Warning to perspective first-time emu owners!

[chickenzoo]

Emu all have different personalities. Mine get along fine.with all my great pyrenees dogs.....fainting goats...mini horses...mini cows...llama...alpaca. ....mini pig....horses etc. Never had them.be aggressive towards any new animals.of that size. Smaller poultry are normally a concern. I have some Emu that won't bother the.chickens...the younger 2 like to chase them sometimes...but not the ducks. They don't bother the geese to much either...but during breeding season my one male.will chase the geese. They don't mess with the swan or.cranes.....the turkey.and peafowl chase the Emu..... So I think for the most part, if it won't run and it stands its ground the Emu leave it alone. The fun for th is the chase. I have roosters that will beat up a Emu....lol
But smaller birds that run are a target and anything that gets an Emu excited.
Never had any of mine be aggressive to people but have heard of some.
Luckily most of the people who contact me ask a lot of questions about them before deciding on one and I wouldn't sell one to someone who wasn't fully.committed and prepared.
They surely aren't for everyone.

 

[chickenzoo]

Strange...... I have 5 GPs. ....its so funny to watch peoples faces as the dogs come running to the fence barking with Emu following right behind...hehe. my Emu and.GP often sleep together....play around.etc.... My one male is sitting.and some of the GPs sleep near him at night. If the dogs try to seal some of the Emu food then they might get a peck....but otherwise they are good. My cat...well most get along with him.....because he grew up with them and stands his ground.....but if he runs they will half heartly run after.
The turkey and peafowl however.....they rule. The turkey will run after the Emu...run them off their food...jump up and flogg them.....funny to watch a fat tom turkey wattling after an Emu...lol. The peafowl are worse. hehe

 

[HouseMouseHens]

I just want to say that this post made me laugh a little bit. Until about five minutes ago when I accidentally clicked on the wrong board, I had no idea that people raised emu as pets. I can't imagine having an emu in my backyard!

 

[Tame Emu Guy]

Hi, Chickie Mama,

Great photos!! – isn’t it funny that we just don’t have barns like that in Australia.

But a note: yes, emus do have a homing instinct. Indeed, it is true that in certain times and places they are pressed to cover hundreds of miles to forage for food.

Normally, though, they seem to have ‘overlapping major and minor territories,’ around which they move on a yearly cycle. For example, Eric the Emu – whom I have been observing for over five years – will turn up in spring, within a time-frame of just two or three weeks, to tax the fruit that falls from the trees.

Here is Eric with the 2012 clutch:


There are still lots of gaps in my data, but it seems that females come back to their ‘home turf’ to breed.

However, you are still 100% right to say that catching them if they escape is no picnic!!

Supreme Emu
Western Australia

 

[chicadoodledooo]

This is Sam,

 

[Ashburnham]

Normal emu crap - looks like a mini cowpat.

 

[Calla]

Ahhhh how lovely, does it not make you feel good ehhh ?

My 1 of 3 rheas eggs hatched... She was screaming all the time, unless I took her out in my pocket to see to all my animals......total silence...next day a bantam chick hached, problem solved lol
She is now 8 and too big for my pocket lol but still loves a daily hug.

 

[Calla]

If I had left the 2 together, they would have been mates for life..this was just coincidence, had not even planned this

But all changed 2 days later lol.

Ta ta you can go now, thanks for the company...my new mates have arrived.

 

[Bantambird]

There is a poster above from Wyoming with her 14 year old emu, so if it can survive there, it can survive New Hampshire. There are emu ranches here in Montana too.

 

[Emu Island]

We are very excited as we are looking into getting a pair of Emu’s. We currently have 31 geese, about 20 ducks, 20 roosters, and 20 guineas that will be free ranging with the Emu’s if we decide to get them. Has anyone ever had an issue with an Emu trampling a smaller bird by accident or on purpose?

We are dedicated to spending a lot of time with the new Emu’s. They will be about 2 weeks old when we can pick them up.

They would have access to a good sized pond, about 100 acres that they could play around (although we wouldn’t want them that far). Will they travel too far if we don’t keep them inside our 6’ fence? The 6’ fence surrounds 1 to 1 1/2 acres with a barn and small pond they would have access to. That’s where we keep our birds in the winter so predates can’t catch them on the ice.

When the nicer weather is here, everyone free ranges around the pond and takes their little field trips all over the land.

We would appreciate any advice

Hi. I responded and shared my experience with having emus with smaller birds in the post just above yours. Hope it helps. Enjoy your new mu's!