Did you know you can get Emu eggs in the mail?!? LOL!

Have you had any more problems with the neighbours dogs?

HAHAHAHA , the crazy ol bird lady is getting pecked into insanity.

I love the emu updates. I have to admit you are braver than I am. I wont attempt to hatch one of them. I also have to admit it is getting cuter.

Originally Posted by texasnewbie

Have you had any more problems with the neighbours dogs?

Not yet~ but there is not really much for them to mess with~ I have two chickens who seem to be intent on proving WHY the term CHICKEN is used for cowards.....they won't come out of the coop unless I'm standing there with bread~ then they hi-tail it back to the highest roost in the coop when the bread is gone. I have one emu.......living in the kitchen. And 13 turkeys......living in a brooder in the garage.

I've seen ONE of the dogs ONCE since it happened. I think they are trying to keep them off my property but are just not used to having to contain their dogs. The one time I saw the dog it was too smart to go into the trap (though I've caught another neighbors cat three times in that trap!) and I really don't want to shoot that dog. It is their family pet~ a 12 year old lab. I guess I'm not as mad as I was at first~ at first I really wanted to shoot that dog~ but when I had the opportunity.....I just kept praying she would go into the trap~ or lightening would strike her or something so I wouldn't have to shoot her.

Another nieghbor wants to put his cows and donkeys in my front field this year so he is coming over this weekend to help us put woven wire fencing over our barbed wire fencing in exchange for use of the field. That will hopefully keep the old dog out~ and if it's still a problem..........

There is always the loaded shotgun by the door. The dog is old and slow~ I think I could hit her. I just really don't want to.

4 weeks old

Lots more cute pics this week~ Hope your not getting tired of them yet~ it’s been 4 weeks and I still can’t believe I actually hatched and am now planning to keep an emu…….

that’s a hair scrunch on his neck~ we are considering trying to teach him to walk on a leash and wanted to see how he reacts to something on his neck (and it was funny!). No problem there~ but we discovered much like you can “lead a horse to water”…………….~ you CAN put a color and leash on an emu……but you CAN NOT make him go for a walk!

No name yet~ we keep trying different names but nothing has “stuck” yet~ when we get the right name we’ll know when it “sticks”. We are trying “Dingbat” right now (morphed from Dingo to Dingbat) but I don’t think it’s gonna “Stick” either.

We finally got the emu food in~ but it won’t eat the emu food~ it still eats dog food. The vet says that should be okay (keep reading to see why I had to talk to a vet about the emu). So I’m not worrying about it. I keep the dog food and emu food out free choice all day~ and I give the lettuce and kale as treats now (discovered he will ONLY eat lettuce if available free choice all day and then get completely clear~ harder to clean up runny craps). He is growing very well~ in fact I have to shout to keep him from stealing the utensils out of the dishwasher now that he is tall enough to easily snatch them!


Of course the BEST food is still whatever is currently in So-Chee’s mouth~ and So-Chee is still being a super good sport about it all~ They are both looking at a dog treat that had been IN So-Chee’s mouth a heartbeat before the pic~ and trying to decide which one of the will eat it……….(So-Chee did~ I gave her that treat to start with~ and gave it back to her after the pic!)


We are trying to work our way up to moving him outside~ I’ve begun planning a emu house~ bought some of the supplies and hope to have time to work on it next week. Not really sure what emu real feathers look like~ so I’m not too sure how to tell when it is feathered out enough to go outside. I’ve begun putting him and the turkeys outside on nice days to get fresh air and eat some grass:


THAT’S where the problem came about. Earlier this week I put him out on a beautiful sunny afternoon~ and he started to squalling like he does sometimes. I tried putting So-Chee IN the dog kennel with him to calm him down~ but that’s when I discovered that while 13 four week old turkeys may CHOOSE to stay inside a chainlink dog kennel~ it apparently is no real barrier if the DOG comes in the kennel~ at which point all 13 turkeys squeeze down to half their size and bail out through the links!! This is very much fun for So-chee now called to attempt to catch turkeys~ but not very much fun for me or the turkeys. All the turkeys eventually wound up safely back IN the kennel and So-chee and the Dingbat had to content themselves with keeping company through the fence.


SO~
Yesterday was another nice day~ I put the emu and turkeys out for the day while I cleaned the kitchen floor. A short time later I checked on them all and I noticed the emu breathing~ LOUDLY~ mouth agape and gasping. I waited but it continued for well over an hour. So I looked up “open mouth breathing emu” online…….all I got was something about a fungus usually from dirty housing (He has VERY CLEAN housing ~ MY KITCHEN~ Thank you very much!) and that the emu would now Die……no cure~ just dead.

Well~ that’s a little worrisome. So I called my vet in Cullman.
He won’t see an emu~ told me to call a vet in Hartselle
He won’t see an emu~ told me to call a vet in Huntsville
He won’t see an emu~ told me to call a vet in Tennessee………..

Who said “You want to drive an EMU ALL THE WAY UP HERE? You know their not worth nothing anymore right?”

Yes~ I know.

“Well you want me to treat it like a dog or a pig?” (pet or livestock?)

……uuuuummmm…..well…….DANG IT! …………..Dog

We talked about the emu~ how I wound up with it (that was fun to explain) feeding habits (won’t eat the emu food I BOUGHT for it)~ living arrangements (this was turning into a nightmare to explain)……………….

We decided not to bring the emu to Tennessee when it only had ONE symptom……….especially as it was probably fooling me because it was upset about being forced to be outside like an animal rather than in my kitchen like one of the people…………..The vet had me go to TSC and buy some tetracycline just in case we see any more symptoms………and explained that’s all he can really do for the emu because if it really did have that asperillus stuff I read about online there is nothing he can do about it and the emu would really just die. (stupid thing better not ever get sick for real!). The emu breathing went back to normal when I brought in back in the house last night (OMG~ It hyperventilates when I treat it like an animal~ this is ridiculous)

So~ I had to go back to TSC………..
Which is how I wound up with………………


Apparently I have NO self control or sense

hahaha!!! Three little ducklings now!!!

Do you wonder if the emu was just cooling off by opening his mouth?

maybe~ but it wasn't that warm yesterday~ 60F and shade was available. I think the stupid thing got worked up because it HATES to go outside unless I'm out there with it~ and because we had tried the ~ will an emu walk on a leash~ expeiriment that morning on our way outside. I only started to really worry when it continued breathing like that for well over an hour before I started looking for a vet and was still doing it an hour later when I finally found a vet who would talk to me!

Originally Posted by Cheryl Marchek AKA JM

SO~
Yesterday was another nice day~ I put the emu and turkeys out for the day while I cleaned the kitchen floor. A short time later I checked on them all and I noticed the emu breathing~ LOUDLY~ mouth agape and gasping. I waited but it continued for well over an hour. So I looked up “open mouth breathing emu” online…….all I got was something about a fungus usually from dirty housing (He has VERY CLEAN housing ~ MY KITCHEN~ Thank you very much!) and that the emu would now Die……no cure~ just dead.

....

and explained that’s all he can really do for the emu because if it really did have that asperillus stuff I read about online there is nothing he can do about it and the emu would really just die. (stupid thing better not ever get sick for real!).

Aspergillosis is a non-contagious respiratory fungal infection and the spores can be found just about everywhere in the enviornment and even the food supply (peanuts are a big concern with bird foods) can potentially harbor the spores. It is when conditions are right for the fungus that it becomes a problem. For the vet to say that a bird contracts it only from dirty housing conditions is a crock and the vet knows that (or should know that).

Birds and other animals are regularly exposed to this. If spore numbers are small and the bird has a relatively healthy immune system and not subjected to predisposing factors (such as other illnesses, stress, poor nutrition, poor husbandry or unsanitary conditions, another injury to the respiratory system [i.e. smoke inhalation, chemical fumes, etc.], and prolonged use of certain medications such as antibiotics) then asper is not as likely to to cause a problem. Parrots do tend to be most prone to this illness because of the stress levels they experience in most home environments. Livestock birds can also be unduly over-exposed since wet straw/hay laying around is a prime breeding ground for this fungus.

While asper can be fatal, it is NOT un-treatable. It CAN be treated with medication. It's more of whether your vet cares enough to want to be bothered with it or not or whether the owner wants to be bothered with it (exams, medications, xrays, blood tests, etc. = $$$) . Another factor to consider depends on just how far along the disease has progressed in bird if it is able to be positively diagnosed with the disease (sadly a lot of birds are not diagnosed until a necropsy is being done on them because symptoms are hard to spot or mimic other illnesses). If diagnosed too late and even with aggressive treatment a bird too far along may not have the strength to pull through especially if there are other underlying problems present. Surgery is needed in some cases when lesions are present. Blood tests can be used to help determine if a bird is infected, but sometimes they come back with false negatives. Treatment is always best done by an avian certified vet rather than just general practitioners because they are better qualified to know how to treat birds for illnesses. If I remember rightly, Dr. Scott Stahl is avian certified in Virginia (Vienna I believe). I believe he also does consultations (and he's a reptile keeper too) so it should not be a problem to contact him (or have your regular vet call him) for references of bird vets in your area and other things to help determine if the emu is really sick or not. If your vet is a member of the Veterinary Information Network, he can also reach Dr. Stahl through that organization's website.

Our birds of prey sometimes contract asper during very wet/rainy spring/fall weather when there isn't enough dry sunny days to help dry the ground and stuff out. We have yet to lose any of our birds to it nor do we panic when one is diagnosed by our vet.

Poor Scott. He moves his wife to the country and she looses her mind. In mere months she has become the bird lady of potential nightmares. Poor , poor Scott.

If its any consolation Cheryl , Lolo wants to try her hand Emus eventually. Ours won't be in our kitchen tho.

Adrian~ thank you for all the information. The vet I finally reached who would talk to me did not say Aspergillosis came from dirty housing~ thats what the website I found said and I told him. He wasn't entirely sure what if anything he could do for the emu~ he was just THE ONLY VET AT ALL I could find willing to consider even trying to treat the emu if it was sick! ~he even asked if I had called my local vet and was suprised my local vet wasn't even willing to try. Even the "Bird clinic" refused to see the emu chick or suggest anything helpful. The vet who finally did talk to me was very honest that he was no expert at emu~ only that he had a couple several years ago.......which were livestock and he eventually ate them....... His answer to get the tetracycaline and try that if I continued to see breathing issues or saw any new symptoms was the only answer he had for me~ and he was honest enough to tell me that for free over the phone rather than have me drive to Tennessee for nothing. If I continue to see symptoms I'll ask him to contact Dr Stahl and see what we can learn there~ this vet seems very friendly and honest~ willing to admit when he doesn't know......

It's breathing does seem to be better now........
because it's cold outside so it's in my kitchen again........

And Bryon~
Good luck if you do Emu~ I can't beleive I did it........we are definately the Wierd nieghbors again.