Emu keeps laying?

[Ash1089]

Hi everyone! I have what I believe is a problem with my pair of emu. I’ve raised them from chicks and This is the first year they have laid for me. (3 years) The excitement was too much for the first eight eggs which I put directly into the incubator and then I decided to try to let my boy take over. He started to sit February 23 on five eggs. March 6th he had eight eggs. The 11th he had pushed one out of his nest and had seven for sure because I looked. Today is March 26th and he now has 11 eggs. Is this normal? I only have one hen. She sits beside him during the night but is out in the big pen all day. Is he going to starve himself to death by trying to hatch all these eggs? I know that he loses 1/3 of his body weight and maybe I’m just worrying like an old hen but this is the first year they laid for me. I don’t want to lose him because she keeps laying. Thanks in advance for any advice. It’ll be very much appreciated.

 

[crazy4ChickensNducks]

@Pyxis

 

[Pyxis]

I'd start marking them and get ready to pop the youngest ones in the incubator. What should happen is that after the oldest ones hatch, he should get up with the chicks and abandon the rest of the eggs, which you can then finish off.

If he does hatch the chicks and doesn't seem to be getting off the nest to take care of them after a few days, you should pull the eggs yourself so that he'll get up and eat and drink and take care of the chicks.

 

[Ash1089]

Thanks for your quick reply Pyxis. I guess I misunderstood the man I bought them from that said when the eggs weren’t fertile she would quit laying. Thank goodness he’s such a gentleman about me searching under him. A friend of mine has a pair and his male flairs up and slams you with his beak if you get within striking range. Would it be safe to guess tgat if hes okay if he’s okay with me searching under him still act calm when or if he hatches his eggs?

 

[sseabass]

Hi Ash, I am in a similar situation in Montana.
I wasn’t expecting eggs and then we found 2 frozen in the field in January. So we closed a gate so the Emus could only be in the corral and barn. Luckily Edwina started laying in the barn. Then whenever we went in to check, someone was on the egg/eggs but we weren’t sure if it was Edwina or one of our two males.
We finally figured out it was our male Ayleth and then there were 3 eggs then 4 and then at eight I said no more. We fenced him off in a corner of the barn so Edwina couldn’t lay any more eggs next to him. It was all so confusing because I didn’t realize the male would sit on them right away. It was good in a sense because we were having freezing and subzero weather so he protected the eggs from freezing but was going to make for a very extended hatching time frame ??
Ayleth is tame but doesn’t like to be touched normally. I tried to acclimate him to me being next to him, stroking him, talking to him and checking the eggs and marking them.
Then the wait began and what I was to do once they started to hatch, if they actually did. It was all crazy. The eggs had been laid every 3-4 days apart but the male had been sitting on them from the get go!
Finally, we heard a peep and then another. We checked and there were 2 beautiful baby emu chicks. We were blown away. There was a third chick half way hatched. We decided to leave them all with dad.
However, from what I had read, Ayleth would abandon the unhatched eggs once the hatched chicks started to need food. I took the hatched three and ran out of the barn so Ayleth couldn’t hear them cheeping, while my friend stayed to see if Ayleth would sit back down on the remaining 5 eggs. He did after a few minutes of thought.
That was 6 days ago. I have 3 lovely emu chicks now (who hatched only one day apart from each other which was a bit bizarre but definitely helped our predicament.
I had pretty much given up hope for the remaining 5. BUT today we hear another chirping We’ve decided to not disturb Ayleth until Saturday when this new guy will be about 3 days old. Also Ayleth is becoming more territorial. He growls more and gives me the evil eye, which is not his normal disposition. Throughout all,of this he has never been aggressive towards me. He’s been amazing. I’ve pulled his eggs out so many times, then his chicks, then stole his first three.

A breeder told me that if I wanted the chicks to be tame I should take them right away. I didn’t want to incubate any because it is so stressful for me. I finally decided to let Ayleth do all of that and I would take his babies, which was very heart wrenching. Luckily the emu rancher told me about when he had let a male hatch a clutch out, he then took the chicks, and bam, the male went right back to the female and that was that.
I thought I would leave one with the dad but was told the dad probably wouldn’t let us near the chick and it would end up being quite wild.
So now it seems we have at least one of the five eggs hatched out. Saturday will be the big day. I’ll be able to check all the eggs a see if they are still hatching in the marked order or if there are some duds.
Sorry, I ramble. I love my Emus and this has been such a blast.
Long way around to say, that for me, absconding the chicks and leaving the eggs with Ayleth to hatch has worked best for me.I just hope he doesn’t hate me after he’s done hatching his babies.‍

 

[sseabass]

I just hope Ayleth can handle the extended brooding period as you mentioned Ash. Saturday I should be able to decide what to do. I may realize I should take the remaining eggs in to my incubator as Pyxis suggested ??
Thanks for bringing that up. I know my female, Edwina has lost so much weight and now Ayleth. I think it takes a lot out of the females to produce such thick shelled eggs and so many.

 

[sseabass]

 

[Ash1089]

Thank you everyone for your answers! I have the eggs marked and she has seemed to stop laying. I’m going to make a guess and say that the last couple aren’t fertile. I’ve noticed in the last three days he’s stopped moving around as much. At night he would face the wall in the barn and during the day he would face the door. Now he just faces the wall. Maybe that’s an indication tgat the eggs are going to start hatching? Anyone notice any behavior like that?

 

[Willowspirit]

No advice but I am almost sorry I saw the picture of the emu chicks. They are so adorable!! Now i sort of want one.

 

[Ash1089]

Willowspirit it’s definitely pretty cool to get them and watch them grow up. The first time you ever watch them throw their heads in the air kick sideways and roll over on the ground will send you into hysterics.