Peacocks, Emus, and Chickens for sale at Back 40 Game Farm

BACK 40 GAME FARM & ACRES OF FUN FAINTING GOATS

WE ARE LOCATED IN BAXTER, MINNESOTA
& WE DO NOT SHIP LIVE BIRDS OF ANY AGE

An UPDATE on EMU EGGS: Ruby has only laid FIVE eggs so far in 2025. I fear she may be done for the year as her last eggs laid were about 6 weeks ago already.

EMU EGGS ARE $75 EACH, SOLD 2 AT A TIME WITH FREE SHIPPING. PRICE IS THE SAME IF THEY ARE PICKED UP HERE. I ONLY SELL 2 AT A TIME AS WE ONLY HAVE ONE HEN AND SHE ONLY LAYS 2 IN THE TIME FRAME THAT WE NEED TO SHIP THEM OUT IN FOR BEST VIABILITY.

MOST YEARS RUBY DOES NOT LAY EGGS PAST APRIL 10TH, BUT IN 2024 SHE LAID STEADILY UNTIL THE MIDDLE OF MAY.

We acquired a new male emu, Reese, from the LF Zoo in 2023. Because he was new to us and sold as "sex unknown" we did not sell hatching eggs in 2022-23 but we DID incubate some eggs AND Hatched Some Chicks! (A local friend hatched them for us) Now that we know the eggs are fertile (or at least should be) we WILL sell Emu Eggs for hatching from now on.

WE DO NOT SHIP LIVE BIRDS OF ANY AGE, SO THEY WOULD NEED TO BE PICKED UP HERE IN MINNESOTA.

Ruby lays eggs in the winter months and usually stops laying before April 10th every year. Normally we have eggs for sale from Feb to April at best.

I NEVER guarantee fertility or hatch rates as these 2 things are 100% out of my control.
(*all eggs are sold as fertile to the best of my knowledge)

PEACOCK EGG UPDATE:

We DO ship HATCHING EGGS from PEAFOWL. We ARE PRE SELLING FOR THE 2025 SEASON.
I have decided to allow pre paid orders of peafowl eggs this year of up to 10 eggs at a time. There is more information below about that or you can email me also at [email protected] . Eggs are $15 each, regardless of quantity. Shipping is $25 a box for up to 6 eggs, $30 a box for 6-10 eggs. (we have to add insurance for more than 6 eggs, and the insurance is about $5 extra)

Some states are more expensive to ship to, like CA, has to be checked in advance. I once paid about $60 to ship a box of eggs to CA, so I no longer do so without checking fees first.

We have a waiting list for these started and we expect MANY eggs each year as our breeding numbers have doubled with all the girls being over 2-3 years old now. We sometimes get 9 eggs in one day so we have plenty of eggs to sell when the season is in full swing.

I VERY RARELY sell live birds (peachicks) but I NEVER sell breeding age adults. I also NEVER ship birds of any age, just hatching eggs.

All hatching eggs are fertile TO THE BEST OF MY KNOWLEDGE. I obviously am not involved in fertilizing them so this is 100% on the birds.

Buying hatching eggs is a GAMBLE.. buying shipped hatching eggs is even more of a gamble... if you are not the gambling type, this is not for you.

The USPS no longer offers special handling for an extra $12 like they used to.

The BEST way to get on a list for hatching eggs is to EMAIL me at

[email protected]

If you do not have access to email, please call me at 218-839-4503

On our farm we have Chickens, Peacocks and Emus. Most years we have hatching eggs for sale from all of the birds. We occasionally have chicks for sale also (but not always). Feel free to contact us in the spring and summer months to check on availability. We DO NOT ship live birds, but we DO ship hatching eggs. We are located in MINNESOTA.

Our hen, Ruby, got a new mate in 2023 from the Little Falls Zoo. His name is Reese. Reese came to us as "sex unknown" so I was reluctant to sell any emu eggs as I was not SURE they would be fertile. As luck would have it, many of her eggs froze, as they are laid during a MN winter, so we didn't get many anyway. The few we did get, we gave to a friend to incubate and she hatched 4 babies!

We WILL BE SELLING EMU HATCHING EGGS in 2025! As long as Ruby gets on a schedule and lays them.

Emu eggs are USUALLY for sale from Jan/Feb to April of the current year. Eggs sell for $75 EACH - SOLD 2 AT A TIME WITH FREE SHIPPING. PRICE IS THE SAME IF THEY ARE PICKED UP HERE. We only sell 2 at a time as we only have one mating pair and Ruby only lays 2 in a week. Paypal or Venmo are the best ways to pay, unless you want to mail a check in advance so I have time to cash it. Payments have to be made ASAP once you are contacted, as hatching eggs are time sensitive and need to ship as soon as they are laid. Because these packages are sent with tracking that confirms delivery you can pay using goods and services, but you need to add 4% to the total to cover the fees.

We do not guarantee hatch rates or fertility rates as there is literally no way for us to do so.

If you are fortunate enough to hatch some emu chicks at your house, PLEASE look online for information on "hobbling". I consider it VERY IMPORTANT that all Emu Chicks hatched are hobbled for the first 72 hours. The reason for this is because when the Emu chick hatches, it's body absorbs all the nutrients in the egg upon hatching. This makes the Emu chicks body very heavy, yet the legs are still weak. The Emu chick is supposed to be hobbled for 3 days.

If you watch parent Emus with newly hatched chicks they will "hobble" them by pecking them on the head every time they stand up the first few days. Because I can not sit there and tap them soundly on the head every time they stand up we hobble them using tape.

We use blue painters tape for hobbling. You wrap one end of tape around the leg and then stretch it across a couple inches and wrap the second leg so the legs are straight and attached together to keep them straight. A strong emu chick will still be able to stand up, but will not be able to walk. (you do need to keep an eye on them and save them if they tip over and struggle. The blue painters tape will peel off their legs safely when you remove it in a few days. ) The theory is that once the chick is strong enough to stand up and walk and break the tape, he/she is strong enough to not need it.

It is also VERY IMPORTANT that you NEVER , EVER put your emu chick on a smooth surface that will cause leg splaying. (we keep ours on a screen bottom cage or on the dirt outside if its nice enough) Another important tip is to NOT overfeed your emu chicks. This will result in them getting too heavy for their legs and can also cause leg splaying. One way to prevent overeating is to take their food away at night. Emu chicks will eat 24/7 since they have a light/heat lamp. Taking away the food at night prevents this. Once an Emu's leg starts to splay out it will get steadily worse and eventually the emu will be unable to stand. Not hobbling, over-feeding, and / or using a smooth surface can cause splayed leg in your emu chick and this is 100% a death sentence, as no bird can live with only one good leg. (I am absolutely serious, and I learned this the hard way)

If you have any questions about this, CALL ME or GOOGLE this before you hatch Emu Chicks so you are prepared. There is very little information online about the importance of hobbling Emu chicks, but it is out there and it is the absolute most important thing for you to do once you hatch an Emu chick.

Update about Peacock eggs:

The 2025 Peafowl egg season starts in Mid May 2025. I have decided to allow pre orders this year of up to 10 eggs a time. The eggs will start shipping out in the order they are purchased as soon as they are laid. I will notify you by email the previous week when your eggs are the next ones to ship so you can prepare for them. Eggs sell for $15 each and shipping is $25 for a box of 6 or less, $30 for 6-10 eggs (we have to add insurance for more than 6 eggs) Eggs can also be picked up here, but will need to be presold, as I will not hold them and wait for people to show up the following weekend etc without payment. Eggs can be purchased by emailing me and letting me know the quantity of eggs you want and sending payment thru paypal, venmo or a check in the mail. My email address is [email protected] and this is the email paypal uses.

If you choose not to pre order your eggs, you can still join the email list and you will be notified after the pre orders are all filled. In 2024 we pre sold about 170 eggs. 2024 was the first year that we pre sold eggs and it went much better than the previous years of just saving people's email addresses.

If you do not pre pay for eggs, I will still run a regular waiting list. Below is the way that the email waiting list works.

You send me an email with your name/address and how many eggs you want to purchase, and I will save your information. When we have eggs for sale, I will send a mass email to everyone that is waiting. Remember to check your email daily starting in the spring, as I send a mass email to everyone at once. Once this mass email goes out the people who respond are put back on the list in the order they got back to me. From then the eggs are shipped out in the order they are paid for.

Peacock Egg season in MN starts about Mid May (on good weather years) and lasts until early August. By August the males are dropping their trains, and mating season is coming to a close.

We are ONLY selling MYSTERY eggs until further notice. No pure colors. We are leaving all of our breeders together and letting them surprise us! We have adult males and females in the following colors, WHITE, INDIA BLUE, & BLACK SHOULDER. NO ADULT BREEDERS are For Sale.

If you chose to be added to the waiting list, but did not pre pay for eggs, I will send only ONE email per address, you will not be contacted more than once when we are selling. This way, I don't waste time repeatedly contacting someone that is no longer interested because they have changed their mind or bought elsewhere. And also this way, I do not waste time waiting for replies. Everyone is told to reply as quickly as they can and the actual selling list is started from the replies that come in.

Once we are officially selling, I contact the next person on the list when their eggs are being laid and I ship them as soon as they are all laid and paid for. If that person does not pay quickly, they are bumped from the list, and I move to the next person. Hatching eggs need to be shipped quickly and incubated quickly, so I cannot wait days for payments. It's just not feasible.

Eggs are $15 each and we charge $25 shipping no matter how many eggs are in the box. Special handling for the extra $12 is no longer an option thru USPS

Best way to pay is thru paypal to my email address or Venmo, friends and family is preferred thru either one. ( [email protected] ) You can also mail a check if it is done in advance of your eggs being laid so no time is wasted waiting for it to clear once the eggs are here. PLEASE contact me first thru email (before you send money) so that I know who you are and what you want and so that you can give me your mailing address! Eggs are shipped out in the order they are paid for once they are laid.

We do not guarantee hatch rates or fertility rates. Ordering shipped eggs is a Gamble! There are many factors that will affect your hatch rates , and I have no control over any of them. I WILL incubate the first dozen eggs or more to check fertility before we start selling.

You can also pick up your eggs here on the farm but they will need to be paid for in advance if I am holding them even one day.. because if you do not show up that is a day that I could have shipped those eggs to someone else. Eggs picked up here need to be paid for thru Friends and Family only on venmo or paypal, as I have no way to prove they were delivered. Or you can show up with cash as long as you show up THAT DAY.

We are currently not incubating any chicken eggs. We usually have some very persistent momma's that sit on their own eggs in the spring and hatch their own babies. These are all barn yard mix chicks and sell for $5 each when we have them.

218-839-4503