Emu poo filled with Quandongs
You might know I have a thing for emu poo. It’s fascinating what those big birds will eat.
We have invited a few emus to live on Raakajlim. Job description: “Eat, walk and poo”.
Back in October 2022, we purchased our four emu chicks, only days old, from an emu farm. We raised the wonderfully stripey chicks, slipping a wide variety of native food into their bowl.
They were a lot of fun as they grew up, swimming in their water bowl, crazy running, and learning to “jump around”.
Then in April 2023, we moved them into the “big paddock”. They settled in well, swimming in the remnants of the flood water from the December 2022 flooding and finding their own food. They are very curious and always join in with us, tree planting and any other field work. I’m sure they think it is funny to set off our “hidden” motion activated cameras. They do get a bit too friendly around breeding season in June, really wanting to snuggle up with us. Otherwise, they are perfect guests.
We gradually phased out the supplementary food and waited eagerly for the “poo planting” to begin. And it did. Seeds and sprouts everywhere. Now it’s time to do some targeted poo planting. We poured this bucket of ripe Quandongs into a dish and stood back as the emus stampeded in to feed. And now we have Quandong poo! Hopefully, there will be new Quandongs sprouting in unlikely places soon.
You can read more about emu poo here: https://www.malleeconservation.com.au/blog/emu-poo