I have questions about breeding emu's!

[Kennas_Kritters]

I have some questions for all the emu people out there! I have owned my emu's for about a year and I got them when they were just 2 weeks old! They are my best friends! I adore them in every way! However since these are my first emu's I do have some questions about breeding. I need basically like a whole walkthrough on breeding because I want to be super prepared I need to know all about how often they lay eggs, how many is in a clutch, how many clutches can they lay each year ect. I am getting my emu's DNA sexed soon and I plan to brees them if I have Male and female I want to make sure I know as much as possible.

 

[HappyDuckie]

@Pyxis has emus and may be able to help!

 

[Pyxis]

Emu females are capable of laying at 18 months of age, but it's more common for them to wait until the following year to start, so it's possible you will not get eggs this year, even if you do have a male and a female.

Breeding season starts in the Fall. Eggs could start showing up any time starting from late fall into winter. My pair didn't start laying until January this breeding season.

Females usually lay 20 to 40 eggs, which the male incubates.

If you have two females, they can become aggressive to each other, especially during the breeding season, so it is important to have a way to split them up if needed.

 

[briefvisit]

If 40, then more than one male nesting?

 

[Pyxis]

If 40, then more than one male nesting?

Either that, or you keep taking the eggs as they are laid. If you keep taking them, the female will keep laying them, like with geese.

 

[briefvisit]

D'uh -- I didn't think of that.