Pyxis' Emu Chat Thread

[aart]

The males tend to stay friendly while the females become more aloof as they age.

That's interesting.....reminds me of my buddies rabbits, the males were sweethearts and female vicious biotches.

They're also a little polyandrous, so the females might mate with more than one male if given the chance. And they start breeding about 50 days before she starts laying eggs.

Multiple males don't battle for dominance like chickens?

 

[Pyxis]

Multiple males don't battle for dominance like chickens?

Nope! Emus engage in a courtship dance. If the female finds the male's dance satisfactory, then they pair up. Since they start to mate so long before they start laying, a male might try to court other females before he starts actually incubating the eggs. Since that means that the original female might lose her mate, who she needs to incubate her eggs, she might actually guard her mate and try to prevent him from accessing other females.

Sometimes a male ends up incubating the eggs of more than one female at the same time.

After the male starts to incubate, she might go and seek another unpaired male to mate with because she might lay another clutch. Some females lay up to 50 eggs a year.

 

[Pyxis]

Forgot to say, if egg B had hatched I'd have been hoping for two males a female, so that the female could pair with one, then the other if she laid a second clutch. Now I'm just hoping for a pair.

You can run trios, a male and two females, but the dominant female will get access to the male first, meaning the first eggs from the beta female might not be fertile, and if they both lay large numbers of eggs he might not be able to keep up with fertilizing them all.

 

[perchie.girl]

Well, I just made it up...was kinda 'tongue in cheek'(we need smiley for that) Haha!

 

[Pyxis]

So based on the votes, I think I'll enter #3 and the cuddling picture (even though I wasn't planning to, that seems to be the favorite).

 

[biophiliac]

Forgot to say, if egg B had hatched I'd have been hoping for two males a female, so that the female could pair with one, then the other if she laid a second clutch. Now I'm just hoping for a pair.

You can run trios, a male and two females, but the dominant female will get access to the male first, meaning the first eggs from the beta female might not be fertile, and if they both lay large numbers of eggs he might not be able to keep up with fertilizing them all.

Opposite breeding strategy from chickens. Then there are pigeons who pair one to one. Fascinating!

So based on the votes, I think I'll enter #3 and the cuddling picture (even though I wasn't planning to, that seems to be the favorite).

It was my fav too.

 

[FishMtFarm]

Hmm, I just learned a lot about emu breeding from you. I really just want pets but now I know how to pair them up. I definately would rather have a male and female but would be happy with two males.

 

[WVduckchick]

So since the males usually sit on the eggs, could you buy eggs and let a male incubate them? Would he go broody like a chicken/duck/etc?

And do adults have have male/female names like cock/hen?

 

[jadip4]

This is fascinating info!

 

[kumquat]

So since the males usually sit on the eggs, could you buy eggs and let a male incubate them? Would he go broody like a chicken/duck/etc?

What triggers Emu broodiness? Very interesting question...