The life of Daryl the emu

[mich9510]

Daryl has his own wading pool, too cute! Has he tried to get out of it yet? 

Hasn't tried to get out yet but he's eyeballed the sides like "pretty soon" and he shares the pool with his chicken friends.

 

[N F C]

Hasn't tried to get out yet but he's eyeballed the sides like "pretty soon" and he shares the pool with his chicken friends.

I wonder if once the chicks start hopping up on the edges, if Daryl will too. My chickens always seemed to copy one another like that.

 

[mich9510]

I'm sure he will..lol. I actually thought another reason it would be good to have other chicks in with him is for the teaching factor. Since I'm not an emu it's hard for me to teach Daryl how to be an emu.
We know that chickens are very much "monkey see, monkey do" in their behaviors. I bought some chicks that were about 3weeks old and some that were probably only a few days old. They were all in the same brooder at rural king. The younger chicks are learning behaviors such as scratching, dust bathing, and establishing dominance from the older chicks. Then they teach the next generation...
I thought they would help teach Daryl bird things.
For example, Daryl wouldn't touch his emu crumbles. Instinct tells him that commercial ratite crumbles are not food. he would never come across them in the wild. So I had been preparing Daryl chopped meals of mixed greens, a protein such as soldier fly larvae or eggs, and some carbs such as apples. He enjoys that but I'm afraid he won't get all the nutrients he needs. So I was crushing the crumbles into a powder, wetting the greens and what-not, then sprinkling it on to the greens. But, just this evening I saw Daryl eat some crumbles. I think he learned that from the chicks. I'm sure he would have figured it out eventually but seeing the chicks eat the crumbles helped.

 

[N F C]

Good to hear Daryl is starting to eat his crumbles, that will save you some extra work and he'll get the nutrients he needs. Was it difficult to find crumbles for him? I don't remember seeing emu food at any of the feed stores.

"Since I'm not an emu it's hard for me to teach Daryl how to be an emu."

 

[Finnie]

I'm in too!    Sheriff( user name has a thread  "Stella's Social Club,"  at one time she  had purchased emu eggs and was very methodical  re: what weights the egg should at certain days,  heat/humidity etc.  She ended up with two pairs.  As I understand it, I don't think they are ready or lay or breed till about 3 yrs. old.  At any rate I think one female would not let males near her,  and the other female was  a beautiful flirt  but neither male was interested.  I don't believe she ever got fertile eggs from them.

I tried to go back through the very long thread to  find the several videos she posted but, no luck.  I believe she had also put some on an emu thread.  Hers were  Louis & Loca,
The other male I believe was Stuart but for the life of me can't remember the females name.  She really was beautiful and put on quite a show. Quite a few chicken folks became interested in having emus  due to her.  I was just fascinated with their personalities.

I have to admit I'm a bit of a lurker on the Emu forum. I'll never own emus, but I stumbled across the thread about emu pictures and stories, and I was just fascinated! That led to hours and hours of reading old emu threads. I know what videos of the Sherrif's that you are referring to. They were great. For those who don't know, Mary (the Sherrif) has a blog, and it has a page with many of her emu videos. Here is one:

http://www.theeggfarm.com/blog/2012/06/10/emu-freak-out-again/

There are many more.

http://www.theeggfarm.com/?s=Emu+video

(And I was supposed to spend this morning catching up on chores, not surfing emu videos on the net! )

 

[briefvisit]

It's nought but a source of sadness that I might be the last of Sheriff's friends left here. Here's my first ever post: https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/357123/notes-from-the-emu-homeland

E.S. is still around. Aqua Eyes and Sheriff and KGBH and Foulman and Kathyinmo seem all to have gone: https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/641934/mating-season-in-australia

Eric and The Cheepers are here this morning. The Cheepers have lost interest in my tomato plants because they've scored their first (unripe) figs from the fig tree:



[Note that they're black heads with toosh feathers well developed. It's now only about ten weeks 'til Eric may cut them loose. Before then, between the black-head pin feathers and their tooshes, they'll develop post-pin-feathers body plumage.]

 

[mich9510]

I almost bought some figs for Daryl today! His favorite food seems to be kale. He loves all green leafy vegetables.

Foods Daryl loves: Foods Daryl is not so keen on:
Kale carrots
Spinach ratite starter crumbles
Green Leaf Lettuce
Watercress
apples
kiwi
peas
boiled eggs
beef
chicken
red wiggler worms
pears
dried soldier fly larvae
parsley

I'm always looking for other foods to give Daryl so if anyone has suggestions, please throw them out there!

 

[briefvisit]

I almost bought some figs for Daryl today! His favorite food seems to be kale. He loves all green leafy vegetables.

Foods Daryl loves: Foods Daryl is not so keen on:
Kale carrots
Spinach ratite starter crumbles
Green Leaf Lettuce
Watercress
apples
kiwi
peas
boiled eggs
beef
chicken
red wiggler worms
pears
dried soldier fly larvae
parsley

I'm always looking for other foods to give Daryl so if anyone has suggestions, please throw them out there!

https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/737093/what-do-emus-eat-am-i-feeding-him-o-k/10#post_18037693

 

[mich9510]

Happy birthday Daryl! Well, almost... Daryl was born at 4 am Friday January 27th. So at 4 am he'll be 2 weeks old!



Daryl and Riddick are becoming good friends.

 

[Finnie]

Happy birthday, Darryl! Two weeks already! Wow time sure flies!

Handsome boxer, too, there.