A Unique Journey of Love and Responsibility
A woman who made a spontaneous decision during a late-night shopping session is now raising a 6-foot-tall emu as if it were one of her own. Rhi Evans, a bird enthusiast from Gloucestershire, had taken a sleeping pill when she bought a fertilized egg on a whim from eBay three years ago. She had always dreamed of owning an emu but never imagined it could happen—until she woke up to an email confirming her order.
Now, she is responsible for EJ, a three-year-old emu that towers over her and requires daily care. Rhi, a musician from Gloucester, shared her experience: “It’s been a crazy experience, but one of the best things to happen in my life. I definitely wouldn’t advocate for anyone to just buy an emu egg, because it is a proper responsibility. But considering I’d already hatched and owned several birds and live rurally, it all worked out!”
Known online as musician Reebz, Rhi said her fascination with prehistoric birds, also known as ratites, began after watching Jurassic Park as a child.
She revealed that the £37 egg arrived after she took a sleeping pill the night before and went online shopping in January 2022. Rhi said of the box office hit movie: “I became completely enamoured. I’m not sure why it hit me the way it did, but after that point, owning an emu was a dream of mine.”
Before getting an emu, Rhi had raised several birds over the years—each hatched, including two geese, two turkeys, one parrot, and a few finches, building a little family in the Gloucestershire countryside. Rhi said: “All of these animals I raised from when they were still in their eggs, so they really do feel like family to me.”
Emus are far less common than her other birds, so how to care for one was largely a mystery. Rhi looked on Facebook and found a community of fellow emu owners in the UK, which helped her prepare for the egg’s arrival. Rhi said: “That group was such a lifeline.”
“They have helped me through every stage of this process. Although I already had geese and turkeys, an emu is a whole other deal!”
The egg arrived and was incubated for two months, requiring daily attention and regular turning. As emu eggshells are thicker and darker than those of most birds, it’s difficult to tell if a chick is developing inside until the final few days. After months of silence, Rhi took the egg out of the incubator—only to hear chirping from within.
Rhi said: “It was quite an intense process. I’d almost given up hope and took the egg out of its incubator, which is when I heard chirping. Three days later, the egg hatched, and EJ was born.”
Rhi named the bird EJ, which stands for Emu Jonathan, after assuming the emu was male—though the vet later corrected her. She has raised EJ over the past three years, but with a life expectancy of up to 35 years, her job is far from over.
Rhi said: “I love having EJ in my life, and luckily, she gets on with the other birds. She can be a lot of work, and, to be fair, I do spoil her. She gets the freshest fruits and veg, and I also feed her specialized ratite pellets. And she stays in the stables where we used to have horses, which made sense to me as she is basically a horse-sized chicken. She also has a zoo-caliber heat lamp set up in her stable, so she’s definitely well looked after.”
Interesting Questions About Emus
What does it take for an emu raised by a chicken to go from cold and neglected to the shining star of Birdworld?
Why is the wildlife community celebrating the wondrous new egg from a 74-year-old albatross?
Could emus defy their reputation as the world’s ‘stupidest’ bird by solving puzzles for tasty lettuce rewards?
Is the ‘Great Emu War’ a hilarious reflection on Australia’s struggle with these elusive birds?
Why has a chick dubbed the ‘world’s deadliest’ just hatched in the UK for the very first time?