Pyxis' Emu Chat Thread

[featherz]

It looks like I need to rehome my emus Claudius and Cleopatra - just about 6 months old so kinda big - my work decided to promote me (YAY!) but this means travel (BOO). I am concerned about their wellbeing when I am not here - we've had coyotes and other fun things lately.

Rehoming fee but it's negotiable.. If anyone knows anyone in upstate NY or thereabouts interested in a DNA sexed unrelated pair shoot me a PM. You'd have to come get them and bring someone strong if lifting up into a truck is required.

Cute! Emus!

 

[matt swenson]

so only emu owners will understand, been raising two guinea hens and finally got them to roost in a tree in my yard. like 15 feet up. so no predator problems. perfect free range bug control. everything going smoothly....till the guinea flew down into the emu run.
stomp..stomp..stomp. why do emus hate little creatures. my emus are totally chill with people but any thing small that enters their run. pancake! any ideas ? i know emus are from Australia, and there are a lot of snakes and lizards. so is the stomping of small creatures a reflex to these reptilians. anyone know the main predator of emu chicks. i guessing it's something about the size of a bread box.
my emus have stomped wild intruders like rabbits and rats. has anybody ever seen a fox or coyote encounter?
i never left the dead or wounded creatures in their run, wondering if they would mash it , than attempt to eat it. the books say emus will eat lizards. do you think this aggression toward small creatures could be predatory, as opposed to defensive?? anybody ever see their emu eat other creatures??

 

[aart]

been raising two guinea hens and finally got them to roost in a tree in my yard. like 15 feet up. so no predator problems.

No owls or raccoons on Cape Cod(MA?)

 

[briefvisit]

'has anybody ever seen a fox . . . encounter?' Saw Greedy Emu chase a fox for fifty metres or more, clearly with dastardly intention. They chase kangaroos.

'anyone know the main predator of emu chicks' Long-ish list, aart. Wedge-tailed eagles. Dingoes in the old days. Foxes now. Snakes and goannas.

'anybody ever see their emu eat other creatures??' We did a test with grasshoppers: yep.

But I've not seen the wild ones stomp things.

SE

 

[FishMtFarm]

'has anybody ever seen a fox . . . encounter?' Saw Greedy Emu chase a fox for fifty metres or more, clearly with dastardly intention. They chase kangaroos.

'anyone know the main predator of emu chicks' Long-ish list, aart. Wedge-tailed eagles. Dingoes in the old days. Foxes now. Snakes and goannas.

'anybody ever see their emu eat other creatures??' We did a test with grasshoppers: yep.

But I've not seen the wild ones stomp things.

SE

You say fox are no predators to baby emu. I’m guessing fox are an introduced species now?

 

[matt swenson]

No owls or raccoons on Cape Cod(MA?)

i've eliminated a fair number of the raccoons, the remaining one are too fat and lazy. we got tons of great horned owls but i've never had a problem. there are lots and lots of cottontails on the cape. i counted 12 in my yard last week, so i think that explains what the owls are eating. coyotes are the big problem, they can't pass up a free meal of domestic fowl. The cape in the summer time is a feed bag for predators. lots of tourists garbage scraps, tons of nesting shorebirds, a fair amount of road kill etc... so if your birds present a tiny challenge predators, scavenger move on.
come fall, you have to check the fencing and make sure everyone is in for the night, actually lost a few chicken mid-day last fall. That's also the time for raccoon raids, new raccoons born this spring, but they are easy enough knock back.
biggest problem...RED-TAIL HAWKS. they are a daytime threat so there is nothing you can do, if you want birds free ranging you are going to loose a few to hawks. worst part, after the kill one of you favorite birds, they sit smugly in a tree and there is nothing you can do. no-wonder farmers used to shoot them. if only hawks would land in the emu run!!!
this is a rambling reply. so to answer...." yes" we have raccoons and owls.

 

[briefvisit]

'You say fox are no predators to baby emu.'

In the past, dingoes. Now, foxes.

 

[matt swenson]

'You say fox are no predators to baby emu.'

In the past, dingoes. Now, foxes.

so the largest indigenous land predator is the dingo? do dingoes pack up like coyotes or wolves? guessing it would be hard for a single to take down an adult emu.

 

[briefvisit]

'so the largest indigenous land predator is the dingo? do dingoes pack up like coyotes or wolves?'

Yeh. The dingo -- about which I know nothing -- is a dog that came to Oz with the aboriginals. So we'd guess you're right about the pack-behaviour thing.

[ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thylacine ]

'guessing it would be hard for a single to take down an adult emu.'

Old guys talk crazy twaddle about dogs vs. emus (and kangaroos) . . .

But actual predation of chicks? My take on it is that, dog or fox, singly or in a pack, it's about attacks on the clutches at night in the first season, when the chicks are still waddle-bottom small -- still slow (especially as the ground litter really slows them down).

I once stumbled upon a clutch within perhaps 48 hours of hatching. Dad backed off about thirty metres, grunting. The chicks scattered in all directions. A dog/fox could have killed half the clutch in thirty seconds without going anywhere near Dad.

SE

 

[biophiliac]

Limpychick shared her wheat with a wild male this morning, and then the pair went bush. Watch this space!

SE

Low-key turf war continues. Limpychick lacks the moxy, but she is present. Tooshtoosh's female slides around the clearing, and comes right up to the garden.

Is Limpychick wanting to lay in this territory ? on your property?