Keeping emus with other livestock?

[chickenzoo]

I don't put any young emus around my larger livestock until they are almost full grown, then they seem fine. My mini donkey stud is in with my emu as well as my mini horses, llama, zebu etc..... it depends a lot on the temperament of the animals and how much space they have to move around.

 

[theRazorBlade]

I tried to keep my 3 emus with my chickens, ducks, and pigs but it didn't work out. The male pig was trying to mount the emus when the female was locked away with piglets. The ducks, especially the small call ducks really annoyed the emus. The emus got stressed out and pulled their feathers out. They also started attacking the ducks and killed one.

 

[The Sheriff]

Emus do not seem to have any sense of personal space. The get too close, pick and pull and generally make a nuisance out of themselves. Some animals are fine with that, others might not be. Any chance our emus get, even through the fence, they pull on the donkey's tails and manes, try to pick at their faces and generally make nuisances out of themselves. Keeping them together would be a recipe for disaster, especially with a skittish mammoth donkey like our Jack. The emus run with the fainting goats all day long without problems because the girls head butt them when they start pestering them. They leave the adult chickens alone but chase the juveniles around the pasture. We are working on stopping that behavior.

 

[Irine]

I have chickens, sheep,goats,dogs and now I am looking in to Emus. I really hope for them to get along

 

[twi728]

I house my emus with one of our duck breeds our khiki cambells and they get along great. the emus have there own house and the ducks have there own house but share a 80feeet by 80 feet run area and they get along fine. when the emus start to annoy the ducks ive noticed they just go over and go in there house which the emus cant go into. we have raised our emus since they one a couple weeks old so they are used to the ducks. My chickens are kept away from the emu area tho as they dont get along. so with the smaller animals id have to say it depends on the breed and the emu

 

[leahschicks]

What kind of fence do you keep emus in? Will a three board wood fence work does i have to be a certain height? Can they jump high or fly over a fence?

 

[leahschicks]

Yes that is what I asked.

**Edited by Staff**

 

[ES Emus]

Yes that is what I asked.

emus are members of the Ratite family, which are all flightless species. Emus only have the vetigial remains of wings, which only consists of a single finger with a long fingernail.

**edited by Staff**

 

[daisyfaye]

Anybody have any suggestions for an emu feeder that the other animals can't eat out of? I'm trying to allow my emu free choice on his food but I do not want the goats or donkey eating any emu food.

 

[Kingheman]

We took some page fence (4" gaps) also described as cow fencing and made a cage around the emu feeder.
The feeder itself is on a platform on the corner of the emu shelter, about 3' off the ground.
With the fencing wrapped around, the large animals can't get their heads in & with the height, our dogs and smaller critters can't get in either.

You'll need to fiddle with the height and how to space the fencing around the feeder to make it difficult for the others but still workable for the emu.

My emus prefer to sit when they eat, but after a day or two they figured out how to stand and eat.

I'll post a photo tomorrow.