Creating an Emu Nesting Spot

Getting emus to go "inside" is an almost impossible task. However if you ONLY feed inside (until of the age of about 18 months ~ 2 years of age (until mature), they will be very comfortable to go "inside". Now they put themselves up at night and prefer to stay in the barn during the colder weather. Getting them to NEST inside too, is very similar - I hollow out undeveloped eggs and fill them with sand and barn lime to create a spot I want my female to lay in - they check on the eggs daily and also cover them up - why?!! because I am sure to uncover and lay them (the fake eggs) out in the open space daily - this gets them to come in on a regular basis to cover them up - Sheila always lays wherever I have the fake eggs. I always take the freshly laid one (because of temperature drops that will freeze the eggs. After 3 weeks, I either put 3 at a time in an incubator and keep the freshest ones in a large bowl in the house - once the temperature is above freezing, I will lay the remaining good eggs in the nest, bringing the amount of eggs up enough to entice the male to go broody and start to incubate himself. Until then, I am sure to not to leave more than 4 or 5 eggs in the nest so he does not feel the need to sit on them (yet). I do not want to risk him getting up during a freeze and destroying and development that has started by them freezing.