Nesting emu

[briefvisit]

You learn to recognise the classic dances. There's twirling in a circle. There's breast-to-ground-jump-up. There's kicking-at-the-moon.

Supreme Emu

 

[FNF]

Still holding at 4. I *thought* maybe I heard a peep this morning under Fred, but no chicks on the fringes and I didn't hear anything a couple of hours later. Either it was ambient bird noises or perhaps an egg is getting ready to hatch. Either way, five eggs remain under him and I'm hoping he's done soon so he can get up!

 

[FNF]

Here's an update on the four babies currently in the brooder. No more collected - there was a hatching egg but no chick yet. I'm not sure if he made it or not.

 

[peafowl_Lover]

Soooo cute

 

[briefvisit]

This is wonderfully rare footage: a wild emu pair dancing in very very first light.

Most dancing happens at dawn.

https://imgur.com/Uz8ZQ0S

Supreme Emu

 

[FNF]

Regarding feeding, if anyone has any suggestions for the chicks (@Pyxis ?), I read the following: "They will be on the ratite crumb until around a month, after a month mix ratite growers in with it for another month or 2, then they should be on the growers pellets until around 6 months when you can start introducing ratite layers pellets in to the mix. Green leafy vegetables such as spinach, kale, watercress etc should be given every day but not be left out to go off. Emu chicks must not be given medicated feeds."

I started them with a little chick crumb (non medicated) but then transitioned them to the Mazuri ratite starter. They don't seem to make a grower pellet, but I already have the maintenance pellet for the adults. The starter feeding instructions say "Feed 5M32 to newly hatched emus until birds reach adult body weight." I was wondering if I should mix in the maintenance feed after a month or two and once they are full size switch to the maintenance pellet only? They do get spinach and kale along with the occasional strawberry. We'll see what other greens and fruits they like too. Does that seem like a good plan?

 

[briefvisit]

Almost all fresh fruits -- not citrus/

And sultanas/currents

SE

 

[FNF]

Final tally was four successful hatches, one poor chick that hatched but didn't make it out of the nest, and two that started hatching but didn't make it out of the shell (unsure why). We are just past 60 days from what I expect was the last egg laid and sat upon in the clutch so I called it. Fred was still sitting this morning but no movement, no peeps. I started tearing the nest down from around him (the nest in this case was all of the straw and bale-windbreaks that I put up during wet, windy, winter weather). I went inside and a little while later saw him up and about through the window. Funnily enough he and Ethel, the mate, were amorous and then he chased her around for a while. Hopefully he gets his body mass back up after sitting for two months straight, but it was amazing that he just got up and ran around after all that. The weirdest part was...the remaining three eggs...GONE. I have no idea what happened to them. I didn't see them or any remnants around or in the nearby creek. Mystery.

 

[briefvisit]

'but it was amazing that he just got up and ran around after all that.'

In the wild, the male moves immediately from incubating to parenting. If only we could weigh a wild Dad on a daily basis, we'd get some idea of how he regains his weight as he scoffs down spring flowers with his chicks.

I think the species divides laying>incubating>rearing between the sexes because for the female to do the lot -- as is the case with most bird species -- would just be onerous. So, the female lays, then vamooses. The male incubates and rears.

SE

 

[FNF]

How do you keep chicks’ feet free from poo?? I clean the crate/brooder several times each day and they run around in pine shavings in a large pen in the barn but they often look like they have poo shoes on . While they can be pet and touched and loved on, they don’t like being picked up and I worry about hurting their legs trying to hold them to clean their feet. Any ideas?