Sexing adult emu

[Eviep]

Hello, I’ve got two adult emus Nigel is around 5 years old and Edgar is around 3, I got them from an emu breeder thinking they were boys I got them both as chicks Nigel first as just a pet as boys were meant to be friendlier then decided I want to get into emu breeding but we had suspicions Nigel wasn’t a boy she was a girl as she booms and displays to the male rheas so I went and bought Edgar as a boy who then also started making the same noise as Nigel I’ve looked everywhere for a noise comparison to try and determine what they are but I can’t find anything they are both hand reared so not afraid of human but are both very aggressive now anyone have any ideas what they could be?

 

[briefvisit]

Yes, the online videos can be soooo confusing! Let's start at Square One.

'she booms'. Okay. So does she hunker down in the swan-neck position while stationary, and crank out six or eight of those 'booms' in a row?

And when she is or just has been booming, can you run your hand down her chest feathers, and actually feel the inflated vocal sac? (In silhouette, you can see it literally swaying if your female is 'bigged right up.')

[Do you hear strings of quiet vocalisations in the hour or two before dawn?]

What drives us all bonkers, eviep, is that plenty of emu vocalisations are common to both males and females. They all grunt, burp, fart, and hiss.

My position is most fortunate, as I watch watch and listen to wild emus. So if there are, say, six or eight emus around the house-clearing, identifying males and females is a combination of listening and watching. But without 'wild context' -- just a couple of emus in a paddock -- it can, I imagine, be very confusing.

Supreme Emu, Lake Muir, Western Australia







Supreme Emu

 

[briefvisit]

https://imgur.com/z0ZZxUq