Nesting emu

[briefvisit]

Picking up chicks is a subject that needs attention: a dropped chick can break a leg. It has happened.

So, picking up a chick:

you don't pick it up. You make a 'finger cage' around it.

index fingers touch together above neck
second fingers touch together below neck
third fingers in front of legs
fourth fingers behind legs
thumbs touch together under the tail, 'locking' the chick in the cage.

Chick can squirm around, but can't get out.

Supreme Emu

 

[MGG]

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?

Hi, I've been lurking to see emu chicks, haha. I have never raised emus but I raise gamebirds and they get the same thing. What kind of bedding are you using and how big is the brooder?

 

[briefvisit]

Put 'em in the cage, and dunk their feet in a bowl of water?

 

[briefvisit]

This is Toosh Toosh with his chicks, in the house-clearing.

If you look, you can see the mud on their feet and in their tail feathers. They've been down drinking at the dam.

https://imgur.com/wDEpkkS

 

[FNF]

Hi, I've been lurking to see emu chicks, haha. I have never raised emus but I raise gamebirds and they get the same thing. What kind of bedding are you using and how big is the brooder?

They’re about two weeks old - the brooder is a large Great Dane size crate with a towel on top of non slip carpet. It gets changed and cleaned a few times per day. I have a pen enclosed with dog gates with pine shavings for when they come out which is also a few times per day; they are up in the barn and still small so I don’t let them just be out in the pen yet - I also fear they’ll eat too many shavings as they do try them when out! Here’s a pic. Despite my frequent cleanings and letting them out to run around they have dried poo called on toes. I can sometimes clean them a bit but not well. I would like to let them run around in a non slip pan of warm water if that were somehow effective

 

[briefvisit]

Looks like a nice setup. Gee, is poo foot a problem beyond the aesthetic?

Wild chicks get dirty in all sorts of ways -- then Dad takes them for a swim.

SE

 

[FNF]

Looks like a nice setup. Gee, is poo foot a problem beyond the aesthetic?

Wild chicks get dirty in all sorts of ways -- then Dad takes them for a swim.

SE

If it’s not I’ll worry less I just don’t want it to lead to something worse, some form of emu bumblefoot or … I don’t know. Wish we had some warmer weather so I could just take them outside with a little warm water or wet grass.

 

[FNF]

Guess what : Fred and Ethel have another egg and are building an actual nest (this time under their shelter - guess they learned from the last go around). I don't think I can let him sit another two months, he just got up three weeks ago from the last clutch. But wow, fast moving on the next round. Anyone want an egg/s?

 

[Pyxis]

Anyone want an egg/s?

Send it to me, I'll take care of it

 

[FNF]

Send it to me, I'll take care of it

Let me know if you’re serious