Warning to perspective first-time emu owners!

[jiloski]

It seems like emus are becoming fashionable to own again, as I have been contacted by record numbers of perspective egg and chick buyers. Many of these people have never raised or even been around an adult emu. One of the first questions that I ask any potential customer is, "how much space do you have for your pen?".

I have been amazed at the number of people who have not considered how much room an adult emu requires and planned to raise then in an "old dog or chicken pen". When I get that for an answer, I refuse to consider selling them an emu, even if they get mad or offer me more that what I would normally charge.

Emus are very large birds (duh?) and need to be able to run in order to strengthen their legs and get their exercise. They are not birds that can typically be kept in a back yard "cage" or even the typical residential back yard!. They can run at speeds in excess of 30 miles per hour and take up to 9' in a single stride! Their pens need to be very long (120' or more), although they can be narrow in design.

If you are thinking about becoming an emu owner, remember that an emu, as a rule, requires about the same space that a horse would and you would not (hopefully) think about keeping a horse cooped up in an old dog pen!

 

[123Nik]

I am looking for a Veterinarian in Ontario that deals with Emus .....does anyone have any suggestions???

 

[Sally PB]

I am looking for a Veterinarian in Ontario that deals with Emus .....does anyone have any suggestions???

This is an old thread, so you probably won't get any replies. Make a new thread with your question.

And,

 

[DonnaSueL]

Have you tried having the smaller animals in a run in the middle of the emu run fenced off so the emu have more run space and act as predator protection.

 

[JR email baby]

Excellent advice! I have a question for you please, I have considered getting a few emus myself, I have a 5 acre field, it has field fence all around it with 2 strands of barbed wire and one strand of electric wire on top of that. I am sure that is large enough for a few emus. I do have 3 milk cows that are very tame that run in this field- how do you think emus and cows would get along? Would it be a bad idea to run them together? Thanks for any info.

I have a friend who knows a guy that just hatched an emu wig and he came up with birth defects like I think he said he is blind and he has a deformed leg but he thinks that it came from maybe temperature fluctuating in the incubator and be in touch to much is that a possibility I would make it come out with those birth defects

 

[Bantambird]

I have a friend who knows a guy that just hatched an emu wig and he came up with birth defects like I think he said he is blind and he has a deformed leg but he thinks that it came from maybe temperature fluctuating in the incubator and be in touch to much is that a possibility I would make it come out with those birth defects

leg defects for sure can be caused by temperature fluctuations. I had a temp spike cause 3 turkey poults to be hatched with missing leg parts, one was only missing outer toes, and she survived and became Two Toes, but the other 2, one was missing feet, the third had no legs at all. I definitely learned that temp spikes can cause havok.