In the last week, our emu Loca has laid two more eggs, bringing our total to four. Here they are with a chicken eggs for size comparison.
She has chosen the area between the goat dogloos as her nest and that puts the eggs in danger.
Why can’t she just lay them in the grass? It’s much safer.
I think she’s saying “Leggo of my Eggo.”
So here is the dilemma. The first two eggs she laid are clearly beyond the time frame for hatching. The last two are not. However, I have not seen any evidence of mating between Loca and Stuart, so fertility is definitely iffy. As I have mentioned before, the male emu is the one who sits on the eggs, hatches the chicks, and raises the babies for the first year. Stuart has not shown any inclination to begin nesting.
The other option would be to put the eggs in the incubator and hatch them ourselves, assuming they are fertile. From day one to hatch is about 56 days so that is a lot of time to wait to find out they aren’t fertile. Then what do I do if Loca keeps laying or Chica starts laying and we get too many eggs. What if both boys decide to sit? Yikes, we could end up over-run with emu chicks, or we could end up with none. Emu chicks can be difficult to find homes for as well. I think more hobby farmers should get emus. They are great as pets and are good for predator control. Of course, they need to be imprinted on their human keepers and, until they get a certain size must be protected from predators. But they are fantastic birds and I love all four of them.
So I guess we’ll mull things over for a few more days and decide what to do, if anything. Feel free to shout out suggestions!
Kathy Shea Mormino, The Chicken Chick says
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Kathy Shea Mormino
The Chicken Chick
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Monica says
Those are gorgeous eggs! I know basically nothing about emus so what I’m getting ready to say may be totally off and out there! Would they be similar to chicken eggs? You can tell if a chicken egg is fertilized because of the bullseye effect on the yolk. I would think emus would be the same, and that way you’d know if it was fertilized or not! You can google pictures of chicken egg bullseye! Hope that helps…if not…well you have beautiful emus!!
Carole West says
Always enjoy hearing other people’s stories that involve Emus – I agree great for hobby farms and they take little effort. I made a feather duster from last years molting. Ours had a ruff time this winter because we’ve had really cold weather but we let him stay in the greenhouse and he was okay with that. Saw you over at the chicken chick hop. -Carole at GardenUp green
Mary says
Thanks for visiting Carole. I am glad you boy is making it through the cold. Mine had their first snow but it was quite mild and they seemed to do fine. I worry more about the heat here. We always provide a sprinkler for them on really hot days. I’ll check out your site!
Kim says
I’m afraid I have no advice for you, I just had to comment on how gorgeous her eggs are! I’ve never seen emu eggs before. That color is amazing!
Mary says
Thanks Kim!
Mary says
Everyone needs emus! Thanks for visiting. I love your blog. I am getting ready to try my hand at growing fodder for my chickens. Your post helped!
Aspen says
I agree! Your welcome, I’ve been a follower of your blog for about 4 years or so now. Sweet! I wonder how your Emus will like it?
Blessings –
~ Aspen
Aspen says
My suggestion is: Send them ALL to me. I’ll test hatch them for you! ; ) No, you’d better not, I think I would be disowned. Emus are such lovely birds, I will own some someday.
Blessings –
~ Aspen