Question about Emu Behavior

[emupriya]

My older emu who is a little over 1.5 years old has adopted a strange behavior. Whenever he is around my dad he curls his head, fluffs out his neck feathers (it looks like he’s wearing a boa), and struts around, making grunting and booming noises and following him wherever he goes. When I happen to walk by, he snaps out of his daze and runs at me, usually grabbing my hat off my head and hissing/throwing a front kick.
While I may have (oops) encouraged some of this behavior, like snatching my hat for instance, he treats me (Female) extremely different than my dad in an aggressive way. Is this because of breeding season? He started acting this way around September.
When he is in his pen, he continuously
paces one side like he feels a pull in that certain direction. I’ve caught him sneaking down the driveway numerous times, even though the nearest female emu is probably 20 miles away.

 

[Pyxis]

How sure are you that he's male? The strutting, posturing, and especially the booming noises all sound like things females do during mating season. Those are things my females do during this time of year. Not so much my males. And the booming, drumming noise is typically a female noise.

Especially with him then getting a bit aggressive towards you, a female, but following your dad, a male, around.

 

[nuthatched]

@ShannonsChimkens
@Pyxis

 

[Nym]

i was chased by a emu chick at a local Leyland Bros-type animal farm. We would all get handed brown paper bags of food to feed them .. No fishing way! lol.

All the best of luck! And stay safe. These are dangerous birdies.

 

[ShannonsChimkens]

Female in early breeding season.

 

[ShannonsChimkens]

If you can record it’s sounds, we can tell you what it is.

 

[Pyxis]

I can’t be sure if what I felt was just fat or the sack.
Anyway, I contacted the breeder we got him from, and he said they were genetically sexed. There’s a 1-2% chance its wrong but I think it’s unlikely. Guess I just got a really strange emu. Thanks for all the info and help!

Can you grab a few feathers from him/her? You'll have to get them root and all, but if you can snag a few, you can have the DNA test done yourself to confirm.

Was he marked in some way when you got him? Even if the breeder did have them DNA sexed, which they would have had to have done by eggshell or blood at that age, they could have mixed them up. Eggshell is more likely than blood, since most people don't draw blood from baby emus, so maybe they mixed up what egg it came out of, or mixed up the chicks after sending the samples out.

But if he/she is making a drumming or booming sound, she is almost definitely female. Males don't make that sound.

 

[ShannonsChimkens]

I’m with Pyxis in this one. The description of the sounds it’s making, lean more towards female than male. The males grunt and growl, as they don’t have the big pouch that the females have for drumming.

Happen to have a video or recording of the behavior? Both males and females act a little different than normal during breeding season.

 

[emupriya]

How sure are you that he's male? The strutting, posturing, and especially the booming noises all sound like things females do during mating season. Those are things my females do during this time of year. Not so much my males. And the booming, drumming noise is typically a female noise.

Especially with him then getting a bit aggressive towards you, a female, but following your dad, a male, around.

The person we bought him from said he was a male, but he was a baby at the time. And he’s doing all the behaviors you described…oh geez.

 

[emupriya]

I’m with Pyxis in this one. The description of the sounds it’s making, lean more towards female than male. The males grunt and growl, as they don’t have the big pouch that the females have for drumming.

Happen to have a video or recording of the behavior? Both males and females act a little different than normal during breeding season.

I’m with Pyxis in this one. The description of the sounds it’s making, lean more towards female than male. The males grunt and growl, as they don’t have the big pouch that the females have for drumming.

Happen to have a video or recording of the behavior? Both males and females act a little different than normal during breeding season.

For some reason its not letting me post a video. But here is a few pics of “him” all fluffed up. Unfortunately I think you are both right, which means we might have some eggs in the future, since we have another male emu who is currently 1 year old.