Look at what we woke up to today... EMU CHICKS!!

[Jennyhaschicks]

Wow, interesting and cute! I never knew the males lay on the eggs...

 

[deerhunterblp]

Are they hard to raise?

 

[Hotwings]

I never knew the male incubated the eggs. I wonder if ostrich's are the same with theirs. I have always heard emus can be aggressive. Do you raise yours for pets or the meat?

 

[ChanceRider]

My breeding pair of emu are just for pets. They're extremely tame and I couldn't imagine butchering them, though I have eaten and still have some emu meat (not from my flock) in my freezer. Last time I had chicks hatch out I gave the chicks away to a couple of 4H kids raising them for the fair and to my husband's cousin.

Artemis, I don't think I'd raise emu chicks with full grown chickens. My chickens are quick to peck on things they're not familiar with and the baby emus would have no real defense of their own.

Amos, I've never shipped eggs or live birds. How about a road trip to CA to pick up a few?

DeerHunter, my emus are about the easiest of all my critters to raise. They have an automatic waterer and a metal feeder that holds 50 lbs. They're hysterical to watch when we have spring rains... they run, twist, jump and just plain seem crazed!

Hotwings... love the name BTW... my own birds are strictly pets though I don't doubt that some of my chicks could have gone for meat or other purposes. The hides can be tanned much like ostrich leather, the feathers can be used for dusters or cat toys, the fat from the emus can be rendered into emu oil for topical use or for gel caps to take like a vitamin, and of course there's the very lean meat. When frightened emus can be, well, not agressive but "anxious". When a 6' tall bird comes running full on at you it's cause for a bit of concern. A friend of mine used to raise ostrich commercially before switching to emu as he felt the emu were easier to handle.

Besides... like everything else, the chicks are SO dang cute!

 

[citalk2much]

Darling!

 

[texaschickmama]

Great pics. Congrats on the babies. How sweet that the dad does baby duty. I didn't know that.

 

[Run-A-Muck Ranch]

sorry if I missed this already, but can you tell if they are males or females?? Do you sex them like baby chicks??
I have always wanted emus...have the set ups for them, just never got them before...Where we got our jacob/shetland cross ram they had emu's and they were so neat...Seen some at an auction in Throp, I think they went for like $150 a piece (they were about a year old or so...)...can't afford that price, but still would love to have them...

 

[digginchicks]

Wow I want an Emu what do you keep them in and what does it cost you a month for feed?

 

[WriterofWords]

Beautiful, everytime I see these babies I wish my two eggs had been fertile!

 

[EllyMae]

Convincing my hubby to let me add ducks to my menagerie was difficult...geese were almost impossible...I wonder how he would react to the idea of emu's??

I would LOVE to have a pair of those babies. How cool would that be to have Emu's in my area...people around here wouldn't know what to think!
I think the eggs are beautiful, too.