Clueless about emu but INTRIGUED

[briefvisit]

'Is it true that Emus will try to eat anything shiny (and most everything else that they should not be eating)? I've heard that, but do not know if that is true.'

Yes. And years ago we had several tragedies among the captive emus, who would scoff up nails lying in their environments.
Greedy Emu ate the top of my fountain pen. I was astounded: snatched it up; juggled it in her beak; scoffed it down.
And I have personally pulled a (shiny) soda can 'ring pull' from an emu poop, and on another occasion, a shard of glass an inch long.

SE

 

[briefvisit]

'Lol. I’m guessing you have a 2 or 3 year old girl who hasn’t laid any eggs yet?'

No. I s e e m to be the only person in the world conducting an inter-generational study of emus in the wild:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/planet-rothschildi.714603/page-10

Now up over 4200 days of observations*, and one thing I've been trying to figure out for years, Emu Island, concerns the age at which an emu is mature. The literature -- too much of which comes from industry sources -- suggests two years. But I have written at times about a difference between 'physical' maturity and 'social' maturity. And my reason is that my observations suggest that wild emus don't get their 'breeding-mojo' until even their fourth year.

[Tooshtoosh and Mrs. Tooshtoosh here at dawn for their bit of wheat. Fine clear summer morning.]

Supreme Emu, Lake Muir, Western Australia

*And a big emoo hug for Drumstick Diva: I think she and I are the last of the old timers -- she's been a member since 2009.

 

[Peepsi]

'Is it true that Emus will try to eat anything shiny (and most everything else that they should not be eating)? I've heard that, but do not know if that is true.'

Yes. And years ago we had several tragedies among the captive emus, who would scoff up nails lying in their environments.
Greedy Emu ate the top of my fountain pen. I was astounded: snatched it up; juggled it in her beak; scoffed it down.
And I have personally pulled a (shiny) soda can 'ring pull' from an emu poop, and on another occasion, a shard of glass an inch long.

SE

Wow, thanks for the info! I thought chickens were bad about the shiny things, but I bet emus are even worse, LOL. I hope you have no more tragedies!

 

[507382]

View attachment 1985465 View attachment 1985463 View attachment 1985462 Hi. I’m happy to be responding to you as an owner of 14 emus. (They are like potato chips, can’t have just one!)

I LOVE my emus! They are sweet, funny, and independent.

Awww, do they go swimming??
I love my emus too! I have three, and they are such darling dears. At breeding season, they started to fight with each other so right now the male is separated from the two females, who continue to get along for the most part.

I don't think emus are aggressive for the most part. I hatched mine though. So, if i adopted some 5 years old emu that I've never met before, maybe I would have problems. But because they think I'm Mom / part of the flock, I don't have any issues. Sometimes my male gets ornery, jumps ahead of me then spins back around and gets tall. I usually put my hand up and say "no."

Honestly, I heard a good bit of advice on here, to NEVER run around the emus with them in the pen. I think that was solid advice because mine do not feel the need to chase me and I think if I had run around with them, I would have more problems than I do. That of course is just my opinion.

I think emus make good pets if you raise 'em right, and you have enough space and time for them. And, they are prone to hurting themselves it seems, so making sure everything is emu proof is really important.

 

[507382]

I am so glad an emu owner finally responded with all the details! Good to know they really aren't aggressive...I know cassowaries are extra-dangerous, and just assumed emu could be as well due to their size and sharp claws.

Is it true that Emus will try to eat anything shiny (and most everything else that they should not be eating)? I've heard that, but do not know if that is true.

Oh heck yes. It's ridiculous. We had one of our emus eat a carabiner at about four months old and I thought he was going to die from impaction. Luckily he was okay, but it scared the hell out of me. I had it on the floor for literally a few moments while I cleaned my parrot's cage, and he walked by and just ate it!!!

 

[briefvisit]

'Awww, do they go swimming??'
Here is Eric with Alpha and Omega. These are tame-wild birds. In my backyard. Come to scoff plums after a nice spring-time swim in the dam nearby.
SE