I used to do clean up for an old man who had a little hobby beef set up. He ran a few emus with his little group of cows. Whenever they laid eggs the guy would drain them and sell them on ebay for about 10 bucks each, probably 30-40 eggs a year, not really much profit but they didn't require much feedwise (they ate some special emu feed but alot of the diet was bugs, grass, and they picked through the cows droppings for lose grain) so it pretty much paid their way. They were mean buggers and I wouldn't step inside the yard unless I had a big hefty stick - they kicked and bit - I had several close calls. There was one of them that the guy raised from an egg and it was decent enough -it would let you grab 'em and pet him on the head but he was quick to turn on you if you moved too fast around him so I was always wary. After you spend some time around them you can get to telling when theyre in a bad mood - they make a weird clicking/clonking noise in their throats and the pace will tell you wether theyre looking to rumble or just chilling.
They were good guard animals. They would kill any dog or squirrel that wasn't fast enough to get away. They would chase down any peice of trash that flew through and shred it to bits.
Theyre really funny to watch. They love water - we would spray them down in the summer and they'd lay down in the mud and flop around like huge retarded chickens. After they were all wet and soggy theyd run around at full speed with their wings stretched out. They would run run run. They were fasinated with anything shiny and they would steal anything they could reach - keys, soda cans, and they would try to peck the shiny label off the little riding mower I used to lug feed bags to the barn.
