Emu
Just wondering has anyone ever hatched eggs from these or keep them. Are they easy/hard to keep. I was offered eggs for hatching the other day. I am half tempted to take them and hatch them. Any info much appreciated
tom boyd
Thursday, February 9th, 2012 Don,t know anything about the hatching of them or the keeping of them Tom,the only thing i can tell you is they are a major pain in the arse when they reach adult stage having nearly been killed by a trio of them kept on a farm i worked on in Australia.Should have been left in the wild in my opinion.
Jemsey
Thursday, February 9th, 2012 if they are anything like ostriches give them a wide berth i reared a dozen for a lad they have a death wish from day one and everyone succeeded within a year
landkeeper
Thursday, February 9th, 2012
hey tom, use the link below as it has all the facts, i cant believe it takes between 50-54 days to hatch them, hope you find the link helpful
http://www.redoakfarm.com/from_egg_to_grow-out.htm
keith2011
Thursday, February 9th, 2012 another link for you below tom. did you know that it is the males that incubate the eggs in the wild.
http://www.emufacts.com/the-emu-bird.shtm
keith2011
Thursday, February 9th, 2012 tom here is another link, I prefer them like this:
http://www.uniquelyemu.com/emu-meat-4.htm
Rho b
Thursday, February 9th, 2012 What kind of feed bill would you have with a bird that big?
Simon Carter
Thursday, February 9th, 2012 very gud Rho b, ha ha. looks tasty
keith2011
Thursday, February 9th, 2012 You'd need a big incubator! The chicks need heat, need a barn through the first winter. The adults are robust and hardy, need only a windbreak even in winter snow. They have a long incubation, but the chicks are easy enough to rear if you have the right food. Look for a ratite range of pellets, they will also eat anything else they find like grass and bugs.
PM you tom.
Susan Mc
Thursday, February 9th, 2012 I don't know about Emu, just have Rheas.
I could fit 3 x Rhea eggs into an RCOM20 and the chicks hatched no problem. After hatching however, they effortlessly lifted the lid and wandered about the place not benefiting from the heat ... :-)
The chicks are now 6 months old and while they are truly not blessed with intelligence, they are trainable to a certain extent. My guys for instance know to go inside the shed for the night when it's getting dark.
Bea
Bea
Thursday, February 9th, 2012 Bea any chance of pictures.
tom boyd
Thursday, February 9th, 2012 I tried hatching emu eggs once. The problem was that being big eggs with a really long incubation period, they really tie up your whole incubator. And then, being such dark green thick shelled eggs, they are almost impossible to hatch. Maybe there are super duper candlers available now but at the time I hadn't got a candler that could see anything at all in an emu egg. In the event, all were infertile - we realised this by gently shaking them, and the insides slopped around. But that was after a good month, so it was a waste of good incubator space. If you decide to give it a go, I'd be curious to know how you get on. :-)
Henny Penny
Thursday, February 9th, 2012 Sorry - typo - I meant 'impossible to candle', not 'impossible to hatch'.
Henny Penny
Thursday, February 9th, 2012 Hi Tom,
Only "baby" pics from when I raised them in the hall of the house, but can get more done over the weekend.
Henny Penny
The Rhea ones hatched on day 38 and day 43, up until day 32 candling didn't show zilch, I didn't think they were fertile at all but followed the advise of Robert to be patient and leave them in. So candling doesn't really "work" even on the lighter shelled ones.
Bea
Bea
Thursday, February 9th, 2012 i was looking in to getting a pair of rheas last year,how much space would a pair need bea?
thanks in advance
conor
conork
Thursday, February 9th, 2012 conork,
So long as they have room to run and exercise and do their curves I think the grass area is not so important as I feed my guys lettuce, boiled eggs and pellets, too.
The four chicks are currently out on just over 1/10 of an acre which is securely fenced in up to 5 ft high, this area is 4 times longer than it is wide so plenty of room to gather speed.
Bea
Bea
Friday, February 10th, 2012 i had a place roughly 750 sq metres that i was thinking of keeping a pair in,do they eat a lot of pellets or could i feed them oats,barley or wheat?and will you be selling yours?
thanks in advance
conor
conork
Friday, February 10th, 2012 Hi conork
I throw my guys pellets every day, there are special emu/ ostrich pellets but I can't source them in this country.
A friend's emu eats leaves from shrubs and trees and she also feeds them insects. I give my Rheas lean mince instead.
She feeds hers fruit as a treat and other than that they munch on shoots, flowers and some seeds but not sure which ones; don't know about grain.
If you buy or raise young birds make sure the grass they're on isn't too long as they can get easily tangled up and don't let them eat anything "long" like straw or hay or even grass sods as they can't vomit and may suffocate from stuff that gets stuck, e.g. I still shred my iceberg lettuce for them.
They drink loads, I find they dring more than the chickens do.
Bea
Bea
Tuesday, February 14th, 2012 Bea, where in the country are you? I live in west Sussex and have just "inherited" 11emu's!!! Looking for someone nearby for a bit of advice etc!!! Ours have been fed on a 50:50 mix of layers pellets and a chicken/rice dry dog food mix with a bit of fruit and veg. Wouldn't the dog food be a bit high in protein? Just waiting for an incubator as planning to hatch a. Few little ones!
Lynda Whittemore
Tuesday, February 14th, 2012
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Emu
Just wondering has anyone ever hatched eggs from these or keep them. Are they easy/hard to keep. I was offered eggs for hatching the other day. I am half tempted to take them and hatch them. Any info much appreciated
Thursday, February 9th, 2012
Don,t know anything about the hatching of them or the keeping of them Tom,the only thing i can tell you is they are a major pain in the arse when they reach adult stage having nearly been killed by a trio of them kept on a farm i worked on in Australia.Should have been left in the wild in my opinion.
Thursday, February 9th, 2012
if they are anything like ostriches give them a wide berth i reared a dozen for a lad they have a death wish from day one and everyone succeeded within a year
Thursday, February 9th, 2012
hey tom, use the link below as it has all the facts, i cant believe it takes between 50-54 days to hatch them, hope you find the link helpful
http://www.redoakfarm.com/from_egg_to_grow-out.htm
Thursday, February 9th, 2012
another link for you below tom. did you know that it is the males that incubate the eggs in the wild.
http://www.emufacts.com/the-emu-bird.shtm
Thursday, February 9th, 2012
tom here is another link, I prefer them like this:
http://www.uniquelyemu.com/emu-meat-4.htm
Thursday, February 9th, 2012
What kind of feed bill would you have with a bird that big?
Thursday, February 9th, 2012
very gud Rho b, ha ha. looks tasty
Thursday, February 9th, 2012
You'd need a big incubator! The chicks need heat, need a barn through the first winter. The adults are robust and hardy, need only a windbreak even in winter snow. They have a long incubation, but the chicks are easy enough to rear if you have the right food. Look for a ratite range of pellets, they will also eat anything else they find like grass and bugs.
PM you tom.
Thursday, February 9th, 2012
I don't know about Emu, just have Rheas.
I could fit 3 x Rhea eggs into an RCOM20 and the chicks hatched no problem. After hatching however, they effortlessly lifted the lid and wandered about the place not benefiting from the heat ... :-)
The chicks are now 6 months old and while they are truly not blessed with intelligence, they are trainable to a certain extent. My guys for instance know to go inside the shed for the night when it's getting dark.
Bea
Thursday, February 9th, 2012
Bea any chance of pictures.
Thursday, February 9th, 2012
I tried hatching emu eggs once. The problem was that being big eggs with a really long incubation period, they really tie up your whole incubator. And then, being such dark green thick shelled eggs, they are almost impossible to hatch. Maybe there are super duper candlers available now but at the time I hadn't got a candler that could see anything at all in an emu egg. In the event, all were infertile - we realised this by gently shaking them, and the insides slopped around. But that was after a good month, so it was a waste of good incubator space. If you decide to give it a go, I'd be curious to know how you get on. :-)
Thursday, February 9th, 2012
Sorry - typo - I meant 'impossible to candle', not 'impossible to hatch'.
Thursday, February 9th, 2012
Hi Tom,
Only "baby" pics from when I raised them in the hall of the house, but can get more done over the weekend.
Henny Penny
The Rhea ones hatched on day 38 and day 43, up until day 32 candling didn't show zilch, I didn't think they were fertile at all but followed the advise of Robert to be patient and leave them in. So candling doesn't really "work" even on the lighter shelled ones.
Bea
Thursday, February 9th, 2012
i was looking in to getting a pair of rheas last year,how much space would a pair need bea?
thanks in advance
conor
Thursday, February 9th, 2012
conork,
So long as they have room to run and exercise and do their curves I think the grass area is not so important as I feed my guys lettuce, boiled eggs and pellets, too.
The four chicks are currently out on just over 1/10 of an acre which is securely fenced in up to 5 ft high, this area is 4 times longer than it is wide so plenty of room to gather speed.
Bea
Friday, February 10th, 2012
i had a place roughly 750 sq metres that i was thinking of keeping a pair in,do they eat a lot of pellets or could i feed them oats,barley or wheat?and will you be selling yours?
thanks in advance
conor
Friday, February 10th, 2012
Hi conork
I throw my guys pellets every day, there are special emu/ ostrich pellets but I can't source them in this country.
A friend's emu eats leaves from shrubs and trees and she also feeds them insects. I give my Rheas lean mince instead.
She feeds hers fruit as a treat and other than that they munch on shoots, flowers and some seeds but not sure which ones; don't know about grain.
If you buy or raise young birds make sure the grass they're on isn't too long as they can get easily tangled up and don't let them eat anything "long" like straw or hay or even grass sods as they can't vomit and may suffocate from stuff that gets stuck, e.g. I still shred my iceberg lettuce for them.
They drink loads, I find they dring more than the chickens do.
Bea
Tuesday, February 14th, 2012
Bea, where in the country are you? I live in west Sussex and have just "inherited" 11emu's!!! Looking for someone nearby for a bit of advice etc!!! Ours have been fed on a 50:50 mix of layers pellets and a chicken/rice dry dog food mix with a bit of fruit and veg. Wouldn't the dog food be a bit high in protein? Just waiting for an incubator as planning to hatch a. Few little ones!
Tuesday, February 14th, 2012