Where can I purchase​ Emu toys and walking harness

[2010cristib]

Hi emu parents! Please fill me in on where to get a good, comfortable walking harness and toys that would be safe and durable for emus. My kids are only about 3-4 weeks old and I would like to start training them. Thanks!

 

[ChickenGoesRuff]

I know I don't have emus, but I found another thread that suggested weasel balls.
https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/841127/i-got-my-emu-ostrich-a-weasel-ball
I also saw a facebook video where they threw tennis balls for the emu to chase after.
Hope it helps. For harnesses, I'd check out Valhoma (mostly smaller poultry harnesses, but for young birds maybe?) they sell on Amazon.

 

[mich9510]

Hi emu parents! Please fill me in on where to get a good, comfortable walking harness and toys that would be safe and durable for emus. My kids are only about 3-4 weeks old and I would like to start training them. Thanks!

Please don't take offense but why would you want a walking harness for an emu? They are wild animals that need lots of space to run, run, run. They are not meant to be leashed. I hope I don't offend but I can't imagine trying to "walk" my Daryl. It's not in his nature....

 

[mich9510]

Daryl is 8 weeks old and I've never given him toys....as a matter of fact my human children tried to roll a ball with him and he hissed and puffed his neck feathers at it. The best source of entertainment for an emu chick is wide open space. daryl has been outside every day from day 4 of life outside the egg. I have only brought him in when it's below 30 degrees but even at that I took him outside 5/6 times per day for about an hour. Even in the snow and rain. He thrives outside. Emus don't need to play with toys they need to run and jump outside. They need to rip leaves from trees and bushes and peck at seeds and grass on the ground. I'm saying this with all due respect but emus are not a domesticated animal

 

[briefvisit]

Please don't take offense but why would you want a walking harness for an emu? They are wild animals that need lots of space to run, run, run. They are not meant to be leashed. I hope I don't offend but I can't imagine trying to "walk" my Daryl. It's not in his nature....

I'm ashamed, mich -- I wanted to say this, but hesitated. Yes . . . why would you want a walking harness for an emu?

 

[Ellamumu]

Well I've never tried to walk my emus but my 4 year old has been playing with a small stuffed car that talks when you touch it since he was a chick, I have videos of him stomping it hissing at it and tossing it in the air. My 5 year old likes those cheap small fleecy blankets that you get for 3 bucks at Walmart, he drags the around the barn and arranges them in his nest . I should have named him Linus lol.

 

[2010cristib]

At least you guys have asked politely- thanks! So here is the idea.. I live in a RURAL area where our AG backgrounds are the foundation of our local society. As we are growing, newcomers are landing here and wanting to learn about agriculture. As a business owner, it would be awesome if I could take an emu to the local schools and educate young people about them. There was an emu who attended the National Western Stock show in Denver and people got all excited to meet him and learn about emus. My turkeys would go to a school if I let them so the natural evolution of the idea was to try an emu.
Remember, just because someone has not seen something done, or even if someone has had a bad experience trying something, it does not rule it out for all. The key is to be smart and cautious about keeping everyone safe and happy. If any of my animals said they did not want to do something, I would never ask them again.

 

[briefvisit]

Well, that's a good answer!

[Please do forgive us our concerns. Over the years that I've frequented this thread, we have had some folks asking questions that suggest their ratites were not being treated well.]

I recall a discussion about holding chicks -- some one dropped a chick; it was injured, and had to be euthanised. At the time, I described my technique for holding a chick. Briefly, you make an inescapable 'cage' around its body with your fingers (with your finger tips touching). Charlotte Chick just hangs there, immobilised but not gettin' squished.

So . . . the same principle must apply to an adult emu! Can you handle the bird in question?

Firstly, you get a sense of just how much less emu there is under all those feathers than you might think. (Actually, with chicks, there's hardly anything under all those feathers!!) Then use my formula, to wit:

if there's a 'band' around the body in front of the wings,

and a band around the body behind the wings

and the bands had a connector both on top and underneath

and then you put on something like the 'rigid leash' I see for seeing-eye dogs . . .

you'd have a functional harness. I'd use some sort of flat 'tape' -- maybe about 2 inches wide?

And would you allow a longer line? Well, my experience is with wild emus. When startled, they tend to go, not forward, as you'd expect, but up. They spring fabulously into the air, with their legs cycling wildly in front of them. Might not go well. But if you are going to be in a pen, then a long leash would suit.

Finally, although I kneel in front of adult emus to hand feed them, they are (tame-wild) birds I've known since they were chicks: I have no reason to fear being 'run over.' But emus are v. v. sensitive to noise and movement. Will the bird in question kneel? Could you teach it? At least, if you are restraining the bird on one side, folks should be able to hand feed it dried fruit while standing or kneeling on the other side, and get to stroke the fine chest feathers at the same time.


Here's me playing Gobble That Prune with 'Greedy': https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/641934/lightbox/post/9159344/id/5168288

Supreme Emu, Lake Muir, Western Australia

[Got eight chicks and an adult at the fig tree beyond the garden. Can hear the chicks peeping.]

 

[Colez]

Ok, I hit this thread trying to find a walking harness myself. When I pre ordered 2 eggs after years of wanting emus my life situation was staunchly different. When I was informed almost a year later to prepare they was about to be shipped to me I tried to cancel and they only would do half. I never thought it would hatch in my current situation... she (I think) is now 2 and a half months and is terrified of outside. I need to be in control of her to even get to the place that is safe for her and trying to do this slowly but she is due to my now situation, is at risk if was to get away

 

[Calla]

Hi emu parents! Please fill me in on where to get a good, comfortable walking harness and toys that would be safe and durable for emus. My kids are only about 3-4 weeks old and I would like to start training them. Thanks!

Hi No harness or toys needed, dangerous, scary, they are very timid, would probably run away and could get strangled somewhere......get a bucket of their fav food or some greens they will follow you everywhere, mine just do walkies with me and when I work in their pen they standing, watching, want to help me.
One pair lives in orchard,I was picking apples, Jasmine watching me, I could not reach to just that apple, so Jasmine stood on her toes, got that apple and put it by my feet, what a clever girl. I always say, they are the closest to human beings of all animals, they choose their partner not you. lol
Calla.