I'm on the Rhea side of things and am building up info so that I can ID issues folks are having as well as practices that are verified to work rather than the level of guessing that goes on
Good to have you here
Rhea chick general care
On feeding, here are the two diets I personally recomend and can vouch for from using them myself
-Mazure ratite starter, salt with selenium for half the diet and the other half grazing/looking for insects in the forage (costlier and tougher to do as not everyone also...
I found out about them this week from that post. Still looking into it but there are several of Greater Rhea I want to find more about. Wicked cool stuff
Cassowaries would be cool, but more the novelty of having one. I went with rheas since they don't t kick like the other big three
I might get some emu or ostrich at some point, but my focus is meat production and birds that are at less relisk of any kicking. The rheas are also smaller and...
Good read. I didn't know about the terminology on the pseudo crop in the esophagus as well as another one being between the esophagus and gizzard. Good info
I hope it can help as well as other info in this thread. Keep asking questions. There will be tough times while learning, don't be ashamed to ask questions when it can help your birds in the moment or for birds in the future
Feeding is interesting with a wide range. Rheas need more fiber in their diet than an emu, similar to an ostrich. When they are chicks, they'll need a lower fiber diet until about 2 months if age when their digestive track is developed enough to consistently break down fiber
My rhea diet: one...
If you can post pictures and anything that might have caused it in their area or their diet it can help folks sometimes more. I also recomend searching groups on other social media to get help hopefully in time for your bird
I just have rheas, I do stand by hard boiled or scrambled eggs, especially if a bird isn't eating as much or is sickly as there is good nutrition without as much sugars like you would see in some forages or feeds that can cause sour crop if the diet is changed heavily and suddenly
Yes, a pellet gun or BB gun will do the job fast. Other fast methods get gruesome and I prefer to just used a pellet gun and the like if something like that. The guy who's been helping me get into rheas has built a couple of those fake Martin traps, however, he's been breeding and selling rheas...
Ahh, I kill them. They'll come back if you release them. If you want to release them, take them a couple hundred miles away and release and maybe they won't come back, however, there might be issues as you go accross county, state, national lines
Here is the main trap I was thinking of that...