New to Emus!!! Can they protect chickens against predators?

[homestead_girl]

Hi! I have a 5-acre homestead in Sweden where we currently keep chickens and ducks. I have been curious about potentially getting some emus to join us on the farm and I would love some advice from someone with experience. Here are my questions!

1. The emus we are considering to get are 5 months old. Will we be able to get them to become friendly and tame, or are they too old? They will be free ranging on our land and we have two children (8 and 2 years old). Do I need to worry about them potentially being aggressive with the children? The man I am considering buying from says they are very sweet and curious, but I want to make sure. My plan is to keep them indoors in our stables for the first week or so to feed and be present with them before letting them out to roam. I appreciate all advice here!

2. Can emus potentially help keep predators away from our homestead? I have heard they keep hawks away, and potentially even foxes. Is this true? This is my main reason for wanting to get them (other than that they seem like very fun animals to keep!)

3. We are considering buying the three young ones available (they are pretty tricky to find here in sweden) - two males and one female. Is this a good number to start, or should I only get two (one male and one female)?. I feel bad leaving the third by himself since the three were raised together... but I want to make sure there is a peaceful dynamic.

Thank you!!!

 

[nuthatched]

They won't do any more protecting than say, a dog and not only can be a threat to children but to adults as well.
They aren't animals to be taken lightly .
I'll tag some people that can help you.
@KsKingBee

 

[KsKingBee]

Having had emu's for only a few weeks I am not much help but I would get the trio and look for someone to trade hens with. Being hatch mates is not necessarily going to mean they are full-on brother and sisters, but getting a non-related hen would be a good idea.

 

[homestead_girl]

thank you! are your emus friendly? would you feel comfortable having them free range around children?

 

[BlindLemonChicken]

My uncle had a couple and they were not safe around children. I’m sure it varies but I was not a fan. They liked to chase us while we rode around in a golf cart.

They kept a llama for predator protection. I’m not sure what the emus were for.

 

[KsKingBee]

thank you! are your emus friendly? would you feel comfortable having them free range around children?

They are just as likely to be calm, sweet, and loving as they are to being completely psychotic and dangerous. Of our five emu two love to be held and petted, two will let you pet them and one we can't get close to. In peafowl, imprinting a cock can lead to a bird with no fear of humans that will treat you as he would any other cock trying to move into his 'territory', with flogging and sharp spurs. Emu's tend to have role reversals between males and females. There is a FB page called Useless Farm where they have a hen called Karen that I would not feel comfortable being around. Our emu get out of their pens and walk around our property and I am ok with that but as I said, with only a few weeks of actual experience with them, I would not chance having little kids around them.