Pyxis' Emu Chat Thread

[matt swenson]

'both chicks are in the basement because of the weather and thier size.'

I don't quite understand: you have a four-month-old chick living without room to exercise, without natural light, because 'weather and size'?

Wild emu chicks are born into a world of rain and wind, and they thrive. They breast the wet cold grass from first light to last every day.

But I bow to the wisdom of captive-bird owners: am I off track here? Shouldn't a four-month-old chick be getting some time outdoors each day?

'which is so fricken cute' I wanna go on record here: just me, personally?

I don't find anything 'cute' at all in this.

Over years on this site, it has occured to me again and again that the welfare of captive birds gets caught up in the personalities of their owners.

A few days ago, if a vet had descended the steps into your basement, she'd have seen an underweight critter with one lame leg and an infection in the other. Do you think she'd have said:

A: 'Put this bird down' or

B: 'Well, let's let it hop around (here in the basement?) until it's obviously in pain , then put it down.'

Supreme Emu, Lake Muir, W.A.

not sure what you read but they are not four mounth old chicks. they are like a mounth, and in a ten by ten pen in the basement and they go outside when ever the weather isn't pouring or freezing. you leave your chicks out in WA? no you dont ..so back up. secondly, it isnt in pain it's just deformed. so it has to hop. also there are plenty of accounts of young one legged emus. i'm sure you know that because you have all the emu books i've read. as for personalities of the owners, i could give a flying flip. i have no emoutional attachment for any animal and put down wounded or in pain livestock whenever they arise.
my question?? Are you new to reading? if so congraulation on you journey. sadly though you need to learn to read for comprehension, as you were unable to get information clearly from my post. EXAMPLE: the emu only has one lame leg and it had the infection. also the age of the emus. any way keep on reading , you'll get the hang of it!!

 

[matt swenson]

just a post for the gold star readers here. the deformed emu responded to the antiboitics and is doing great. the infection and swelling went down. sadly, that leg will never function perfectly, but for now she is mobile with a hop limp. with NO pain. thanks for the goose idea but for now they have each other. I know this might be a problem when she gets bigger, like in four mounths from now. (IN THE FUTURE) hope i didnt use to many big or confusing words.
Northeast people, are your emus molting? my adults are littering the neighborhood with feathers. they did a similar molt last spring. this year it's crazy the amount of feathers. the weird part, no bear spots on the birds. you can't even tell they are losing feathers.

 

[briefvisit]

Ooops. Not four months. My error.

'you leave your chicks out in WA? no you dont ..so back up.' Yep. From the moment they hatch -- they're wild.

'there are plenty of accounts of young one legged emus.'
Would you be so very kind as to post some links?

SE

 

[Pyxis]

I'm not convinced the eggs I have are developing. They've all been losing too much weight throughout incubation which I've always found to be a bad sign. Ah well. Maybe I'll try with another batch, or I might just give up on hatching this year, since it's pretty much the end of the season anyway.

 

[Pyxis]

One of the eggs now has a rotten smell. I think I'm out of luck this year! Gonna leave the other two in, just in case, but I don't expect chicks.

 

[Pyxis]

Hey all, I know I haven't posted in a bit, and the reason is I was a bit sad about everything to do with the emus.

Reason being, we had a pair of bobcats hit us. Between me and the neighbors' place, it got a lot of birds. Two of those birds were the juvenile blonde emus They weren't sleeping in the barn with Ciara, so they were outside at night and easy targets. Definitely my fault for a) thinking they were big enough to be safe from predators and b) not making sure they were actually going in the barn at night.

So I've been really sad about that. And Ciara has been very lonely. This was several months ago that it happened, right after I found out the eggs were all duds this year, so it was a double whammy.

However, there's a man who comes into the feed store a lot who farms bison. He also, a couple years ago, started with a few pairs of emus. This year he added ostriches. Anyway, he agreed to sell me a year and a half old male. He's even going to deliver him. So this Tuesday a new emu will be delivered right to my farm, and Ciara will have company, and hopefully, a mate for this year's breeding season.

Oh, and the neighbor ended up staking out at night and shot both bobcats. So they won't be coming back.

 

[Granny Hatchet]

Sorry for the loss .

 

[h2oratt]

Wow, so sorry for your loss. I m glad you made contact with someone to get a male.

 

[backyard pigeons]

Man. That's no fun. Sorry. Hopefully you get a breeding pair going this year.

are emus hard to get paired? Do they mate for life?

 

[BirdsBeesTrees]

I'm so sorry about your blonde emus. I hope everything works out with the new breeding pair.