LPM 222: Diversified poultry production and current concepts in poultry management and marketing [Livestock Production Management (Regional Interest)] (1+1)

REARING MANAGEMENT OF EMU

General management tips

• Emus are hardy animals that readily adapt to a variety of climatic conditions.
• Performance is satisfactory in most areas, provided adequate shelter is available in pasture plots and pens to protect adults and older juveniles from extreme conditions such as snow, ice, heavy winds, cold rain, and sleet. Shade must be provided in summer.
• Chicks and juveniles younger than 1 year must, of course, be well protected against bad weather.
• Great care should be taken to remove all foreign metal objects, such as nails or staples, from the pen and pasture areas. Such objects can result in severe gastrointestinal problems and death. Some producers use large magnets to remove metal objects after construction of fences and pens.
• Sometimes emus need to be caught for medical treatment, tagging, sexing etc. This can be painful and dangerous so the farmer needs to be cautious. As the emu can run fast, it is impossible to catch them in a large paddock.
• Usually the birds are guided along a fence line. As the bird runs past, one arm is quickly placed around its chest and the other arm over its back to locate one of its small wings. Although the emu struggle initially, it will settle down in short time. Emus have a tremendous ability to kick with their powerful legs and can inflict serious injuries with their sharp toes. Hence emus can generally kick forward only; all handling is to be conducted from the rear.
• Tame, gentle emus are much easier to handle and less prone to injury than non-gentle, semi-wild birds. Caretakers should spend time with chicks and young juveniles to tame them.
• Caretakers should move gently among the birds, taking care to avoid frightening them. Daily hand-feeding of titbits to juveniles is recommended. Emus can be trained to follow but are sometimes difficult to drive. Teaching young emus to follow by trailing pellets, lettuce, etc., will make handling easier as they mature.
  • The terms used to describe emu at different growth stages are as below
  • Up to 12 weeks : Chicks
  • 12 weeks to 6 months : Juvenile (blackhead) emus
  • 6 to 18 months : Yearling Emus
  • Above 18 months : Breeders

Chick management (0 to 3 months)

Housing requirements

• Chicks can be housed in groups of up to 25 for the first four weeks of life, and a brooding space of 1 to 2 square feet and open run of 30 square feet is recommended.
• From 5 to 12 weeks, groups of up to 100 chicks can be housed together at the same shed density, but access to an outside run is increased to 50 square feet per chick.

Litter management

• If chicks are placed on litter material, such as wood shaving, paddy straw, rice hulls, or washed builder's sand, the litter should be covered with burlap or gunny cloth for the first 7 to 10 days to keep chicks from eating litter and developing intestinal obstruction problems. After the burlap is removed, the litter or sand should be stirred daily to stimulate drying and prevent packing.
• Slick surfaces cause spraddle legs, which is always fatal. Never cover litter with newspaper, cardboard, plastic, or other slick material or place chicks on such materials. Chicks should not be allowed to walk on bare concrete floors or those made of wire.
• Deep litter floors should be checked frequently for dryness and friability. Problems like caked, wet or excessively dusty litter should be rectified immediately.

Fig.9.11.Gunny spread on litter

Fig.9.12. Rubber mat on the floor

Cleaning and disinfection

• The brooder house should be thoroughly cleaned and disinfected well in advance prior to the receipt of the chicks. Spray the area with 4 to 5% formalin solution or fumigate at 3X concentration (60g of potassium permanganate +120 ml commercial formalin or 100 cubic feet space).

Brooding

• Newly, hatched chicks cannot regulate their body heat and need a source of warmth until 3 months. Maintain temperature at 90 ºF for the first week after hatch and 85ºF thereafter until they attain 3weeks of age.
• Decrease temperature 5 degrees every 2 weeks. In warm weather use supplemental heat only at night. The heat source should be of adequate size for all chicks to get around it and the pen area should be large enough so the chicks can get away from the heat to avoid overheating.
• Brooderboxes for chicks of 1 to 3 days old are typically about 1feet high and 3 X 4 feet in area per 10 chicks. Chicks may pile and one another. Avoid overcrowding, extreme of heat or cold and sudden frightening of the chicks. Piling generally becomes less of a problem after the first week. The floor of brooding area must be easy to clean.
• Chicks should be provided 2 sq. ft. brooding space. Chicks are slowly moved to larger area of nursery pens. An open area of 30 sq.ft is given up to one month of age. Afterone month an additional open area of 50 sq.ft. is provided to make the total open area 80 sq.ft.

Fig.9.13. Brooding of emu chicks

Lighting

• Where emus do not have access to daylight, they should be given artificial light for at least eight hours per day.
• The effect of abnormally long photoperiods (in excess of 16 hours) on the growth of chicks is uncertain and may be detrimental.
• A "black out" training period each day is recommended from one day of age to prevent panic when lighting fails.
• Young chicks reared away from the male bird require a high light intensity of about 40 lux on the food and water for the first few days after hatching to learn to find food and water. Light intensity may then be reduced to a minimum of 20 lux.

Watering

• Young chicks often die because they cannot find water. To prevent deaths of water starvation, young chicks must learn to find water very early in life. Cool, clean water must be available to them at all times in several small, readily accessible drinkers. Their attention can be attracted to the water by shiny or coloured objects placed in the water containers making sure that the chicks cannot eat the objects.
• The chicks should be given sanitized water and anti-stress agents for the first few days. Waterers should be cleaned daily; otherwise automatic waterers can be used. Monitor the birds daily for their comfort, feed intake, water intake, condition of droppings etc. for making immediate corrections if any.

Feeding

• Commercial chick mash or chick crumbles must be used up to 12 weeks. Feed must be accessible via filled feed pans, feeder plates, or feeder trays.
• In addition, to encourage chicks to eat it is recommended they have daily access to small amounts of fresh, finely-cut green material like lucerne, kikuyu or broad leafed grasses sprinkled on the feed.
• Emus and ostriches are attracted to the colour green. However, feeding of coarse fibrous forages or hay in large quantities should be avoided till they attain 9 months of age.

Ventilation

• Fresh air is required at all times where chicks are reared intensively to prevent the accumulation of water vapour, heat, ammonia, hydrogen sulphide, carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide and dust particles.
• The presence of ammonia may be a problem where there is poor ventilation and is an indicator of the build-up of noxious gasses.
• Ammonia levels should not be allowed to exceed 20 parts per million (ppm) of air, measured at bird level, in enclosed buildings without immediate corrective action being taken. A level of 10 to 15 ppm of ammonia in the air can be detected by smell.
• An ammonia level of from 25 to 35 ppm will cause eye and nasal irritation in man.

Grading

• Periodical body weights on 10% of birds will give a scope for correction of management defects.

Handling of chicks

• Minimum handling of the birds should be done, as it is a stressful, give anti- stress medication before handling the birds. When it is necessary to handle the birds for weighing, grading, shifting, medication or examining, the bird must be gently and firmly held by both its feet with one hand and support the body with the other, don’t allow it to struggle, after the job is over bend and leave it close to the ground.
• Birds should not jump or fall and injure themselves. Preferably handling is done during cooler part of the day, either in the morning or the evening.

Digestive problems

• At 6 to 8 weeks of age, chicks can be ranged outside in good weather, but they must be sheltered at night. They can be managed in groups of up to 25 birds up to 4 weeks and after that in large groups of up to 100 birds up to 3 months.
• Young emus will swallow anything they find. Pens must be well drained, clean, andfree of coarse, dry vegetation, pebbles, small rocks, wire, staples, and other debris that may cause intestinal obstruction or death, if consumed.
• Clean up all spilled feed and they should not be allowed to get access to mouldy, wet, or spoiled feed.

Spraddle legs

• Spraddle condition of legs that are seen commonly can be corrected by holding the legs closer by hobbling with tape or tags during the first 72 hours. This can be done when the chicks are even in the incubator if necessary.

Fig.9.14. Spraddle leg

Biosecurity

• All-in-all-out rearing of chicks is recommended to maintain better biosecurity in the farm. Stocking density should be periodically reviewed and adjusted, having regard to age, flock size, temperature, ventilation, lighting, quality of housing and occurrence of disease. Proper mineral and vitamins in the feed are ensured for healthy growth of chicks and to avoid leg deformities. Vaccinate the birds with R₂B at 8^th week.

Juvenile or black head management (4 to 6 months)

• The birds no longer require night housing unless extreme climatic conditions. At this age emus may be kept in groups of up to 250 and a covered area of 5 square feet is necessary for the young juveniles.
• Older juveniles can be reared entirely in open conditions depending on the prevailing weather conditions. Provide floor space of 100 sq. ft. per bird. A 100 X 40 feet enclosure is sufficient for space for 40 birds (100 sq. ft./ bird), which include a covered area of 200 sq. ft., spread with litter material, which also serves as feeding area.
• Grower mash is provided to the birds during this period. The grower birds are offered greens up to 20% of diet particularly different kinds of leaf meals for making the birds to adapt to fibrous diets.
• Clean water should be made available all the time and feed them to their full satisfaction.
• As emu chicks grow, they require a bigger size of waters and feeders and increased floor space. Sexes are to be identified and reared separately. If necessary, place sufficient paddy husk in the pen to manage the litter in good and dry condition.
• The litter condition should be maintained dry throughout the grower stage. Add fresh litter material as and when required.
• The birds are observed individually daily for alertness, feeding and watering. The birds of grower stage are also preferably be raised away from the adult birds under all- in–all- out system. The birds are not handled or disturbed for restraining or vaccination during the hot weather conditions. Deworm the birds once with broad spectrum anthelmentic or ivermectin.

Fig.9.15. Juvenile emus

Yearling management (7 to 18 months)

• The juveniles for meat purpose are fattened to achieve the body weight of 40 kg with FCR of 5:1 at the time of marketing (18 months). The dressing percentage is 53% and fat yield from a bird is 3 to 4 liters.
• Feeding of grower mash is continued for yearling emus up to 35 weeks of age. Thereafter emus meant for meat are fed with a finisher ration until slaughtered or up to 12 to 18 months age.
• Inclusion of vegetable fat at 3 to 5% in emu diet increases FCR and net returns since the birds at grower age utilizes fat efficiently compared to chicks. The yearlings meant for breeding purpose need to be switched over to maintenance feed specifically made for this purpose from 35^th week of age to sexual maturity (18 to 24 months).
• Ensure the floor space of 200 sq ft per bird. Fencing must be at a height of 6 ft. made of link mesh (2 x 4 inches) to avoid jumping out of the pen. Male and female birds are housed separately to avoid fighting.
• Body weights should be recorded periodically and calculate the coefficient of variation and ensure the flock is at 90% plus uniformity at the end of 9^th month.
• Booster dose of R₂Bis given at 40^th week against Ranikhet disease.

Fig. 9.16. Yearling emus

Breeding birds management (above 18 months)

• Emus usually are paired during the breeding season, but some growers have been successful with trios (two females with one male) or mass mating (groups of several males and females with sex ratio of up to 1:3).
• Elaborate courtship displays and pair bonding seem to be necessary for proper breeding. Breeding pens are similar to growing pens with larger running room. The nesting area must be easily accessible to the grower. Emus are ground nesters; they make a depression in soft soil, or straw, which acts as a nest (litter material).
• Each pair is provided with 500 sq. ft. floor space, which includes 100 sq. ft. common covered area and 200 sq. ft. breeding pen and 200 sq. ft. open run.
• Emu breeding pens need to be kept separate from chick pens. When the males see and hear chicks, they go into nurturing mode, and show no further interest in breeding or brooding. Females then stop laying eggs. The adults, especially the males become stressed and aggressive. If space does not permit to be kept these pens separate, at least a visual barrier may be put up.
• Breeders that are too fat do not reproduce well. Therefore a maintenance ration of low plane of nutrition is fed to the birds during non-breeding season. The emus should be switched over to breeder ration fortified with nutrients from 4 to 5 weeks prior to egg laying season. Breeder diets contain additional calcium or calcium can be offered “free choice” in the form of oyster shell.
• Some emu producers prefer free choice feeding systems while others prefer one to three daily feeding. Advantages of each system are based on economics, time, hired labour and personal preference. However, multiple daily feedings provide a time for interaction with the birds, making it easier to detect illness and control an individual birds’ weight.
• Records have to be maintained for mortality, feed consumption, medicines used, body weights, grading, economics etc. Analyze the records periodically to ensure whether management is on the right tract. Traceability is important with respect to the pedigree of the chicks, growers and breeders.

Fig 9.17. Breeder (adult) emus