Urgent help please! Emu Injury

[507382]

Hi guys, I was watching my emus today in their pen. they were fine. Literally played with and checked them all closely this morning and I came out to check on them again and Strider had feathers missing from the top of his head and AN INSANE AMOUNT MISSING FROM HIS NECK.

Does anyone know what might have happened?
Does this look like a predator got him?

I put hydrogen peroxide spray on, and somehow managed to get a black sleeve around his neck with medi tape. he wasn't pleased with me. I got most of it covered, except the very top but he can't reach to pick at that part. The others will try... I will wait for my husband to get home and try to assist me further.

I was literally hyperventilating when I found them outside and Strider was injured. I could hardly breathe talking to my husband on the phone.

Anyway, I've since calmed down, but I would appreciate input on where to go from here. And if anyone has experienced similar issues with their emoos... advice? Thanks.

 

[chickenlady25XD]

Have you separated them? I don't know much about emus but it might be a bullying issue. Like I said I don't know.

 

[507382]

Have you separated them? I don't know much about emus but it might be a bullying issue. Like I said I don't know.

I didn't separate them, I put them all in the barn together in case it was a predator. My neighbour suggested that too but they really don't bully each other! They will pick if one has a wound (Fawkes had a TINY -compared to this - wound a few weeks ago so I learned they will pick each other in that case) but otherwise they are all friends.

I'm so confused as to what caused this and so rapidly.

 

[briefvisit]

Deep breath. A wise member here -- 'E.S.' -- assures us that chicks by this age are pretty tough.

From my experience with 'bullying' -- which in the wild means killing a weak bird -- it won't stop. So if no bird is attacking another at this second . . . that's good

 

[briefvisit]

Now gonna try a general wisdom thing:

Process of Elimination:

for example, have chunks of flesh been torn from our little victim? If so, then that suggests predator.

For example, if this is a 'fence injury,' you will find feathers on the fence

For example, if another bird did this, you might well find bloody feathers on that attacking bird's beak and neck

 

[briefvisit]

Pecking the top of another emu's head is a thing I've seen when one emu attacks another. And it's fantastic to imagine how a predator would pull feathers out of the top of a victim's head.

 

[briefvisit]

I'm posting as I think: head-butting fences and 'chest-butting' fences is exactly what chicks do when panicked ('cause they're too short to try to 'surf' over the fence).

 

[briefvisit]

Me check back later; but to calm your heart:

over years, we have lost a lot of our beloved emoos to a range of crazy stuff; but if you can easily handle a bird, then you can care for it. And if there are no broken bones or other serious injury, then as horrible as it looks, it's nothing like life-threatening.

But I sure would be cool-headedly focussed on figgerin out what happened, to prevent it happening again!!

Supreme Emu, Lake Muir, W.A.

 

[507382]

Me check back later; but to calm your heart:

over years, we have lost a lot of our beloved emoos to a range of crazy stuff; but if you can easily handle a bird, then you can care for it. And if there are no broken bones or other serious injury, then as horrible as it looks, it's nothing like life-threatening.

But I sure would be cool-headedly focussed on figgerin out what happened, to prevent it happening again!!

Supreme Emu, Lake Muir, W.A.

Thank you so much. I'm so glad you were online and responded. I think it's very muddy in their pen, and maybe he slipped and injured himself. We are going to get cedar shavings or similar to put down before they go outside again. (It's been very rainy lately). Also, they rub against everything with their necks and chests and their posts in their pen could be a bit sharp. I discussed "emu proofing" a bit with husband today, though we were both very very short tempered with each other... Over the worry we were facing with poor Strider's bad day.

We are sort of able to handle him. He's the tamest most cuddly one!!! But today, after this, I thought it was a predator due to how stressed and pacing around he seemed. In hindsight, he was probably just in pain and scared.

Everyone was sitting down in their straw corner with their heat lamp tonight. Strider's ''sleeve'' held in place and he was picking at it a bit but hopefully not "through" the material.

We will have to take this as it comes... I plan to feed them a lot of healthful foods in the days to come, things that promote healing like sweet potato and I hope chia seeds and such are good for them also?

I feel like such a wimp. This is definitely the most intense injury I've dealt with in any pet... And it could be far worse. MY initial shock was tremendous and now it's just a dull ache of worry in my stomach.

 

[507382]

over years, we have lost a lot of our beloved emoos to a range of crazy stuff

I can only imagine. They don't seem incredibly smart, but I don't mean that in a mean way towards them. What they lack in intelligence, they seem to make up for in curiosity.... And they sure are silly and docile. A bad combination perhaps! Strider must be cursed, he's the same emu that swallowed that huge piece of a metal parrot toy a couple months ago.

As much as i love my emus (so much!!) I can suddenly only think about the ways in which they could be harmed in the future. Especially with so many predators around. I just want all of them to be safe from harm and live a long life.