Jodie re-homed the two female emus at the same time as the two male donkeys and the whole lot came home to Fripps Farm in a horse trailer she’d borrowed. Pam emu is the most cuddly animal ever. Emus can grow up to 2m in height (6.5ft) and Pam and Arlene are still growing. You only have to scratch Pam’s head and she immediately drops to the floor and leans in for a cuddle. She wraps her head/neck around Jodie and will stay there for as long as Jodie does (meaning sometimes Jodie doesn’t get much done!!). Followers of the Instagram page will have seen all the videos of Jodie cuddling Pam. Pam’s favourite treats are grapes and bread. She’s a feisty girl but so so so loving. Emus feet are almost like dangerous weapons and a kick from them is very serious. They have three giant toes with claws on which look like dinosaur feet, in fact their DNA is prehistoric!! Jodie is obsessed with the emus, having never even met one until she re-homed them, she had to quickly read up on their needs and now loves them more than anything!

Arlene, like Pam, loves a cuddle but only on HER terms. When she wants a cuddle though, you have to be prepared to be there for a long time. Arlene is the boss on the farm. She can be a bit of bully to Pam when she’s in season so Jodie has to separate them for a few days. Other than that they get along fine. Something most people don’t know about emus is that they love a bath so every day when the hosepipe comes out they all come running to have a wash! Jodie has to hose them down while they roll around and preen themselves. Also, female emus have an air sack from which they make a really loud booming sound. It sounds like there is music playing with a really loud bass. Arlene shows off a LOT so when people come to the farm she struts around showing off her air sac and making her booming noise! Arlene makes everyone laugh when she shows off and everyone constantly tells her how beautiful she is.

Jodie got offered two day old emu chicks that had literally hatched that day. One didn’t survive due to a respiratory disease she had from birth but the one that did survive is called Emoo. Jodie didn’t name her because she was so afraid of losing her too so the name Emoo just stuck. Emoo had an accident and broke off most of the bottom of her beak so she has to be tube fed 4 times a day. She has learned to pick up bread and grapes by herself which is great. We are not yet sure if the beak will grow back. If it doesn’t then we have a guy who can make her a prosthetic beak. Emoo is such a loving little girl. She was raised alongside all the chickens and turkeys and nowadays she sleeps snuggled up with the ducks and peacocks. She’s adorable and even lets Jodie do the tube feeding quite happily. Emoo isn’t phased by her broken beak and she loves everyone and every animal. She’s a total darling.

Hoyt came to us along with his partner Maxine and their three babies. Their previous owner no longer wanted them. In the emu world, the dad sits on the eggs and hatches them and then he raises them. All the mum does is lay the egg. Often mummy emus try to kill their own young too. Emus take 55 days to hatch and all that time dad sits on the eggs and doesn’t eat or drink!! We went to pick the emus up in a horse box we borrowed from a friend and as soon as we got them home we had to put dad and babies in a separate enclosure for their own safety. Daddy emus get so protective of their babies that they try to kill any other animal that comes near them. Hoyt is SUCH a good daddy. He spends every minute of the day with his babies and they sleep tucked up under his feathers at night for warmth. It’s wonderful to watch him with them. We can’t wait until they’re big enough to go out into the main paddocks with everyone else !!

Maxine came to us along with her partner Hoyt and their three babies. Their previous owner no longer wanted them.

These babies are the offspring of Hoyt and Maxine. They all came to us when their previous owner decided they no longer wanted them. In the emu world, dad sits on the eggs and hatches them and then raises the babies. Mummy emus can be quite vicious towards their young and might even try to kill them. For that reason we built a new enclosure specifically for Hoyt and his three babies so he can raise them in peace and so that they can be calm without Hoyt trying to fight anyone who comes near his babies (dads get very protective). The only way to sex emus is to test their DNA so we will wait until they are a bit bigger and then send samples to see what sex they are. Baby emus are so cute and Jodie always says they’re like little humbugs (because of their black and white stripes). They’re all doing really well here at Fripps and everyone has fallen in love with them.