ok to be free range, or will they just leave?

 

[Supreme Emu]

Hmmm . . . I'm not quite sure if I understand the question, Mr. Mc. -- do you mean free-range emus?

Three answers (assuming I understand the question . . . ): tame birds will stay because they are fed and because they don't see humans as a threat – in short, they love you. In this case, fences are moreso to keep your birds safe from predators and cars and crackers with pump actions.

On the other hand, less tame birds, such as birds raised for meat, will bolt at any chance – wouldn't you? And they are then subject to danger as above.

There are, of course, no wild birds in the U.S., where almost all the BYC members are (though there may be feral birds). Here in Oz, the situation is the same as for the two answers above except that escaped emus will go back to the wild.

The only person on the whole forum with REAL free-range birds is . . . me. My emus are not pets. They are tame wild birds, acculturated over 850 consecutive days to feed from my hand. They are not fenced. They come and go as they please (and at present, they have gone. I saw Greedy the Emu five days ago. She bought her Boy Emu for a feed at dawn, then left. I haven't seen Felicity the Emu for a month, but I still expect she'll base herself her again after the breeding-season, all being well.).

[Speak of the devil: Greedy and her consort have just turned up, glukking and grunting, at the side of the house. I wish I knew -- so soon after losing a bird -- that Felicity was okay.]

Supreme Emu