Emu hatching and brooding help neeeded

I am going to buy around five emu eggs and have found a lot of information on raising adult birds but little on raising baby birds. I have a few questions about broody and hatching and probably will have more to come as this adventure continues. Any response is greatly appreciated.

1).What do you feed baby emus? (And what about protein percentage for babies?)

2).Is it ok if my incubator is at 97F-98F where the top of the egg would be and then a couple degrees or maybe just a degree cooler at the bottom of the egg?(I will manually turn at least 3 times a day)

3).What is the humidity needed to hatch emu eggs, I've read around 30%-35%?

4).Does the humidity need to be raised during the hatching period?

5). Do emu eggs need to be misted if so how many times a day/week?

6). I am purchasing eggs from a breeder near me is $100 for 5 eggs a fair price?

I will respond with my very limited experience.

First, I think that $100 for 5 fertile emu eggs is quite good. If you look at what they are going for on ebay (upwards of around $60). I purchased mine for $40 each from an emu farm.

Emu eggs do not need to be misted. That will only raise the humidity.

Emu eggs should be incubated at around 30% but It is most important that your eggs lose the correct amount of weight. Your eggs should lose around 15% of the egg's total starting weight. Emus do not need the humidity raised during the hatching period. I kept the temp in my incubator around 96.8. I have a LG still air with a fan in it to circulate the air. Turned 5 times per day or more, always an odd number though.

Emu chicks do not need food for the first 4 days of life. I did offer water with ACV (a small splash), rooster booster and a pinch of sugar on day 2. Food offered on day 3, although Daryl really didn't show any interest in it until the fourth day.
Ratite starter crumbles are available for purchase I think the company is Mazure. I bought a bag online. Daryl doesn't really like them. He will eat them when he's hungry. I also feed him chopped greens, fruit, and a form of protein such as egg, chicken, beef, or insects I offer him these meals in the morning and evening. Emus need a lot of roughage. Daryl usually eats the greens first then the other stuff. As far as protein % goes I think it's around 16 - 18%. But I'm pretty his ratite crumbles are 20% I'm trying to make his main food items he would encounter in the wild and just supplement with the ratite food.
I do need to start feeding him more seeds and flowers though. My post "the life of Daryl the emu" has a lot of incubation information if you want to check it out.

Michelle

Thanks a lot for the information I will check your post out. Do you have any insight on my incubator problem there is a fan but the circulation is still not the best this is why ther would be slightly different temps on the top and bottom of the eggs.

I'm sorry but I don't know. I guess try it and see?
I do know that 95-97.5 is the recommended incubation temp. The lower the temp the longer the hatch date.

Has anyone ever used a large Brinsea chick plate for their emu babies instead of a heat lamp? I think it would work just fine raised up as high as it goes and later placed on two platforms. Any input?

hynekhen said:

Has anyone ever used a large Brinsea chick plate for their emu babies instead of a heat lamp? I think it would work just fine raised up as high as it goes and later placed on two platforms. Any input?

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Just saw this - I am using an ecoglow 50 for my baby emu right now. It works fine for the moment but am assuming I'll have to switch to a heat lamp within a week or two.

Thanks heaters! I jumped right in and did it and it really did work well. They're going to outgrow it very quickly though. Next thing we're going to rig it up on blocks to make it a little higher. But it seems to keep them plenty warm. Thanks for the reply