New Emu Owner

[howfunkyisurchicken]

Hello everyone! Brand new emu owner here, I've had these 2 for about a week. I tried unsuccessfully to hatch eggs in the past (so close). Some folks right up the street from us decided to rehome these guys, so I brought them home. They're not super tame but they arent aggressive, they'll eat out of the feed bucket while I'm holding it now and one will let me pet its head and neck. For now they are Gomez and Morticia, but I suspect they are actually Gomez and Fester Ive heard them both make the grunt grunt dinosaur noise, and one of them has made some other sound I cant really describe, but no booming. Whatever they may be, they are super cute!

 

[N F C]

That worked out nicely for you...cool looking birds!

 

[spoiledchickie]

Congrats! I adore my emu. She lives with two mini horses, a pony and a quarter horse. We call her Emee. I wish I could add a second but fear the acclimation period would be a dangerous one

 

[briefvisit]

All three nice-looking birds -- and all 'sandies'. My birds always have a sorta . . . lived-in look:

 

[507382]

Everyone's emooz are so different and adorable! Mine are only 11 months old and they still look cuter than full grown ones. I wonder, when will they get blue necks, and fill out a bunch and start to look a bit evil, haha.

 

[briefvisit]

'I wonder, when will they get blue necks, and fill out a bunch and start to look a bit evil, haha.'

Not all will get the 'blue necks.' That's the 'classic,' and not all emooz are 'classics' -- Tooshtoosh, here yesterday, is not a classic.

And otherwise? If you poke me, I'll provide fuller detail; but:

let us measure an emu's childhood by seasons, which is how it goes here, in the wild.

First of Spring: hatch under Dad, then hit the road with him. First season, 'waddle bottom'

Second, photo above: black-headness kicks in. You see the first 'break' in the appearance of black pin feathers on the upper neck, and the first fuzziness of toosh feathers.


Third, photo below: gettin' that black-head mojo on

Now, there's a thing to learn about photos I post -- here from Planet Rothschildi -- and that is to always look at the surroundings, which tell you the season.

 

[briefvisit]

And the chicks really gotta crank it on at this point 'cause we're already into autumn.
https://i.imgur.com/Ov7q1nW.jpg

Fourth: first winter: still chicks, still cheeping; but got the plumage they need to stay warm in weather like this:

 

[briefvisit]

See the background? This would be end of fifth. Not much grass left: almost summer. I really like chicks at this stage. They're resilient enough to be less susceptible to injury and predators. They start exhibiting personality. And they look like they slept in a ditch

 

[briefvisit]

Look carefully: see the ripe chillis?
This is Limpychick and Tooshtoosh. The rest of the clutch has gone bush voluntarily. So these chicks are in, say, early season seven. Post-cheeping now. Got personality.
https://i.imgur.com/NbYpolc.mp4

You can already pick Tooshtoosh, with the darker feathers on his neck -- not a 'classic.'

 

[briefvisit]

https://i.imgur.com/2iWNEc4.mp4

Mid-seventh, Limpychick and Tooshtoosh enjoying the last cocktail tomatoes. Way past cheeping, but females not yet necessarily identifiable.

And there's a Season-Eight photo missing. I'll check.

SE