Baby emu friendliness

[Vampstorso]

Just wondering how friendly off the bat peoples hand raised emu babies were?

I have a pair that Ive been told were artificially incubated.
Got them at one week old, they're now three weeks old.

I find them a lot more skittish than id expect, also absolutely do not like being picked up (I guess that makes sense from a natural perspective, though)


I've chosen recently to only feed them pellets in the brooder and regularly visit them to feed them greens and other fruit and vegetables from hand to suck up to them. Or also just giving them the above treats when they're out with me.
(for the record, they're getting ALOT of greens and fresh fruit and vegetables)

I guess I expected them to see me as Daddy emu, having been artificially hatched, but it seems not.
They'll happily come near me, eat from my hand, but freak out if I move much.


I've got an outdoor dog run arriving in a weeks time for them. I keep wanting to let them free outside, but I honestly don't feel confident they wouldn't just run off? Yet I see videos and photos of other people taking babies outside seemingly without this worry?

I've named them Harvey and Holly

 

[Justine88]

So cute! I wanted emus so bad.

 

[briefvisit]

'I guess I expected them to see me as Daddy emu, having been artificially hatched, but it seems not.
They'll happily come near me, eat from my hand, but freak out if I move much. '


I've got an outdoor dog run arriving in a weeks time for them. I keep wanting to let them free outside, but I honestly don't feel confident they wouldn't just run off? Yet I see videos and photos of other people taking babies outside seemingly without this worry? '

As fast as i can type: yeh, they might well see you as daddy. i ve seen chicks latch onto an adult

to tame them: enormous amounts of time

and did i mention enormous amounts of time?

stay low, even lie down. quietness and stillness are the keys. and I talk quietly to them . all the time. (you are very beautiful. what beautiful feather pyjamas you have! how handsome your little wings are! wa ha ha)

bear in mind i am tame-wild emu guy so my experience is different. but try this: as they approach to take food from your hand, hold the other hand other, still, lower down, and let them 'walk up to it.' this is how i stroke the tame-wild birds, which won't actually stand still to be petted

overall a combination of quiet talking, food, being low and still, and stroing them as they feed, has worked well

hope to hear your progress

Here is Eric (with nine tame-wild chicks). Took me eight years to get him to eat from my hand. Patience!

 

[briefvisit]

Lie perfectly still on the ground with sultanas on your palms. As long as it takes. Took me a thousand days.

 

[Ebarnes-21]

I have two 2 week old incubated emu chicks right now.

I expect yours are probably incubator raised all right, but maybe not well handled after hatch. Incubator hatched is all very well but if they only saw a human once a day to dump feed in and grab them sometimes, they won't be naturally as tame as you perhaps expected.

They will tame down alright if you give them the time though.

Mine both hatched basically straight into my hands, the first one then spent the night sleeping under my neck because he was not happy to be alone ... and besides who could say no ... the second spent a lot of her first few hours with the other one instead, but with lots of cuddle periods.

Two weeks old now. They do not like to be picked up ... that is normal ... but if you support their feet they're OK with it pretty soon. They like to be tucked inside my jacket and cuddle. They spend every evening in there watching movies. (Admittedly now I have an orphan goat kid who wants the lap there is some competition and the occasional complaint of squashing).

They spend most of the day outside in a run I made out of iron, it is about 4-5 metres diameter. Most of the day I sit inside it in a deck chair reading ... we have cats, stoats and hawks, so safety is paramount. I will leave them for a while, but I pop back to check every few minutes, and stay near at all times. I might be gardening nearby or watching out the kitchen window.

When I leave they cry. A Lot. They run to me when I come back. I hang my hand down and they run up to it. They probably won't actually touch me, although they might peck at a fingernail. They don't seem to like being touched with a hand on their back so much, but they love having their neck lightly scratched.

When cuddling, they LOVE having warm air breathed into their neck feathers and whispered in the ear (there is an ear there somewhere).

They do startle easily, for instance an airplane is a little worrying, and I am training them to run to me when they are scared.
They run to me when I whistle and hold my hand down for them so that is what I do when they startle. I whistle to them when they cry too, this way I can reassure them I'm coming back soon otherwise I could never leave.

I whistle to them when I feed them, and "Peck" the food while whistling and they come running to see what is new. Some special feeds (Finely chopped potato, little slugs) I save for hand feeding, letting them peck it out of my hand. They think that is really special.

Emus are just like goslings in that they imprint on their parent. It isn't so much "The first thing they see" that matters, it is the first thing that is nice to them, cuddles them, brings them up to their face and breathes on them, and keeps that parenting behavior up over the next week and onward.

Most likely yours didn't get that from the people that incubated them. The result is they haven't imprinted on anyone except possibly each other. They are associating you as a parent, they would not cry when you leave them if they weren't. They just aren't sure about you really. You don't move like an emu, you're much bigger than them, and maybe they think you might try to hold them, clearly they don't want that and that's ok.

It's not normal for a parent bird to "Groom" their young like most mammals will ... they see you as "Daddy", but they don't expect to be touched and are afraid to be grabbed and held. That's OK. Give them time they WILL let you stroke them and learn to love it. You need to spend lots of time with them. Always move very slowly. If they freak out when you move, you did it way too fast. Its ok if it takes you over a minute just to stand up.

Talk to them all the time you're with them. Whistle to them when they whistle at you.
Just sit in the run with them. Sit still, don't stare at them, glances are OK. Take a book and a coffee. (Look out they'll drink the coffee if they can). At some point they will move closer to you. Don't move. Don't look. Let them do whatever they like. Keep some treats there, if they are happy to eat out of your hand that is great. Sit with your legs stretched out, this gives them a piece of you they can look at, peck, even trip over, without "Coming too close". Let your hand hang down ... fingernails are great fun (apparently). Above all, TIME. I spend about 8 hours a day with mine (although I'll be doing other things too most of that time).

Don't push for more than they are willing to give: that is the fastest way to lose the trust of any animal. But take all they will give (Eg, if they're ok with you at 4 metres distance, sit there, every day, the distance will shrink sooner or later)... this way they get comfortable with you.

Do you have them running around in the house? I have mine "Walled off" in the kitchen. It is carpeted but its a separate piece I can take outside and wash off later (and replace after the rest of the emu eggs I'm incubating hatch). House training is so far completely incomplete LOL. They are always there (When inside) and everyone is stepping over their kiddy-barrier and walking through their run, so they get used to big people walking all around them (and how NOT to stand behind big people).

 

[birdmanmax]

The emu chicks I'm raised were hatched out of an incubator. I was the very first thing they saw and that day the power went out so I spent an entire day heating then with my own body. I thought them how to drink and eat. All five of them loved being around people pecking at shiny things and laying on your lap. Five months later even though we lost two of them they still love to fed by hand and don't mind being pet. They come running right up to us. I have some older emus too they are rather nice eating right from my hand but don't like to be pet much just remember food and treats are key if you want them to really like you. Oh and don't worry about them not liking being held in a few months you wont be able to hold them at all.

 

[Vampstorso]

The emu chicks I'm raised were hatched out of an incubator. I was the very first thing they saw and that day the power went out so I spent an entire day heating then with my own body. I thought them how to drink and eat. All five of them loved being around people pecking at shiny things and laying on your lap. Five months later even though we lost two of them they still love to fed by hand and don't mind being pet. They come running right up to us. I have some older emus too they are rather nice eating right from my hand but don't like to be pet much just remember food and treats are key if you want them to really like you. Oh and don't worry about them not liking being held in a few months you wont be able to hold them at all.

Thanks so much for your reply,
Do they like other people as much as you? Or at least similarly as much? As in, not afraid of them?

I really can't help but wonder if my "incubated chick's" are really parent hatched.
I've put them out in the dog run for the first time yesterday, and as expected, they were freaked out.
Today they are much better but they still run for their lives from me. It's so weird, if I leave they seem to call to me, but they're afraid of me. If I move near them they loose their minds.

I don't particularly want to pick them up, I just want them to be comfortable around me. I don't need to be able to pet them... Though I'd really enjoy that... I just wanted them to not think I (or people in general) were going to hurt them, which it doesn't seem is going to happen which is really concerning.

 

[twilightgecko]

sorry all i can add is OMG how cute are emu babies.. they are adorable..!!!!!

 

[Ebarnes-21]

PS ... I think there is a lot of character variation between emu chicks too. One of mine is verging on ADHD the other is one of those babies that sleep lots.

Actually the difference showed up at day 30 of incubation when one egg rocked and the other almost twitched slightly ... as time went on it became clear that one egg could virtually jump, and the other only ever twitched gently. It is still the same ... Drogo is hyper, Rhaegar is so placid he freaked out my father when I left him to care for them for one night ... he thought he was sick or dying, he wouldn't wake for hours even when picked up and spoken to, and just fell over when you put him down ... he was just sleeping!!!

 

[briefvisit]

I would love to write Notes again. Sigh.

'Talk to them all the time you're with them. Whistle to them when they whistle at you. ' I talk to mine all the time, but don't whistle to them. Will begin immediately. Have noted that when one chick utters distress call, the others don't reply. Eric was funny too: usually a super-good Dad, but occasionally a bit 'OMG I left the baby on the bus!!'

One suggestion: get them used to a particular sound. For my birds, it's me tapping a knuckle on the bottom of a tin plate. (Same tin plate all their lives. Here it is, from 2010: https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/supreme-emu-got-technology.432254/ )

The reason is: you can't 'drive' emus -- you can't herd them. Especially if they're already panicked. But you induce them to follow you. If you have drama -- for me it was always getting panicked chicks out of yards . . . if you sit quietly and make The Sound, it's very likely they'll come to you. You could use this to load them into a trailer perhaps.