Ernie does walk the fence, I checked the fence line for feathers and such but nothing. As for making a nest, I do not find feathers anywhere for him, I placed him in a smaller pen to try to help him in the winter and make a fort or cover for him that he seems not to like at all or make it like home. He is balding now, look almost like a naked chicken with feathers on has lower back to is butt area. I just tried to put a shirt on him but it was in vain. Tomorrow I will try again. I never have seen him make a nest, he usually loves sitting under a tree.
Okay, deep breath. Hope I'm on the right track:
emus don't make nests -- at least beyond a couple of hilarious twigs dropped about where they are sitting, roosting. That is, nests don't keep them warm.
Their feather pyjamas/the fat they 'work up' during summer and autumn DO keep them warm. Now, emus in the wild do extend their range into pretty cold territory, and we have photos aplenty of emus frolicking in the snow. But an unwell half naked Ernie is in strife: may lack that fat to burn. Lacks his pyjamas.
Sigh: short of bunging him in a trailer and taking him to Florida -- and bearing in mind that I am Wild Emu Guy not Tame Emu Guy, here's my wild humble guess:
yeh, it's time to go big on the Save-Ernie Project. All folks here at BYC understand how hard/impossible it is locate avian-savvy vets (let alone the costs involved). But still, pull out all stops to find the cause of Ernie's malaise.
Meanwhile, feed him up absolutely as best you can, to try to strengthen him. How tame he is is the pivotal factor in things like 'horsie blanket for Ernie.' Some folks have unbelievably tame emus, but if a bird is not tame enough to be generally handled, then trying to corner it and wrassle it to the ground to try to clothe it could go very poorly. Otherwise, ANY ways you can find of raising the temperature of his environment at night are worth trying.
Please keep us posted.
Supreme Emu, Lake Muir, Western Australia
P.s.: it's only hoomernz who expect emus to love their little night-time coops. We have sooo many stories of: 'I built a coop. They don't use it.' But in this case, if Ernie is not freaked out to be shooo-ed into that coop at night, then it's a warmer place. (In the wild, they roost under trees.)
