Emu eggs for hatching & inbreeding question

[indigowulf]

Hello everyone. I have my first question that I just had to ask, which made me finally set up an account after lurking here forever When I finally get my acreage and I'm ready to start my emus, I'd like to go the egg incubating route. I am open to young chicks as well. My question is, how do you avoid getting related pairs when you buy eggs or chicks? I'd love to get maybe 8 to start and keep a trio, but I really don't want to inbreed. How is this usually handled? Do I buy 1 egg from 8 different farms?

 

[ES Emus]

emu stock in the US are all basically descended from zoo stock, since it has been illegal to ship emus out of Australia since the 1940's. Because of this, domestic emus are probably all, at least distantly related. That saying, our current breed stock has roots in West Virginia, Pennsylvania, Maryland, and southern Virginia and we make a conscious effort not to interbreed from the same stock. Yet we have shipped our eggs literally from Maine to Florida and west across the US, so what does this mean? I'm not really sure, but to increase the chances of having a decent bloodline, you may want to consider multiple farms for your eggs or chicks and don't be afraid to ask the "farmer" if his/her birds have been introduced to new birds or if they have just been inbred within their flock over the generations.