Pyxis' Emu Chat Thread

[Pyxis]

I had a friend that had been a vet tech for 30 years come over and help me draw some blood from the blonde chick. Results are back - she's a girl! Her name will be Sylvie.

I also managed to pull some good feathers from Blue today and got the root, so those can sent out to find his gender. Yep, I'm saying 'his' optimistically because I really don't want three girls and one male, lol.

 

[JacinLarkwell]

I had a friend that had been a vet tech for 30 years come over and help me draw some blood from the blonde chick. Results are back - she's a girl! Her name will be Sylvie.

I also managed to pull some good feathers from Blue today and got the root, so those can sent out to find his gender. Yep, I'm saying 'his' optimistically because I really don't want three girls and one male, lol.

Are you planning to breed if you get 2 pairs? Or are the older ones still too young?

 

[Pyxis]

Are you planning to breed if you get 2 pairs? Or are the older ones still too young?

Ciara and Sebastian better give me eggs this year, lol. Technically she was old enough last year, but she only laid one egg, then a soft-shelled egg, and then quit. So this year they better get their butts in gear and start paying for their own feed! Lol.

And yes, the younger two will also be kept as a breeding pair if they are opposite genders. If they're not, I'll have to make a decision about whether to keep Blue.

 

[briefvisit]

tee hee

'if they are opposite genders'
If they are opposite sexes. Gender is a social construct.

 

[Pyxis]

Feathers were sent today! Really hoping it comes back that Blue is male. Otherwise, I'll have to thinking about trying to trade for a male; can't really do three females and one male, unfortunately.

 

[aart]

can't really do three females and one male, unfortunately.

How come?
The one male can't fertilize all 3 females?

 

[Pyxis]

How come?
The one male can't fertilize all 3 females?

Not really. They pair off. Occasionally you can get lucky and get a trio to work, but three females to a male I can't see working at all. Females are also territorial and can be aggressive to each other so if you try to have one male with two females, you can get fighting between the girls.

 

[JacinLarkwell]

How come?
The one male can't fertilize all 3 females?

These you seem to want reverse trios with. The females are the agressor and the males are rhe nesters

 

[Pyxis]

Blue is a boy!

I am so relieved it worked out this way. I'll be keeping him and Sylvie as a pair.

 

[briefvisit]

I had lovely emoo observations yesterday. Tooshtoosh's four chicks are still coming and going. They turned up for breakfast. Then LimpyChick, an adult female, turned up.

Then five wild emus rocked into the house-clearing, to try to get a bit of the home team's wheat. I had real trouble, as my eyes are so bad, getting a good look at them; but they were chicks -- that is, about 14 months old. I heard one of them cheep.

So . . . are they a clutch just like Tooshtoosh's clutch? Cut loose by their Dad last winter, but still travelling about as a unit?

And they seemed so brash, as though they'd been here before -- but that's not possible. They aren't old enough.

Will we be able to identify some time in the future clutchs of 'chicks' -- early in their second year -- that have stayed together after their Dad left them? From any sort of distance, it is very hard to pick them from adults. They lack the 'ruff' of white feathers at the top of their necks: still baby pin-feathers. And they are clearly underweight if you look carefully. But in silhouette from even thirty yards, you can't tell them from adult birds.
SE