Mundy Growth/General Emu Chat Thread

[ryneaeiel]

Instead of making a bunch of threads with every single question/update, I decided that I'd just make a general thread about Mundy! At the time of this post, he's currently about 3 to 3 and a half weeks old.

Here's our current daily schedule:

• 8am: Wake up, bring Mundy into the living room for him to frolic and get breakfast.
• 10am: Mundy goes outside for an hour for his first run of the day. He may stay out longer depending on weather. He takes a short (15 minute) nap when he comes back in.
• 12pm-2pm: Mundy goes outside for an hour for the second run of the day. He usually takes a bath during this time.
• 7pm: Mundy goes outside for an hour for his last run of the day and stays out until the sun goes down.
• 9-10pm: Bedtime. Mundy comes with me into my room and sleeps in a box next to my bed.

So far I've learned that his favorite color is blue, he doesn't like birds flying overhead (even small ones,) he absolutely hates planes, and he loves baths. He's also incredibly affectionate and constantly wants to be petted, and will lay down at my feet and sleep during quiet time. He loves toys too, and yesterday he did his first successful hiss while playing with his toy.

He also sneezes every time he drinks because he doesn't seem to understand that he doesn't need to completely submerge his beak, nostrils included, in order to drink water.

And for today's question, how do I convince this little guy to eat greens? He forages outside and I constantly have to keep him from trying to eat the foxtails, but he shows absolutely zero interest in eating any fresh greens. (But he absolutely scarfs down his regular food...)

I'll post more updates tomorrow!

 

[cherrynberry]

Instead of making a bunch of threads with every single question/update, I decided that I'd just make a general thread about Mundy! At the time of this post, he's currently about 3 to 3 and a half weeks old.

Here's our current daily schedule:

• 8am: Wake up, bring Mundy into the living room for him to frolic and get breakfast.
• 10am: Mundy goes outside for an hour for his first run of the day. He may stay out longer depending on weather. He takes a short (15 minute) nap when he comes back in.
• 12pm-2pm: Mundy goes outside for an hour for the second run of the day. He usually takes a bath during this time.
• 7pm: Mundy goes outside for an hour for his last run of the day and stays out until the sun goes down.
• 9-10pm: Bedtime. Mundy comes with me into my room and sleeps in a box next to my bed.

So far I've learned that his favorite color is blue, he doesn't like birds flying overhead (even small ones,) he absolutely hates planes, and he loves baths. He's also incredibly affectionate and constantly wants to be petted, and will lay down at my feet and sleep during quiet time. He loves toys too, and yesterday he did his first successful hiss while playing with his toy.

He also sneezes every time he drinks because he doesn't seem to understand that he doesn't need to completely submerge his beak, nostrils included, in order to drink water.

And for today's question, how do I convince this little guy to eat greens? He forages outside and I constantly have to keep him from trying to eat the foxtails, but he shows absolutely zero interest in eating any fresh greens. (But he absolutely scarfs down his regular food...)

I'll post more updates tomorrow!

Please post pictures!

 

[ryneaeiel]

Please post pictures!

Here he is, wanting to be petted.

Sleeping in front of my desk.

After his bath yesterday!

 

[cherrynberry]

Here he is, wanting to be petted.View attachment 2672273

Sleeping in front of my desk.

View attachment 2672274

After his bath yesterday!

View attachment 2672275

He’s cute!

 

[ryneaeiel]

He’s cute!

He really is! Total sweetheart too!

 

[ryneaeiel]

VICTORY!

I finally got him to eat some greens that weren't weeds!

 

[briefvisit]

Ooooh! You can solve a puzzle for me:

in the wild, a parenting male and his clutch roost at night in a tight circle, breast to breast. And one of the rarest of Emu Things is to find a 'poop ring.' I've seen only three or four, but one was almost perfect: a complete circle of little poops, with Dad's big ones also.

So . . . how do they keep they tail feathers clean? That is, do they sit up (they sit up to poop) and then just settle back down again? or do they somehow shuffle their bums across to a new spot after each poop? All of them? Through the night? Pooping and shuffling?

SE


'Conclusion: every night, Dad leads the chicks about thirty yards into the bush, and they all spend all night in a breast-to-breast circle. Somehow they poop while in the circle but don't soil their feathers: the poops are spread around the circle, sometimes fifteen or twenty -- the poops are more numerous than the number of chicks. You can make a wild guess at the number of chicks in the clutch. (Guessing the age of the rings is not hard. The composition of the blessings tells you what season they were left.)'
https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/happy-birthday-to-all-emus.1196162/#post-18940810

 

[ryneaeiel]

Ooooh! You can solve a puzzle for me:

in the wild, a parenting male and his clutch roost at night in a tight circle, breast to breast. And one of the rarest of Emu Things is to find a 'poop ring.' I've seen only three or four, but one was almost perfect: a complete circle of little poops, with Dad's big ones also.

So . . . how do they keep they tail feathers clean? That is, do they sit up (they sit up to poop) and then just settle back down again? or do they somehow shuffle their bums across to a new spot after each poop? All of them? Through the night? Pooping and shuffling?

SE


'Conclusion: every night, Dad leads the chicks about thirty yards into the bush, and they all spend all night in a breast-to-breast circle. Somehow they poop while in the circle but don't soil their feathers: the poops are spread around the circle, sometimes fifteen or twenty -- the poops are more numerous than the number of chicks. You can make a wild guess at the number of chicks in the clutch. (Guessing the age of the rings is not hard. The composition of the blessings tells you what season they were left.)'
https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/happy-birthday-to-all-emus.1196162/#post-18940810

From what I've seen, he'll sit up in the middle of the night, point his butt toward one corner, and then just settle back down into place when he's done.

I've also noticed that they have very few feathers around their cloaca, at least when they're chicks — in the time I've had him, I've never seen a speck of poop on his feathers. The cloaca seems to push outward to avoid any feathers that might be in the way.

However, every morning there's always a few poops in each corner, so it seems like they do turn, but that might also just be him getting up to reposition himself during the night.

 

[briefvisit]

Wondderful. Thank you so much.

'The cloaca seems to push outward to avoid any feathers that might be in the way.' Correct. It's like lowering an undercarriage; then poop. then retract.

Supreme Emu
Lake Muir, W.A.

 

[ryneaeiel]

It's like lowering an undercarriage; then poop. then retract.

Yes, exactly!

Also, I'm wondering -- what's the purpose of them rolling on their backs? Mundy does it when he's excited, but I've been wondering if in the wild it acts as a dust bath.