Friend, like all male emus, is incubating an egg. Only in this case, it's not an egg at all. It's a ball that somehow got in his cage.
Friend built a nest for his ball from some hay and is now sitting upon it. He'll stay there until it hatches- or his owner takes it away.
"He just doesn't want to get up. He's just watching his egg. All day," said Rebecca Akehurst.
Word travels quickly. The Puyallup, WA, neighbors have all heard of the false incubation of Akehurst's big bird. She brings Friend food because he won't leave his egg. He keeps losing weight and he is too proud to beg.
" It takes about 40 days for an Emu egg to hatch. It hasn't been 40 days so he isn't getting suspicious," said Akehurst.
No matter how long he sits, that ball's not going to hatch.
" We're gonna have to take it away from him, which is going to be so sad because he's such a good dad," said Akehurst.
