Help very bad emu behavior!

[Ellamumu]

. Ed appears to be over his hatred of Rog. El on the left, Ed on the right.

 

[briefvisit]

Hey, Ellamumu! The pair are in lovely condition. Been cold? If I were betting, I'd bet they weren't woodwardi -- at least the one on the left.

Saw a pair over at Oudman's the other day: Old Guy walkin' in The Rain. A beautiful pair, even just seen at a distance: bit.

And more emmooooopoooo on the pasture than I have ever seen in one place. Only about six feet between in the best parts.

SE

 

[Ellamumu]

Hey, Ellamumu! The pair are in lovely condition. Been cold? If I were betting, I'd bet they weren't woodwardi -- at least the one on the left.

Saw a pair over at Oudman's the other day: Old Guy walkin' in The Rain. A beautiful pair, even just seen at a distance: bit.

And more emmooooopoooo on the pasture than I have ever seen in one place. Only about six feet between in the best parts.

SE

Not cold yet, but according to farmers almanac we are going to be frigid again this winter, thats Ok, El knows he's welcome to sleep in the laundry room lol. Whats woodwardi ? is that a sub species or area that has a certain look?

 

[briefvisit]

I meant has it BEEN cold, Ella; and, as fast as I can type:
although the whole 'taxonomic model' -- way of dividing the birds into groups -- is being fundamentally re-structured, books still note three sub-species: novaehollandiae, woodwardi, and rothschildi.
Now, any foray into this field is hard hard work -- I am not well enough. But have a look at this:

The woodwardi come from the top left quadrant of Oz -- hot hot hot dry dry dry.
Now look at

This video was taken at Nyamup, about 30 miles from me. Do you think the birds look different?
Now look at this:

What do you reckon? Are the birds playing at the beach lighter in weight and colour than the ones at Nyamup and at Merrison's?
Finally, Youtube is a great source of info about emus. Ya gotta put the time in, but eventually you can learn a lot.
SE

Ps: you missed a good observation this morning: I heard a female and a male as they approached the clearing. Then later, I saw them chowin' down in the old sheep yards.

 

[xxnativewolfxx]

and also lets not forget is it during fall he is acting like this?? cuz around that time is there breeding season and the males can get rather..........well MEAN lol

 

[Ellamumu]

Well update on my boys, we had a "Happy" accident that solved the boys fighting immediately. The boys were racing around their pens at full speed, I was standing there watching to make sure there was no fighting and El crashed right into Ed and kept going, poor Ed flipped over backwards. Both birds were fine Ed was just terrified, El is blind in his left eye and just never saw him, but from that moment on Ed thinks that El kicked his ***. So no more fighting, they are best buds, hang out all day together and sleep together all cuddled up every night, going on 4 months of perfect behavior so hopefully this keeps up. Hope I didn't jinx it with this post LOL

 

[briefvisit]

Hey, Ellamumu! Marry and Happy!

V Brief:

wa ha ha ha -- put 'em in a box, and send them to me. I'll let them out for a month in the Big Green -- 50 miles by 80 of bush. They'll come back with dazed looks on their faces, and never be naughty every again.

Lovely wild breeding-pair here this morning -- figs. And Eric and Uno Chick

 

[Blueroanpainted]

This behavior is not that unusual for emus, especially when raised as a single bird. A single emu often adopts one of its caregivers/owners as a pseudoparent, family member, even a potential mate! Emus, though often lovable, are not the brightest creatures in the world and when raised outside of an "emu family hierarchy environment" sometimes do not comprehend that it is not human or that its human caregiver is not another emu! We have seen birds that were raised without other flock (mob) members attempt to woo its human owner as a mate, and/or defend it's "adopted" flock member (aggressively) from other humans that it views as rivals or threats, or sometimes they just view another human as a threat/rival, just as it would behave in a natural setting when confronted with a rival emu or a predator. This can also occur with emus raised with other emus too, you may get a bird, that for whatever reason, has a "grudge" against a particular person or animal. Although no one knows exactly what goes on in an emu's mind, this does often times seems to be the case.


The only way that we have had success "breaking" an aggressive emu is to challenge it head on, which can be very exciting and potentially dangerous! Your husband would have to become the alpha emu and confront the aggressive emu during its aggression! There are a few tactics that we have had success with, the least being having a large weapon to defend yourself with, such as a tree branch or long stick. You don't want to beat the bird senseless but you do want it to learn that there can be consequences when it provokes you. Also, hold a hand over your head, as if your arm was the neck of an emu and pinch your fingers together in the shape on an emu's head. Emus will often recognize the elevated head as a much taller emu and realize that it may have chosen a larger emu to fight with and back down! Becoming the larger alpha bird and giving it a couple of whacks (only when you think there is a danger of contact from the bird) does tend to work over a period of time. The aggressive emu will never tame to the point of being "warm and cuddlely", but will give you some space after a while.

Well that explains why our aggressive female tucks tail and runs when I raise a hand to pop her when she comes running at me as I'm passing by the gate! Thanks for the info that helps a ton!

 

[briefvisit]

It's a good while since ES posted. Awesomely knowledgeable member of this community -- and more so with questions of managing pet emus. I recall he had rescued birds.

SE