Janet Brien's photos with the keyword: High Cascade Emu Ranch

In the wild, male emus take the responsibility of keeping the eggs warm, turning them, and protecting the clutch of 10-20 eggs from predators. He will rarely eat or even stand for the next 43-50 days until the chicks hatch. At emu ranches, eggs are usually collected and put into a special incubator which performs several important functions. It keeps the eggs at a precise temperature (96.5-97 degrees), it blows fresh air over the porous eggs, provides a slowly evolving humidity, and rolls the eggs in both directions many times during the day. It has taken years to develop excellent incubators like this one that can do what a male emu does without even thinking about it! :D If you would like to know more about hatching emu eggs, I found a wonderful article here: The Poultry Site: Incubation of Ratites

If you've been following my stream lately, you know that Steve and I went to an Emu farm about a month ago and were given a wonderful tour of the facilities to show us their operation. It was so much fun and very fascinating! High Cascade Emu Ranch raises their emus as an exotic livestock. They breed and sell emus and their eggs, but there's much more that goes on. Emus are an important healthy meat bird, but their skin is also made into some of the most wonderful leather in the world! The leather from Emus is very durable, supple, beautiful and breathable and can be made into anything you can think of where you've seen other leathers used. Here I have a picture showing the detail from a emu leather-bound jounal, and below are two dyed pieces of emu leather. Isn't it beautiful? I have always loved the way ostrich leather looks...well, emu leather is just as lovely and useful! :)