**~~>>Second Annual Cinco de Mayo Turkey Hatchathon<<~~**all poultry welcome!

[yinepu]

Quote:
exactly...

my thoughts were .. if I KNOW i don't want them
and KNOW I won't take care of them

why have them in the first place???


yet I have had so many people try to shove the idea of reproducing down my throat over the years... finally I pointed out my gene pool and asked if they REALLY though the world would be a better place with more of my kin running around


that usually gets the point across pretty well .. lol if you knew some of my relatives and the issues they have (mostly birth defects) you would understand why
yeah.. if we were "purebred" dogs we would have been culled years ago!

 

[debs_flock]

if we were "purebred" dogs we would have been culled years ago!

OMG, I showed dogs for MANY years. I can't tell you how many times I've thought that about people................crossbreed, poor teeth, bad temperament, etc.

 

[yinepu]

Quote:
they aren't for everyone though.. think of a 5 to 6 foot tall dinosaur.. with little wings that end with this:

now granted those claws are useless.. but their big ol feet have three big razor shape toenails that they know how to use (they do look like dinos when they are attacking something)
I think they may be closer to the dinosaurs than even chickens are...

Quote:
and egg season is pretty much over for this year

If they could be free ranged and put up at night like the chickens, I would SO hatch an emu!

lol.. oh your neighbors would HATE you!

they have to have tall sturdy fences.. and even at that if they spook they can run into a fence and flip over the top if they hit a corner post or if the fence is a bit low in that spot

they also like to defend their territory.. from dogs, cats, other birds... pretty much anything smaller than themselves that they deem to be an interloper.. which usually doesn't end well for the interloper (stomped and clawed to death with those big feet.. not to mention some hard pecking included)

and having said that they are completely useless as a livestock guardian at night.. they sleep at night and can easily become the victim in an attack

 

[yinepu]

Quote:

OMG, I showed dogs for MANY years. I can't tell you how many times I've thought that about people................crossbreed, poor teeth, bad temperament, etc.

oh even more fun when they have missing appendages! (yup.. some really bad genes in the ol gene pool)...

 

[debs_flock]

they aren't for everyone though..

now granted those claws are useless.. but their big ol feet have three big razor shape toenails that they know how to use (they do look like dinos when they are attacking something)
I think they may be closer to the dinosaurs than even chickens are...

Yeah, that's why I wanted to hatch it, have it for a week or two and give it back, LOL. I showed DH a video of a hatching emu and he instantly said we needed to get some. Then we went to Mary's house to pick up some eggs. I walked through the pasture with Mary and was "followed" by the four emus. First they grabbed my hair, then my arm was pecked. No harm done other than a scrape and a bruise.

After I left the pasture, one of the chickens got loose in the field. DH and I witnessed the chase and attempted stomp.

Looked just like the velociraptors in Jurassic Park. DH no longer wants them, LOL

 

[Wisher1000]

How do they taste?

 

[Wisher1000]

I call a drumstick!

 

[debs_flock]

How do they taste?

Actually, like lean beef. There is an emu project in our county 4H. At one of the Resource leader meetings, the project leader brought in emu in several different recipes. It was quite tasty.

 

[debs_flock]

They sell them in the 4H auction here too. There is only one processing plant in the area that does emu. But one of the ranch processors would probably do them too.

 

[yinepu]

Quote: uhm... try "extremely GOOD lean beef"...

I liken it to very very good veal

the emu I have had was always extremely tender and flavorful


they also make VERY good emu stew