First of the Male Rheas is now booming

[shamorunner]

https://imgur.com/a/RPyqBFm

 

[GodLovesU]

That’s not scary at all.

 

[Gill-b]

https://imgur.com/a/RPyqBFm

Wow. Thank you for sharing.

How old are they? Please tell us more.

 

[shamorunner]

These five are right about 18 months old. They were hatched by Hopkins livestock back in 2023 July

Good birds, only one is docile enough to pet but two others are docile enough to eat out of my hand. Of the remaining two, one is a female and the other is the first of the males to boom.

The docile male should fair well and be a good caretaker that I'd like for him to adopt chicks from the other two. The semi-docile male will hopefully be somewhat friendly or cautious during the breeding season. The booming male will be inyer sting, he's always been more skittish so I'm hoping he is just cautious rather than aggressive for handling

I work with them about 10-20min a day so that they will be more docile. A breeder out of Ohio has been breeding for 5 years and has cautious to docile males during the breeding season. Working with them and getting rid of aggressive males can produce good stock during the breeding season, but tougher to do than cattle since there isn't the genetic side like Black Angus or the plentiful stock to pull from

 

[shamorunner]

@Gill-b I messed up on the reply/quoting part, above is some info in them

 

[Gill-b]

I am curious how the dynamics will work between male emus during the breeding season?

Thank you for the account of your emu endeavors; and I am wishing you well with them.

 

[shamorunner]

I am curious how the dynamics will work between male emus during the breeding season?

Thank you for the account of your emu endeavors; and I am wishing you well with them.

I am planning to add another paddock or two this growing season, hopefully it will allow for enough space for the males to each have their own nesting site and not fight. It is difficult to predict since there is little info out there on male rhea interaction on specifics for minimum space needed to greatly reducing fighting between the males in the breeding season

Much appreciated o7. It is a venture that will be interesting and also include a lot of data recording on weight gains for age/feed/forage, egg size/quantity, space for birds, anf more that the other rattites have more established. Hopefully I'll be able to keep most of the birds and hold for more breeding stock and then the rest for production.

There are about 400 people with Alpha-gal in my area and the demand is continually rising to a point of ostrich and emu being shipped accross the nation to get it supplied to those folks. Hopefully I'll be able to manage numbers, space, and diet decently well early on to start meeting demand sooner rather than later

 

[briefvisit]

'there is little info out there on male rhea interaction'

All the ratites, it seems. So much churnalism.

SE

 

[shamorunner]

Indubitably. I'm planning on gathering data on Rheas, but it takes a good while to do such things but I hope I can at l least contribute directly on Rheas and indirectly on ostrich and emu in some ways

'there is little info out there on male rhea interaction'

All the ratites, it seems. So much churnalism.

SE

 

[aart]

Are we supposed hear this 'booming".....
.....all I heard was a small rustle.