Toos and Vlad

[servpolice]

So friends and family have decided to name the Emus Toos(female) and Vlad(male) and I'll just update their life on this thread hoping one day I'll get more so I can hatch more emus!

With your help!

 

[servpolice]

These guys are obsessed with water

 

[servpolice]

Some people got a fright today :'D

They come to the window for treats

 

[servpolice]

So we released the emus into our 9 arce field....

...but they don't like it and prefer staying in my backyard.

They look like wee bushes when they sit down

 

[servpolice]

They're loving the river! I walk with them everyday in the field and they follow like dogs sprinting the fields and take a bath in the river. They stay in the field during the day but stay close to the field gate next to my back yard! They have plenty of land to explore but choose to stay near the gate all day unless I take then for a walk. Crazy birds


Here it's their first te going into my second field. Yet again they just stay close to me. The female loves her head massages while the male rather not be touched. Such funny animals

 

[briefvisit]

'Emus pair up after year 2 correct? I've a year to find another emu so my 2 I've now don't pair up.'

The Literature on Emoooz, s., is poor. No, really: it is!

So, one reads of captive -- farmed -- emus mating at under two years. Maybe they have nothing more interesting to do.

But for wild emus (my rothschildis), it goes like this:

life happens in seasonal cycles. For example, Dads may parent for one or almost two years. And you can mark the very last of 'black-head-ness' in 'chicks' right up to about 20 months.

But the bottom line is the seasonally-determined reality of "tentative associations>'gelling' of pair>fighting for territory>actual mating and incubation."

So, for a chick to mate at the age of (just under) two, it would have to be beginning the process at only about sixteen months of age. Nuh.

How it goes, though, is:

all (wild) emus have their birthday on the first of spring (I invented this notion!) They are physically mature at this age, I think; but I've written elsewhere to the effect that wild emus are not socially mature for perhaps a year or more afterwards.

Than, halfway through that third year, they may or may not throw their hat in the ring. (This is a thing we actually have pretty good data on.) And if they fail that first year, they'll try the following year.

SE


This photo is a treasure of mine. It shows Limpychick and Tooshtoosh and two others of the orphaned clutch of nine. These 'chicks' are about 20 months. But even though they had the whole house-clearing to themselves, they still sat together like chicks in a clutch.

 

[servpolice]

Attempting to tame these guys will take work but at least these guys are slowly co-operating with me

Vlad always approaches me first and the female follows.

They're about 4-5 months old

 

[briefvisit]

'Attempting to tame these guys will take work'

Talk quietly to them. Be still around them/move slowly. Entice them to you with healthy treats. Dried fruit is good. Stay low.

Lovely looking chicks!

 

[servpolice]

So I've been hand feeding them for the past 2 days and I got to rub them while they were eating.

So far all good, the male seems to be a bit more shy but he's getting there. They now run to me when I come into the yard and it's so cute!

They chase the chickens at times (the male normally) which seems to be the only issue but they only chase the chickens along the fence line so they chickens know not to be at the fence line once the emus get excited. Both the emus and chickens eat together as if the emus were always here so they don't dislike eachother.

I've had so many visitors to see our emus since people just didn't believe I got emus :')

The geese don't like the emus and they both choose to ignore eachother otherwise the geese stand their ground once the emus go for their random sprints.

The emus are right next to my field and burst into excitement when they see my horse's run! It's so funny to see.

Still fencing random locations in the field to contain the emus before they join the horse's.

My plan is 2 months in my yard to tame them up a bit and to get them used to the area where food is also present.

I can't wait until they go into the field!

Hope to get another male and female in a few months so in 2 years or so they will start breeding.

Will be an interesting journey

I want to know what food you definitely shouldn't give emus and what plants they should stay away from?

 

[briefvisit]

'I want to know what food you definitely shouldn't give emus and what plants they should stay away from?'

Perhaps sorta the other way around, servpolice. Discussions are usually about getting more fresh food.

And I don't readily recall any episodes of emooz poisoning their silly selves by eating stuff -- the real danger is bits of glass and metal. Greedy Emu once ate the top of my fountain pen. Just scoffed it down.

Supreme Emu

[Got T. and Mrs. T. here for breakfast. And Tagalong Emu]