Emu Hatch-a-long 2012

[yinepu]

Quote:
GO THEODORE!!!!

 

[CNSpots]

Yes, they were shipped. I bought them on eBay & they came from NC. The seller has 100% feedback.

I don't have calipers but can get them.

 

[yinepu]

Yes, they were shipped. I bought them on eBay & they came from NC. The seller has 100% feedback.

I don't have calipers but can get them.

if they aren't viable then it's more likely the postal service handling than humidity as the issue..

mine from Kansas had a 100% hatch rate

but a batch from California had 0%.. it was lost in the mail .. one egg arrived broken and another arrived chipped...

 

[cyndiloowho]

to preserve the egg you would need to drill a hole in one end

If you are certain the egg is bad (no chick at all) you can blow the egg out then

if you suspect there may be a live chick you can float test the egg first (before drilling a hole) to see if there is any movement


Once you drill the hole (air cell end if you suspect there may be a live chick inside) you can look in with a flashlight

if the chick is alive and well you would need to tape up the hole with a bandaid or tape

if the chick is dead it will be messier to remove it (basically breaking the shell or cutting up the chick and pulling the parts out through the hole).



as a note.. if you suspect that there IS a live chick inside and you are still determined to drill the egg.. you will need to be extremely careful that you don't cause damage, kill or injure the chick when you make the hole in the air cell end of the egg.

Thank you for this great detailed advice.
I decided to do a float test first. After not seeing any movement there either I marked the highest point & we drilled a hole in each egg. I also noticed that the eggs did cool down evenly after a bit. It was quickly evident that neither egg had developed

I punctured the membrane and they easily slid out the hole. Since these were fresh local eggs, I assume they were not fertile. Although, they did do a very good job of proving that even non-developing eggs can loose weight!
Thank you for all of the help, we have learned SOOO much from all of you

 

[Grassman 52]

Yoda
How's Thoedore doing?

 

[Yoda]

I am soo PROUD of him/her LOL I called it Theodore cause he reminded me of the little fat chipmonk LOL. He is standing and eating but I did notice something about the other one that hatched before him. The older one seems to be protecting it from me LOL. He charges after my hand and if Theo comes to me the otherone jumps in front of him to stop him LOL.
The biggest one with the leg problem is going to be put down today

I tried everything but nothing worked. Her leg goes almost behind her and she cannot support her weight on it. I tried every avenue with only little success. One day we will find a cure for Splayed leg but unfortunately it isn't today

Question is it wrong to change her name to use on another Emu? My roommate doesn't want her name to be Callisto when she gets put down cause he wants to use it for one that isn't sick or injured. The name is special to him and he wants to have it be around for a long time. He said to tell the Vet that her name is Sophie. and is one of the little ones is a female he wants Callisto to go to that one. Do you think this is right? I told him I understood and agreed to do it for him. Callisto was his dog that passed away in 2009 and he didn't know that the Emu was not going to live over 2 months. He wanted to go out into the yard and call her by name and get her to come over when the name was called LOL
Here they are, Theo is on the right:

Now on the laft here:

Still on the left. I tied string on the older one's leg to tell them apart as they get older LOL:

Top of older one's head:

Theo's head, he might be a she LOL:

 

[yinepu]

aww... sure you can re-use the name.. as it is I have an emu named "Rose" .. and one of the new goats I have came with the name "Rosie"... so yeah... it's gonna get confusing around here

My old Eskie (dead a few years now) was named Rhiannon.. and so is the new Eskie pup.

 

[Tame Emu Guy]

Perhaps give the birds the names that make others happy (especially the kids) and keep for yourself the memories of the birds themselves. It’s the personalities that you become attached to, I reckon.

Sorry to hear that you will lose a chick. Yes, let’s talk about splayed leg, and try to figure it out.

Supreme Emu

 

[Yoda]

Ok Just wanted to let you know that she is gone. I think it's so nice that this vet puts them to sleep first then gives the injection, some just give the animal the injection and that's it. The Vet said that most of the time you can correct splayed leg, but that is in smaller birds. Because the Emu is growing so fast unfortunately 90% of the time it does not take. She said usually if you catch it within the first 2 weeks of life you will have that 10% but she got it later then that so there really wasn't a chance to fix it. She liked everything I did and was amazed I thought of the things I did. She said one day if we keep trying we will find something to fix it, but not today. She talked to me about the baby that broke it's leg last year and she said she has been reading what she can on Emus since then. She also was talking about my Peafowl as well. She said one day she would like to come over to see my little "farm" LOL Very nice lady she is. She wants me to bring in the other 2 for an exam, esp Theodore LOL

 

[Raptor65]

Perhaps give the birds the names that make others happy (especially the kids) and keep for yourself the memories of the birds themselves. It’s the personalities that you become attached to, I reckon.

Sorry to hear that you will lose a chick. Yes, let’s talk about splayed leg, and try to figure it out.

Supreme Emu

I've put some thought into the whole splay leg issue too. Probably safe to say it's everyone's biggest fear when hatching Emus, it really needs to go away, permanently.


As animals grow they actually grow from the center out, the joints are one of the last parts to grow, you can really see it in the above video, so much 'empty' space in the joints. So in chicks that have an incomplete tibia in one or more legs this could be one of two things:

Too short an incubation time, the bone doesn't have enough time to grow completely and connect with the hip socket. Given time the bone may finish growing, but since the birds are already up trying to use their legs it doesn't grow as it should.
Since the birds are euthanized at an early age more often than not (and rightly so), I don't think there would be much information on adult birds with splay legs that developed at a younger age. I wouldn't condone keeping a splay legged bird around just to find out either.

Or not enough 'raw material' in the egg to finish building the joints, which would point to a nutritional deficiency in the mother, she didn't have enough raw material to put into the egg.

This is assuming all splay legs are due to incomplete growth and not genetic, it's entirely possible that some Emus, maybe just the captive bred birds, have a faulty gene that 'turns off' the bone growth too soon. It could just as easily be a lack of connective tissue in the joint for any of the above reasons as well.