Using caution around Emu kicks?

[briefvisit]

'the most they do is peck me out of curiosity' I call this 'beaking.' Emoo got no hands, so they gather info by 'beaking' things.

'Wow, I thought they would be full grown by a year.' Some emu farms write about mating at about 18 months. But I understand a chick becomes adult at 24 months -- that's 8 seasons, thus, adult in the first season of its third year. But LimpyChick -- the first 'chick' we've ever been able to observe at this age -- has clearly gotten heavier since he reached 24s months.

'he always sits! But rarely sits all the way down like this.' I feel silly saying this, but birds and chicks sitting down is my favourite thing. They don't like you to see them doing it, and always get up. And if even happier -- as in the photo -- they lay their heads along the ground.

And if you are suuuuupa patient -- I've only ever seen it twice -- chicks will flop over onto their side, with one leg sticking incongrously up, with their heads laid on the ground, and sun their bellies. (It's exactly the same behaviour you'll see when they 'wallow' in shallow water. Emus can swim; but they usually 'flop' about in the shallows.)

Congratulations on Strider and Fawkes, they look like healthy happy black-heads.

 

[507382]

View attachment 1667210

'the most they do is peck me out of curiosity' I call this 'beaking.' Emoo got no hands, so they gather info by 'beaking' things.

'Wow, I thought they would be full grown by a year.' Some emu farms write about mating at about 18 months. But I understand a chick becomes adult at 24 months -- that's 8 seasons, thus, adult in the first season of its third year. But LimpyChick -- the first 'chick' we've ever been able to observe at this age -- has clearly gotten heavier since he reached 24s months.

'he always sits! But rarely sits all the way down like this.' I feel silly saying this, but birds and chicks sitting down is my favourite thing. They don't like you to see them doing it, and always get up. And if even happier -- as in the photo -- they lay their heads along the ground.

And if you are suuuuupa patient -- I've only ever seen it twice -- chicks will flop over onto their side, with one leg sticking incongrously up, with their heads laid on the ground, and sun their bellies. (It's exactly the same behaviour you'll see when they 'wallow' in shallow water. Emus can swim; but they usually 'flop' about in the shallows.)

Congratulations on Strider and Fawkes, they look like healthy happy black-heads.

awwww thanks for the response
I cannot wait to see that someday (laying down like that) it's my fave thing too when they sit down. They all sit together huddled in the barn, and some times I go in to check on them before bed and no one gets up .. It's adorable.

 

[briefvisit]

'They all sit together huddled in the barn'

In all seriousness, any BYC folk who can get here can sleep on the couch.

I'd love to watch a group of incubated chicks together in their first months. Obviously, the chicks of the clutches that hatch in the wild are exactly that, clutches. Their 'togetherness' is worthy of study. Heck, LimpyChick and Tooshtoosh are 29 months old and they still rarely separate.

And the co-operation between Dad and the clutch in the wild is exquisite: they move in so co-ordinated a fashion you'd almost think they're connected by invisible strings.

So, if we released six or eight incubated chicks into an enormous paddock, and quietly observed, what would we see? Would they exhibit that same spontaneous 'togetherness'?

SE

 

[matt swenson]

i know i shouldn't but I gotta post to this thread...can an emu hurt you? maybe. It's like the old wives tale that a goose can break your arm with it's wing. most of the fear and anxiety about emus is BS. example : someone said the could nearly kick through a 44 gallons drum. yeah, just like i can nearly pick up a WV bug. seriously, think about that statement. no bird, no matter how big can kick through a steel drum. I'm betting an emu on it's best day couldn't dent a steel drum. Yes they have nasty, scary feet. yes they can give a good kick. Still most of they're deadly reputation is myth. They are big animals and you should be cautious but your more likely to be hurt by an aggressive rooster. I'm sure some of you will disagree, but give me FACTUAL examples, the whole story...not my friend knew this guy who's girlfriend's sister was kicked by an emu and had to get 1000 stitches.
I'm not saying emus are totally docile birds. I've seen them attempt to stomp rabbits and chickens to death. i'm just saying an emu you raised and deal with or a daily basis isn't just going to snap and kick you.







i

 

[FishMtFarm]

i know i shouldn't but I gotta post to this thread...can an emu hurt you? maybe. It's like the old wives tale that a goose can break your arm with it's wing. most of the fear and anxiety about emus is BS. example : someone said the could nearly kick through a 44 gallons drum. yeah, just like i can nearly pick up a WV bug. seriously, think about that statement. no bird, no matter how big can kick through a steel drum. I'm betting an emu on it's best day couldn't dent a steel drum. Yes they have nasty, scary feet. yes they can give a good kick. Still most of they're deadly reputation is myth. They are big animals and you should be cautious but your more likely to be hurt by an aggressive rooster. I'm sure some of you will disagree, but give me FACTUAL examples, the whole story...not my friend knew this guy who's girlfriend's sister was kicked by an emu and had to get 1000 stitches.
I'm not saying emus are totally docile birds. I've seen them attempt to stomp rabbits and chickens to death. i'm just saying an emu you raised and deal with or a daily basis isn't just going to snap and kick you.

Your right, but it’s the using caution and remembering they are an animal. And they most certainly can snap. A male sitting on eggs can decide one day that he doesn’t eat you near his nest. They can be startled easily too because they are a flight response animal and they will do whatever they need to do to run where they see fit. Whether they can kick thru a steel drum, I dunno, but we had to move one of our adults and my husband got kicked doing a gentle deed. Mind you we raised these since eggs. She split the back of his knee open with that claw and it was awful. He was close to her so he didn’t get much of the power from the kick but if they kick you in the abdomen, yet bet your a$$ they can gut you. So better to use caution and common sense.

 

[507382]

i know i shouldn't but I gotta post to this thread...can an emu hurt you? maybe. It's like the old wives tale that a goose can break your arm with it's wing. most of the fear and anxiety about emus is BS. example : someone said the could nearly kick through a 44 gallons drum. yeah, just like i can nearly pick up a WV bug. seriously, think about that statement. no bird, no matter how big can kick through a steel drum. I'm betting an emu on it's best day couldn't dent a steel drum. Yes they have nasty, scary feet. yes they can give a good kick. Still most of they're deadly reputation is myth. They are big animals and you should be cautious but your more likely to be hurt by an aggressive rooster. I'm sure some of you will disagree, but give me FACTUAL examples, the whole story...not my friend knew this guy who's girlfriend's sister was kicked by an emu and had to get 1000 stitches.
I'm not saying emus are totally docile birds. I've seen them attempt to stomp rabbits and chickens to death. i'm just saying an emu you raised and deal with or a daily basis isn't just going to snap and kick you.







i

Yeah that's a good point. I feel like they aren't normally aggressive (but mine aren't full grown yet so maybe I've yet to see certain behaviors) and normal caution will suffice... Not moving around them scared, like they're going to steel-drum-kick me at any moment.

treating them like a horse is probably the most sound, short bit of advice to keep in my head. I haven't been around a ton of horses but I know common sense like not walking right behind them without using your brain lol

 

[FishMtFarm]

Well emus you want to approach from behind as they kick forwards

 

[Redhead Rae]

Well emus you want to approach from behind as they kick forwards

I think it is more about the mindset than the physical approach. You want to be confident, but aware that if something does go wrong, you can get hurt.

 

[briefvisit]

'someone said the could nearly kick through a 44 gallons drum. yeah, just like i can nearly pick up a WV bug. seriously, think about that statement. no bird, no matter how big can kick through a steel drum. '

That seems to have been me. Here's what I wrote:

'a full-grown emu has a kick that would go very close to punching a hole in a 44-gallon drum.'

It's taken me nearly a decade to develop a reputation on this site, an enormous amount of work: So, I'm calling you out: you snidely misquoted me, and you owe me a public apology.

I've been observing emus in the wild for nearly eleven years.

The kick of the ratites -- emus, ostriches, and cassowaries -- involves an enormously powerful outward thrust. At the point of impact, the leg is fully extended, horizontally. The kicks -- I've watched many fights for territory either from up close or through binoculars -- are breathtakingly fast and powerful, particularly from a 'double-alpha' bird. The talon itself is as hard as nails, and the point of it hits the victim with millimetric accuracy.

I have had an emu turn up here with blood from neck to ankle from a hole in her chest that she certainly scored in a fight.

Supreme Emu, Lake Muir, W.A.

 

[FishMtFarm]

'someone said the could nearly kick through a 44 gallons drum. yeah, just like i can nearly pick up a WV bug. seriously, think about that statement. no bird, no matter how big can kick through a steel drum. '

That seems to have been me. Here's what I wrote:

'a full-grown emu has a kick that would go very close to punching a hole in a 44-gallon drum.'

It's taken me a decade to develop a reputation on this site, an enormous amount of work: So, I'm calling you out: you snidely misquoted me, and you owe me a public apology.

I've been observing emus in the wild for nearly eleven years.

The kick of the ratites -- emus, ostriches, and cassowaries -- involves an enormously powerful outward thrust. At the point of impact, the leg is fully extended, horizontally. The kicks -- I've watched many fights for territory either from up close or through binoculars -- are breathtakingly fast and powerful, particularly from a 'double-alpha' bird. The talon itself is as hard as nails. I have had an emu turn up here with blood from neck to ankle from a hole in her chest that she certainly scored in a fight.

Supreme Emu, Lake Muir, W.A.

This post is fact enough for me. To have an actual person that observes them in the wild and see the damage they can cause is proof enough for me.