Emu Questions

[CCCCCCCCHICKENS]

I am not going to get some anytime soon but fully intend to own some years (many) down the road. Trust me I have a ton of research to do before I will commit to getting some. But I was wondering, do people eat emu eggs? If people do eat them, could you sell them by the dozen like chicken eggs? That might be a stupid question but I really have no idea. I am off to do some research now. Anything else you want to add about them would be greatly appreciated too!

 

[CCCCCCCCHICKENS]

I just thought of more questions. What is a good boy to girl ratio? or should each bird have a mate? Is it good to house more than 2 emus together? And how do multiple females get along? same with males.

 

[ES Emus]

emu eggs are indeed edible and have lower cholesterol levels than chicken eggs, They tend to be a little less yellow in color than chicken eggs, slightly less favorable and a little creamier. During the laying season, a female produces an egg every three days on average, so it would take you over a month to accumulate a dozen eggs from a single female!

 

[CCCCCCCCHICKENS]

Ya I found that out in my research,plus it would be extremly hard to find the apporperiate size egg carton lol. I couldnt find if people ate them or not though. Thanks for the help!

 

[ES Emus]

I've tried them scrambled!

 

[yinepu]

I've tried them scrambled!

I've eaten a few as well (with help... lol.. those make a pan full of scrambled eggs)!

 

[CCCCCCCCHICKENS]

Can anyone help with any of my other questions? thanks

 

[Stynch]

I just thought of more questions. What is a good boy to girl ratio? or should each bird have a mate? Is it good to house more than 2 emus together? And how do multiple females get along? same with males.

My experience is with ostriches, but I'd guess there are similarities. With the ostriches, we kept the breeders in trios or quads - 2 or 3 hens (in our case, we used hens who were full sisters) to one male. Adult males don't "play nice together" - I wouldn't put more than one in a pen. Good luck!!

 

[CCCCCCCCHICKENS]

My experience is with ostriches, but I'd guess there are similarities. With the ostriches, we kept the breeders in trios or quads - 2 or 3 hens (in our case, we used hens who were full sisters) to one male. Adult males don't "play nice together" - I wouldn't put more than one in a pen. Good luck!!

Okay, not more than one male in a pen, but multiple females are fine. I just wanted to make sure, because in most cases females get along but I know in some animals females will kill each other.Its one of those things that I would rather ask than experience. Thanks for anwsering my last question

 

[yinepu]

I just thought of more questions. What is a good boy to girl ratio? or should each bird have a mate? Is it good to house more than 2 emus together? And how do multiple females get along? same with males.

There are no guarantees that they won't fight when breeding season nears.. so the best you can do is play it by ear and have other pens available to move birds to that are being abused by their "flock mates"

in the wild a female will breed with more than one male.. but once a male has bred a female and she has laid eggs for him.. he will sit the nest and not pursue other females.. so most people will have multiple males available for each female so she can choose her mate.. BUT that's also when the problems start since not all emu will get along all the time.. they can be raised together and be in the same pasture then one day out of the blue fighting starts.. and if you're not quick enough separating the birds you may end up with one or more seriously injured or even dead...

for example.. I had two males (Paco and Dorian) with a female (Rose).. they had all hatched around the same date and were raised together with no issues during the first year and a half of their lives.. then one day Paco decided to bail (I didn't witness them harassing him.. but it could have happened).. either way he went over several six foot tall fences to be with the juvis and get away from his 'flock mates".. a few weeks later Rose and Dorian took turns attacking each other.. this went on for several months with me separating them for a few days.. once they were apart they would try to get back together.. then getting along for several days and then fighting again... with one of the two being chased and attacked (it varied as to who was doing the attacking and chasing).. .. after awhile of them both pacing fences wanting to be in the same pen I relented and put them back together.. now they have paired off with Dorian attempting to impress Rose with his nest building skills.. and Paco is still content to be with the juvenile birds..
Had I left them all together I would have ended up with two wounded birds and possibly the death of one or both of my males..

so there is no guarantee that either males or females will get along 365 days of the year...