How to Research Health Risks for Emus

Starting an emu ranch can be a profitable venture. Once the fences and shelters are built, the food stocked and all the basic needs of the emus met, there are some everyday factors to be aware of in order to keep your birds healthy. Learning about health risks that affect these large, flightless birds is fairly simple and there are guidelines you can follow to further ensure the health and safety of your birds.

Instructions

Difficulty: Moderately Easy

1. Research proper fencing techniques and materials suitable for emus. An emu's long, spindly legs, which can deliver a powerful kick hard enough to injure or even kill a person, are actually very easily broken. They will sometimes hook a foot on a fence while trying to climb it and break a leg. These birds are almost always put down.
2. Investigate nutritional needs. Actual emu feed is not always available and generalized ratite feed doesn't always match the needs of an emu. Although there are a variety of other feeds available, they are not all equal. By weighing the quality and type of the ingredients included in the feed and choosing food free from additives and hormones, you will decrease health risks associated with their diet. The amount you feed your emus and how often can also affect their health.
3. Practice effective pest and insect control methods to prevent introducing diseases into your flock of emus. Essentially, bird health is highly dependent upon the absence of disease. Rodents and bugs carry micro-organisms that increase the risk of spreading disease. Eliminating or keeping these pests to a minimum will decrease this health risk for emus.
4. Adhere to good biosecurity and sanitation methods to ensure your emus health. You can get advice in these areas from your veterinarian or local agriculture extension agent.
5. Inspect your emus and their enclosures daily. Look for health hazards in and around their pen and shelters that might cause broken legs or other dangers. Observe each bird to see if there are any changes in the way it walks, its eating or drinking habits, or temperament for early warning signs of a health related issue.
6. Learn what plants and trees can be dangerous for an emu to consume. You can find a list of these plants on Red Oak Farm's website, which lists the type of plant and the side effects that can occur when an emu eats them.
7. Visit websites like those offered by the United States Department of Agriculture's Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service, and also the Center for Disease Control. These sites go into detail on specific diseases that can cause health risks to your emus.
8. Purchase books specifically about emu farming such as Maria Minnaar's "The Emu Farmer's Handbook" volumes 1 and 2, which are available from Amazon and Schatz Publishing. These books are full of photos and information about every aspect of emu farming including chapters on health, disease, nutrition, proper housing, fencing techniques and handling.
9. Subscribe to "Emu Today & Tomorrow" magazine, which is dedicated to emu farming and offers monthly articles on various aspects of the industry. Past articles have included information about health risks for emus and their handlers, nutrition and safety issues. Each issue also offers resources in the back on where to find more information.
10. Join the Emu Farming Information Group on Yahoo!. There's no charge to become a member of this group that allows you to chat with emu farmers and get their advice on numerous topics. For a fee, you can also join groups like the American Emu Association, which has a member only section on its website where you can also get advice about your birds.

Tips & Warnings

• When introducing new birds into your flock, test and/or vaccinate if the previous owner doesn't have documentation that it has already been done.
• Emus can carry salmonella. This disease is more dangerous for humans than emus, because emus rarely show any symptoms. Their human handlers, however, will experience symptoms much like food poisoning. The disease can easily be transmitted to humans who don't follow proper safety precautions when handling birds or cleaning in and around their pens and shelters. The birds may appear perfectly healthy while you're being exposed to infected items or from eating meat from an infected bird.
• As with any livestock, there is always a risk of disease. Some of these diseases can even be spread to the farmer, so awareness of the health risks is important not only for the birds, but for humans, as well.