The life of Daryl the emu

[mich9510]

I'm the one (my original username here is 'Supreme Emu') responsible for coining the term 'spazzy dance.' So . . . google 'emu spazzy dance.'

If you let Daryl outside at first-bird-call of dawn, for a few days in a row, you will see that running around is not from fright, but from pure delight in being a high-speed dinosaur. The motions of spazzy dances are mixed with completely crazy spurts of highest-speed runs; and I've been lucky enough to see even better spazzies than this: 

If you watch a range of spazzy vids, you'll see clearly what I was saying about space: the chicks and adults charge to and fro along fences, clearly looking to run harder and faster. In the house-clearing here, they may cover 6-800 yards, in bursts of 200 at a time, in hardly a minute.

So I finally got to see Daryl do his "spazzy dance" it was so cute! He's outside full- time now but I do put him in the chicken coop at night for fear of predation. He also loves to be with his chickens. He doesn't really love the coop but he tolerates it. It's supposed to go down to below zero with lots of snow here in the next two days. The emu mother in me wants to bring him back inside for this cold snap... The realist in me says he'll be fine. I guess I'll just watch him and see.
He is starting to get some patches on his body where it looks like maybe his adult feathers at starting to come in. He's still mostly fuzzy though. I'm going to try to het some pics tomorrow and post them.

 

[mich9510]

These were taken today. The last picture looks like he's wearing leg warmers but it's just the snow sticking to his legs.

 

[N F C]

That's funny @mich9510 it does look like he's wearing leg warmers!

 

[briefvisit]

So I finally got to see Daryl do his "spazzy dance" it was so cute! He's outside full- time now but I do put him in the chicken coop at night for fear of predation. He also loves to be with his chickens. He doesn't really love the coop but he tolerates it. It's supposed to go down to below zero with lots of snow here in the next two days. The emu mother in me wants to bring him back inside for this cold snap... The realist in me says he'll be fine. I guess I'll just watch him and see.
He is starting to get some patches on his body where it looks like maybe his adult feathers at starting to come in. He's still mostly fuzzy though. I'm going to try to het some pics tomorrow and post them.

Yeh, inside at night seems necessary in that sort of cold. Having the coop to retreat to should give you data on his tolerance.

'Black head': if Daryl is just getting to the 'black head' phase (which I actually like more than the earliest stage), you'll like see first mottled patches of black on his neck. Then start looking for the very first toosh feathers to sprout.

Within weeks, the very very last of his baby stripes will be gone. He'll have full pin feathers on neck and head, and a super-enthusiastic toosh -- almost oversized.

At that stage in the wild -- I have eight chicks at that stage here at present -- they still have immature feathers 'in the middle,' and those will start thickening up because cold weather (and being dumped by their dad) is only about ten or so weeks away.

Now, Uno Chick is now a young adult (female); but here is a photo of her super-cheeky self when she was black head:






Final Note: check the background of the photos I post. In the wild, of course, the chicks' stages of development follow the seasons. Uno Chick has 'fresh pick' visible behind her -- so it's early autumn.

Now check this photo:
the grass is longer, so it's later in the season.

Now look here:


Mich, the photo above this sentence is of an earlier clutch, Alpha and Omega. You can see that the late spring sun has begun hammering the grass in the open, but the grass in foreground, by the house, is still winter-lush.

Now below we're back to Uno and Eric, in my backyard -- and in this photo and the one above, the fire breaks have been sprayed, killing the grass, which makes things a little harder to analyse. But . . . you see that Uno is smaller, the grass is longer -- so it's earlier in spring -- and you can even note that the peas visible are a late winter crop:

Supreme Emu

 

[mich9510]

@briefvisit
I LOVE all the awesome emooo pics!
Daryl is starting to get patches of black on his neck and body.
He seems to tolerate snow and cold to about 30- 32 degrees. Any colder than that and he shivers and does his distress call. He hates being inside but I have to bring him in when it's below freezing. I let him out daily, even if it's below freezing so he can run and get exercise. Sometimes it's only for a half hour but I do it several times per day. He loves the dog and will follow him back inside the house. Once he's on his brooder he's ok as long as his chicken friends are in it with him. So he comes in and has a snack of spinach, kale, blueberries, mealworms and/or live earthworms which may be his favorite thing to eat besides his greens. One thing I can say is that one emu is more work than all my other feathered friends put Together! I wouldn't change it though.

 

[briefvisit]

Your data on Daryl is good. We’ve had many discussions about ‘how cold is too cold’? but noting his distress call vis a vis the temperature is real data.

Otherwise, your regime sounds optimal: the issue of exercise is one that simply has not been forthrightly addressed in my years here. Sad to say, we have seen some incompetent folks posting.

And the importance of greens!!

Finally, a note on our different environments. I love this reality of BYC! You can get data that I can’t, and vice versa. So, you’ll be green with envy to know that I ‘speak emu’ fairly well, and that’s because I’m privileged to hear the birds talking to one another all the time. Dad and chicks talk. Breeding-pairs talk. Flocks on the move talk. Females communicate over distance both night and day. Territorial behavior involves a range of vocalisations. If you can hunt some Youtube stuff, it’s fine to find any recorded vocalisations you can.

If you ever get to Western Australia, you can observe here.

What fun it would be to see Daryl running around here; and because he’s so tame, you could make some observations: by walking through the bush at length with Daryl, you could catalogue what foods he chooses. I’ve tried it with the three ‘original’ chicks, who will follow me a little; but Daryl would do much better.

Here is a dad and some Daryls who passed the garden this morning

Supreme Emu

 

[mich9510]

So far, I only speak "daryl". But I'm going to YouTube some other emu vocalizations. I'm particularly interested in how dad and chicks communicate with each other. I only have Daryls communications to listen to. I've actually considered playing emu vocalizations for Daryl but I'm nervous as to what his reaction would be. Something to think about.
When I go near Daryl I try to do the hello whistle which is 4 short whistles in a row. He definitely responds to it with his own greeting of 4 whistles in return.
I try to give Daryl things to eat that he would find in the wild. Lots of berries, grapes, bugs, and greens. Greens make up the largest portion of his diet for sure and I'm amazed at how much he can consume at one time.
I have also noted that Daryl knows what he needs. At 7 weeks of age I'm now filling a dinner plate full of foods (a heaping pile) twice a day for him. Greens are always the largest portion but I always give him a variety. Sometimes he eats more fruit than greens, which indicates to me that he needs more sugary carbs. Other times he eats more insects or meat indicating he needs more protein. Like I said, he knows what he needs. Thank you for all of your input and advice @briefvisit. I would love to be there in western Australia with Daryl.

 

[EmuEnthusiest]

Currently I am hatching five Emu eggs, it is day 42 and they all are looking very good, for you when did your eggs first start to wiggle or cheep. I read an article I read said it would do this by day 40 but mine have not. Are they still fine or are they sick or something? Also they are leaning one way why do they do that?

Also do you have any good names for emus I cannot think of any good ones plz help, thanks.

 

[mich9510]

Currently I am hatching five Emu eggs, it is day 42 and they all are looking very good, for you when did your eggs first start to wiggle or cheep. I read an article I read said it would do this by day 40 but mine have not. Are they still fine or are they sick or something? Also they are leaning one way why do they do that?

My first wiggle was at day 42 I believe. I incubated two eggs but only one developed. I can tell you that after the first wiggle Daryl consistently wiggled when I took him out to weigh him (the egg). The other egg never wiggled. Have you been weighing your emu eggs? I cannot express the importance of weighing. I explain why it's important in my first few posts. As far as the cheeping goes, they won't do that until they have internally pipped. That should be around day 50 give or take a day based on incubation temperatures and humidity. I read somewhere that an emu egg rolling to one side or the other as opposed to staying put was a good thing. An undeveloped egg would have a fairly even weight distribution as opposed to a developing chick that would be heavier on one side or the other to cause that rolling effect. I honestly can't say that I noticed this phenomenon. I hope they all hatch and you get to witness and enjoy having a living dinosaur grow up as I have.

 

[SassyMustang198]

I'm confused also cause i'm new with the Emu eggs..but it looks like Daryl gained weight during incubation some times vrs loosing it.. didn't that worry you? Or can you explain the difference between both sides of your graph.. thanks in advance


Day of incubation Actual Weight (g) Weight Daryl is supposed to be (g)
Day 4 706 708
Day 8 693 700
Day11 690 694
Day15 684 686
Day 19 678 678
Day22 674 672
Day 26 668 664
Day 29 662 658
Day 33 654 650
Day 35 649 646
Day 37 643 642
Day 42 631 632 (wiggled today!)
Day 45 625 626
Day 48 622 620
Day 51 616 615