I just ordered and Ostrich egg. Has anyone else hatched them?

i've been avoiding the ostrich eggs..

my husband is ok with the emus.. but I think he would kill me if I ended up hatching up a giant bird with a bad attitude  lol

 

if you can find it a good book for incubation is "Ratite Egg Incubation a practical guide" by D. C. Deeming

 

just a quick peek into it and I found this info for ya:

 

hatching process begins around day 39 of incubation

 

day 40 the chick begins to rub its beak on the inside of the shell membranes to erode them so internal pip can take place.. they mention that they do not have an egg tooth...

 

can take up to two days to hatch

 

they tend to shatter the shell during hatch.. and malpositions are quite common since the chick doesn't rotate inside the egg as much as other birds do

 

average incubation is 42 days.. though there can be a range between 39 and 47 days

 

incubation temperatures range from 35 ºC to 37.7 ºC  (95 to 99.86 ºF). most commonly accepted temps are between 36 ºC and 36.5 ºC (96.8 and 97.7 ºF)

 

humidity below 35%

 

15% weight loss.. they do mention that weight loss seems to increase in wild nests as the chick develops and the egg temperature rises.. (ostrich and emu)..

 

hope this helps!

Nope, having a 500lb bird with a kick of a horse and a bad attitude is not on the top of my list. Knew of at least three people that had to put their male down because of how aggressive he got during breeding season. Also check your state laws about permit for them, emu don't often need them but ostriches often do.
To me it's like saying.... Oh, a man eating Dino egg.......Why not, lol

There is a night and day difference between ostrich and emu......once they hatch. Ostriches can be very finicky to get started and one is not "out of the woods" until it is 3-4 months old. They do not do very well at all when hatched and raised by themselves as they easily get depressed, don't eat and are prone to impactions and/or not absorbing all of their yolk sac before the duct closes.

 

You will need to keep the humidity much lower than emu eggs.....15% or less. An edematous chick is not good.

 

As one put it....emus look for ways to live and ostriches look for ways to die. Hate to rain on your parade but that's the short of it. If anything, it makes one appreciate the simplicity of incubating, hatching and raising emus.

Hard to hatch, to confirm what has already been stated, the humidity needs to be insanely low. My friend hatched them without putting any water ar all in the incubator. Humidity needs to stay around 15%-20%. As far as temps i'd say 97-98 degrees. Hope it's fertile, and hatches for you.

Huh that makes since they need such low humidity with them being from the African savanah. I really would like to try hatching one, just for the fun of it, I'd find an appropriate home for the chick. What I would love about incubating one is you can candle them, wouldn't it be amazing to watch a ratite develope? I think it would be just fascinating, ooh I really hope it's fertile & survives shipping for you! Do you plan on keeping the chick? How far is the egg traveling? Good luck & pleeeeease post pics & updates in the HatchALong thread, I'm going to post about incubating Rhea eggs once they start laying & I get them.