What happens after the emu hatches?

[ryo92]

Hello everyone. We just had our emu egg hatch this morning and was wondering if anybody could tell me or point me in the right direction of what to do once the chick dries off. What type of food to offer and when to offer it, housing, etc. Im having a hard time finding the information. Thanks in advance for the help!

 

[tom85]

I'm not an expert- and just hatched eggs for the first time- 4 eggs in the post- 1 rotten, 1 dead in shell- 2 hatch!
We gave water with electrolytes from day 3 and non medicated chick crumbs (for other poultry). We found them not interested in food or water until we put a small amount of finally chopped lettuce in and the colour attracted them to peck etc. day 6 (ish) they started to walk in their feet!
Worked for me!

 

[Beanzie]

Well it has been almost a week and your little babe should be quite lively by now. In my experience, like any baby animal the Emu chicks will do a LOT of sleeping for the first couple days. Have food and water available to it, but know that it won't be drinking and eating a lot for a while. I fed mine a duck starter when they were chicks. I was also told that a medicated chick starter would have been fine. If you can get an Emu starter even better. At first they do fine with a shallow dish used for chicks but after a while they will need a deeper dish so they can scoop it up.

If I were you I would consider getting your baby a friend. Even with human interaction they will get lonely. A duckling, poult, or chick would be fine, make sure it is a more docile breed. It should be about the same size as the emu chick and will likely need to be older.