Emu Hatch-a-long 2012

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Yoda said:
Just cause they wiggle doesn't mean your safe. I had one wiggle like crazy and it died in the egg, never hatched cause it ran out of air. I almost lost the other one that was wiggling too. They went over the 51 day hatch date and had I know to take a drill bit and using my fingers turn the bit back and forth til I drilled through the egg on the air sac side he/she would be alive. Once the hole is drilled then place wet guaze over the hole. This will give the chick oxygen and it will hatch. Poor little thing :hit
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The guy that I bought the eggs from told me that too. He said if they don't pip by day 51 it wouldn't hurt to make that little whole. Thanks for confirming that. We really want these little guys to hatch ok.... X
 
Kiril749 said:
One more question just in case.......how big of a drill not do you use?
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1/4 inch bit is plenty big.. you can go larger.. bit it really isn't necessary (smaller is better.. you are just trying to allow more air to access the inside of the shell)

Just don't use a spade bit (the long point can be dangerous)

and if you can drill by hand (using the bit without the use of the actual drill) it's better on the chick and you are less likely to break through the shell too suddenly


if you decide to drill just be extremely careful.. it would be very easy to hit the chick in the process, especially as the bit goes through the last layer of the shell
 
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Grassman 52 said:
All - I guess I am a little confused - I thought that siome eggs could go to 56 days and hatch fine?
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They can.. it's temperature dependent


I wouldn't drill a 95.5 degree egg at day 51 .. but I think the eggs in question were incubated at 97.5 (not sure since I missed their earlier posts and I wasn't telling them WHEN to drill.. just commented on the size bit and care to exercise so as not to harm the chick)
 
I was thinking more about this issue - you would have to know that the chick internally Pipped and was running out of air before putting a hole in the shell.

I am home from work and tapped my eggs - removed one because I could feel the insides sloshing back and forth - drilled it and it was scrambled. down to 4 - only two are moving.

Still not making sounds.

Question - did you hear your eggs chirping?
 
yinepu said:
They can.. it's temperature dependent


I wouldn't drill a 95.5 degree egg at day 51 .. but I think the eggs in question were incubated at 97.5  (not sure since I missed their earlier posts and I wasn't telling them WHEN to drill.. just commented on the size bit and care to exercise so as not to harm the chick)
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Mine were incubated at 97.5 to 98.5 which is what the seller suggested. He's a breeder and he said he's had great results. He said his hatch on day 48 at the earliest and day 51 at the latest. He also said to stop turning on day 45 but that's today and I think I may turn them for another day or two. Please chime in if that sounds way off. After reading a lot of these threads, I'm thinking I've done ok to have 3 out of 4 wiggle at this point, seeing that these 4 eggs traveled from California to Boston. 8 -)
 
Grassman 52 said:
I was thinking more about this issue - you would have to know that the chick internally Pipped and was running out of air before putting a hole in the shell.

I am home from work and tapped my eggs - removed one because I could feel the insides sloshing back and forth - drilled it and it was scrambled. down to 4 - only two are moving.

Still not making sounds.

Question - did you hear your eggs chirping?
Click to expand...

you can tell that when the egg sounds
 
Kiril749 said:
Quote:
that temp is still a bit high.. I know it's "recommended".. but it's warmer than they are incubated naturally under the male.. which brings up developmental issues (leg joints not properly formed)

I've incubated at 97.5 and also at 95.5 and found that eggs from the same breeder had stronger chicks when incubated at the lower "more natural" temperature.


can you still get chicks hatch at 98.5?.. sure.. but it's not nearly the proper temp as compared to the male emu's incubation

btw, Janice Castleberry is the one who clued me into the lower incubation temps.. she's hatched out thousands of the little buggers when the emu production days were at their height (also written several books on ratite incubation). In her efforts to hatch out the strongest birds possible she found that going closer to how it's naturally done resulted in stronger healthier chicks. She calls chicks incubated at higher temps "premature" and needing more developmental time.
Even on here people have inquired about chicks that seem to be slow getting to their feet and walking with a very unsteady gait for the first few days.. in the wild the predators would pick them off very quickly.
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I have also done a lot of reading over the last two months - and I would split the difference and incubate at 96 - 96.5 the next time around. That way if I have a hot spot or cooler spot in my cabinet it will still be in the safe zone. I would not want to be at either end of the safe zone. Just my opinion.

My first batch of eggs did not ship well from Oregon out of 8 eggs down to (2) I have attached a couple of pics - no amount of temp control could fix these
gig.gif



 
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