Smithills Open Farm welcomes 10 baby emus to Pets Corner

Smithills Open Farm welcomed has 10 baby emus in to the world in its pets corner after their adult male emu sat on his eggs for 56 days -and there may be more on the way.

Over the course of the last two days, the babies have been welcomed at the farm and Carl Grimshaw, the farm's owner and manager, said he thinks they will be a very "popular" attraction.

He said: “Emus are one of the special baby animals, you only really see once a year and when they come it is amazing.

“We haven’t finished hatching them yet and there was a total of 18 eggs to hatch, and 12 of which have hatched now.

“Emus in general are a very good attraction for people as they want to come to the farm and visit them.

The baby emus (Image: Lucy Damm)“They’re unusual, strange and comical animals and people love to see them out in the field and at the farm – they are comical when they run and really cute when they move.

“We have the baby ones in pets corner at the moment as there is a better survival rate for them with being inside where it is warm and dry.

“We won’t be keeping them all as there is a lot of them and we intend on keeping four of them, so the rest we will sell to other small holders or farms like ourselves.

“People don’t get to see baby emus that often, so I imagine they will be very popular when people come to the farm.

Read more of our top stories here:

• Smithills Hall to host dog show this May- how to enter

• Smithills Open Farm owner shares struggles caused by wet weather

• Bolton event to honour International Workers' Memorial Day

Lucy Damm, one of the supervisors at the open farm and who looks after the emus with other team members, said: “It is the male emu that actually sits on the egg rather than the girl and he has been sat on them for 56 days and they have been hatching over the last couple of days.

“We had a few the first day and then had a couple of more and I think we have ten in total currently in pets corner.

“There are still a couple of eggs underneath him that could hatch yet or they might just not. But we are still checking them, and we might get a couple more.

One of the baby emus (Image: Lucy Damm)“Everybody loves them here on the farm, we get so excited for them and the best bit about them is they follow you around they’re chirping, and we whistle at them, and they chase you all around pets corner and up and down the shed, it’s brilliant.

“We haven’t named any yet, as they get a bit bigger we might be able to tell them apart a bit easier and we will decide which ones we are going to be keeping and then we will name them from there.”

Lucy said people can meet the emus by taking a trip to the pets corner.

She said: “They are going to be in pets corner and for the first week or so we will just carry them around because they are so small and then as they get a bit bigger and a bit more confident, they actually walk and follow a member of staff around Pets Corner for people to have a good look at.

“It is a bit of a surprise and a bit of a shock for people really when the emus come out, it is completely not what they expect in Pets Corner.

“Some people get a bit nervous of them and some people just absolutely love them but they are just something completely different to the usual lambs and goats that come out. It offers a bit of a variety for the farm.”

For more information on the other animals at Smithills Open Farm, go to: https://www.smithillsopenfarm.co.uk/

If you have a story or something you would like to highlight in the community, please email me at chloe.wilson@newsquest.co.uk or DM me on X @chloewjourno.