Emus and Chickens

[ShadowRooster]

I have always heard that emus get along great with chickens. Well, mabye its just out of bordom.. but our emus like to chase the five chickens we have in the pen with them. Its almost like they torment them for fun, herding them into the coop and chaseing them around the pen. not aggresively. They dont hurt the chickens, and they dont seem mad. The chickens are getting stressed out though, being chased by a still-growing 25 pound bird. The emus roll over, run around like they are haveing a good time! Im not worried. they are careful steppers and dont hurt these five chickens. Why are they doing this? Do most emus chase for fun? Or are the emus trying to hurt them and I should move the chickens? Its been going on for weeks. no chickens got hurt. they have learned to run itto the coop when they start.

 

[Supreme Emu]

Number One the Emu chased my chooks the first time it saw them; but they did seem to reach a rapprochement later – the chooks would even sneak up and peck warily at one end of a trail of wheat while the emus were voraciously gobbling up the wheat at the other end.

Supreme Emu

 

[chickenzoo]

Emu love to play chase, wither what they are chasing, wants to be chased or not. When they get excited they play chase..... many mornings I've awoke to a ruckus of quacking ducks, squawking chickens, beating wings and feathers flying as the emu jump for joy, roll and run.... often running over the occasional blindsided critter that happened to wander into their path.... I've had 2 chickens that ended up having an egg go shooting out of them like a cannon ball because an emu happened to run by and squeezed them by accident. Chickens were fine, although shaken up. Mine all roam a pasture, so normally critters can get out of the way. Once had a piece of plywood left on the ground, emus went running one direction, mini horse the other, both met on the plywood at the same time. Next thing I saw after the dust cleared was an Emu and a mini horse on their backs, legs in the air, looking around like - "What the heck happened'... LOL. Just keep an eye on them, they should be fine, but they can get to playing rough, and on occasion they can get a mean streak when excited. If they are in a smaller area, I would consider having a separate area for them, just to keep the chickens content, LOL