Any BP.neters have EMU's

[Epona142]

If I ever have more land, I plan on getting an LGD (Livestock Guardian Dogs). I personally like Antolians (Probably spelled that wrong . . .)

Anyways, the neighbor called and she says she wants to give me her emu! How can I resist? If I take him I'll post him on here for you all.

[Chance]

Sorry to resurrect an old post but I was pretty amazed to see it asked. I have a pair of emus now, the hen of which is even a codominant color mutation! I used to have several emus, rheas, and a single cassowary. I'd nearly give my right arm to have another docile cassowary like that one. He was hand reared with a single emu and a single ostrich and he never showed any signs of aggression. Alas, when I took him to another farm with a female, he caught some pathogen and keeled over.

The rheas were always so fragile. I hatched countless eggs from the rheas but the chicks are super easy to kill. I've also hatched a few ostriches but they're also way too easy to kill.

The emus, on the other hand, are super hardy and generally very docile. In the hundred or thousands of emus with which I've interacted, I've only met two, both hens, that would stand aggressively toward a person.

I've been keeping and breeding emus off and on since 1996, right after that market crashed. I'll always have them. The mutation I have is called blond, and works the same way as pastel bps. When I breed her and her normal mate, each egg they produce has a 50/50 shot at being blond or normal. Two blonds bred together produces 25% normals, 50% blonds, and 25% of the "super," which in this case is a solid white emu. I haven't hatched any whites yet because I haven't raised any more blonds to adulthood, but I've seen several whites at a farm in TX and they are stunning. The blonds themselves are very cute when they're chicks, and noticeably different as adults but not quite as start as when they were little.

Here are some of my birds, both that I have now and used to have:

Henry, my breeder male and a great big feathery dog (he loves attention)


(with a female rhea)



Iris, his mate and my blond hen


Chicks, blond and normal



Rhea guarding his nest


Normal rhea chick


Leucistic rhea chick


Male rhea displaying


Poor doomed ostrich chick (but cute!)



And my cassowary Darwin (on the left), with his potential mate Cassie. He was perfectly docile though he didn't like to be touched. He would eat bananas, grapes, etc out of your hand. She, on the other hand, would kill you if given the slightest opportunity.

[Beardedragon]

Can I have the white one?

[Epona142]

AWESOME! Thank you for sharing. I guess the niehgbor decided to keep her emu because I never heard back from them again, but I'd like to get a few later on anyways.

The white is BEAUTIFUL.

[mainbutter]

Hey chance, where do you live? I didn't realize that there was anywhere that private citizens of any country could keep a cassowary.. I guess there's more captive breeding than I thought?? I know they're pretty rare in the wild.

[Chance]

Sure ya can Bearded, just give me another 4 or so years

mainbutter, I live in Arkansas. I also didn't realize that private keepers had cassowaries until a friend told me about one of her friends trying to rehome their cassowary. I had gotten conflicting reports before then about cassowaries in private collections, and I have a book called the Emu Farmer's Handbook (vol 2), that discusses keeping cassowaries. The last thing I had heard about them was that a farm in California was producing them and charging something like $10-15k per bird. Well, this couple up in St. Louis had a young adult male they had raised from a chick and they needed to find him a new home. They said they wanted $500 for him, which is what they paid for him at an exotics auction where some Amish people had brought a couple of young cassowaries. Needless to say, I rented a trailer and was on my way that weekend!

He was a truly phenomenal bird and I regret loosing him so badly. I could stand out at his pen and just watch him walk around or eat out my hand for hours. On that last note, he was quite the rarity as far as mature cassowaries go. He never once postured as though he was going to become defensive. I interacted with him inside his pen many times. Of course once he was tending eggs, I expected him to be a different bird and he probably would've been, but just to illustrate how docile he was (don't try this at home with 99% of cassowaries!):





Note the rather impressive inner toe spike:


One of these days, I'd VERY much like to get another cassowary or two. I'm doubtful I'd luck into another approachable one though.

[casuarius]

Hi Chance,

Fortunate you had a male cassowary that tame, the reason was probably because he had never been with another cassowary, or female. Regardless, he was a rarity for his nature. Either way, i've never seen one that stays that way, my friend had one like him, and one day it turned on him and stuck the spike between his knee, separating the joints...ouch. Anyway, it really sucks that you lost that bird. I have been keeping cassowaries for around 10 yrs, and they are getting very rare. Are you sure your bird got sick? Or did the female kill him? They should always be kept separate until they are ready to mate, then I open the separating gate and allow them to go together. The biggest decline in cassowary populations in the US are of 2 reasons. 1: they kill each other. 2: inexperienced people buy them in too cold of climates and thinking they are like emus, they freeze to death, or lose their toes and have to be put down. I have lost one male that I turned in with his mate one spring...I saw them breed 3 times. Well I got home from work and was shocked to find him dead. They had never fought, and always got along well for the most part when together. I was 100% sure he died of eating something bad...which is odd, because these birds are highly immune to toxins or any fungal or bacterial origins, and also alot of chemical. The fruits they eat in the wild are highly toxic, and they are the only ones that can eat them. Well, I couldnt find any sign of a fight, no damage, but his throat was slightly swollen. I had a autopsy done, and come to find out the female gave him one direct blow under his beak at the bend of his neck, and put a hole straight through his esophagus. Needless to say, the poor guy was done for. It was such a clean puncture that I couldnt even see the wound. Well, he was the only casualty I have ever had involving these birds. I now need another male, and I need to get this females spikes cut off by a vet. The guy in california retired a couple yrs ago, he was the best known and biggest breeder in the world at one time. Now he has nothing left, and im one of the few breeders in the US. I estimate there are only around 50 or less of these birds left in the US. Im having no luck finding a male. What are your friends going to do with that female cassowary? im always interested in buying up odd ball birds to help get their numbers up. Most people that have them, dont have mates for them, and arent breeding them. And most pairs wont get along.

[casuarius]

http://s391.photobucket.com/albums/oo360/casuarius/ my cassowaries