2026 Emu Hatch-Along

[ABQ chicken keeper]

Ok, who's hatching emu this year!?

@Slothinc @WingItRanch @FNF @MGG @ShannonsChimkens @Pyxis @New duck mommy 2021

Tag anyone I forgot!

I am not hatching for myself, but just set 14 eggs for a local guy. Six standard local and 8 shipped with chance for all 3 colors. I told him I'd hatch them if I could keep them for a week and get all the snuggles and whistles before they start pooping the giant emu baby poops

Day 50 will be March 15th! They are labeled as color groups based on where we got them from.

Green - Utah from @Slothinc
Red - California
Blue - local
White - OhioView attachment 4290765View attachment 4290766

So what's the local guy planning to with fourteen Emu's?

 

[Slothinc]

Hey guys, so I’m loving reading up on everything and seeing everyone’s journeys. We’ve always had loads of animals and hatched lots of things, recently I randomly bought 2 emu eggs and decided to try hatching….
I’m using a homemade last minute incubator but temps have been steady around 36.5 and humidity around 30%.
We are on day 51, one egg started oozing about a week ago so was removed and opened (no growth at all), weight loss for one left has been consistent and normal, currently at 12.3% with 13% due to hit around day 53-54 if current trend continues. Start weight 682g, today 598g. In the last few days these white lines have started appearing but I can’t find much information online, my gut feeling is stress from chick repositioning inside to pip internally? The lines look like chalk but are not chalky, totally dry and smooth (not cracks). If anyone could put my mind at ease I’d appreciate it!

We also have 3 eggs coming soon from same female, they live about 30 mins from us so no shipping etc.

The lines are interesting. Have you seen this egg wiggling when you watch it? Any signs of life?

 

[akroberts1085]

Yeah! Babies are adorable.

 

[Mrsshetland]

The lines are interesting. Have you seen this egg wiggling when you watch it? Any signs of life?

No wiggling or noise detected despite staring at it several times a day haha. It’s sitting more level and I did the heat test a few times and air cell end seemed to cool down while other end didn’t. Also just a note I have 15 chicken eggs in incubator to hatch around same time so if this emu hatches he won’t be lonely until I hatch more emu friends for him and the chickens can help teach to eat etc if we get an emu

 

[Slothinc]

No wiggling or noise detected despite staring at it several times a day haha. It’s sitting more level and I did the heat test a few times and air cell end seemed to cool down while other end didn’t. Also just a note I have 15 chicken eggs in incubator to hatch around same time so if this emu hatches he won’t be lonely until I hatch more emu friends for him and the chickens can help teach to eat etc if we get an emu

I hope it hatches!! I have heard of some people hatching eggs that never wiggled. It has not happened to me, but apparently it is possible

 

[Mrsshetland]

I hope it hatches!! I have heard of some people hatching eggs that never wiggled. It has not happened to me, but apparently it is possible

Thank you, me to! I’d really like to know if the lines are normal as it didn’t have them until the last few days/week max, and this being our first ever attempt at emu hatching then I have no idea!

 

[ShannonsChimkens]

Hey guys, so I’m loving reading up on everything and seeing everyone’s journeys. We’ve always had loads of animals and hatched lots of things, recently I randomly bought 2 emu eggs and decided to try hatching….
I’m using a homemade last minute incubator but temps have been steady around 36.5 and humidity around 30%.
We are on day 51, one egg started oozing about a week ago so was removed and opened (no growth at all), weight loss for one left has been consistent and normal, currently at 12.3% with 13% due to hit around day 53-54 if current trend continues. Start weight 682g, today 598g. In the last few days these white lines have started appearing but I can’t find much information online, my gut feeling is stress from chick repositioning inside to pip internally? The lines look like chalk but are not chalky, totally dry and smooth (not cracks). If anyone could put my mind at ease I’d appreciate it!

We also have 3 eggs coming soon from same female, they live about 30 mins from us so no shipping etc.

If you haven’t seen it move or heard any peeps, I would open the cooler end VERY carefully and take a peek inside. (This is my personal preference rather than waiting to see if they die or not) At those temps, the chicks should be hatching on day 49 to day 51. Some could say the humidity is kind of low. Mine hatch well at 40% to 45%. But a couple other factors can make for a bad batch.

Oxygen: the incubator should be opened to let the carbon dioxide out. The eggs emit a lot and they need fresh oxygen. Cabinets you can open once a day or so, but small incubators should be opened a lot.

Turning: the cabinet incubators and other larger incubators turn every hour or so. They need constant turning. Half turns, rocking back and forth from one side to another.

Calibration: thermometers and hygrometers should be double checked. I lost 18 eggs the first year hatching emus. All due to both the thermometer and hygrometer being off quite a bit. This was my biggest problem. Now it’s sorted and almost everyone hatches.

If you are considering taking a look inside, find the cold end of the egg. That’s where the air cell is. I use a smallish drill bit end and scrape a gouge about a 1/4” or smaller. Once you gouge it enough, you can use the end of the drill bit and twist. No pushing it inside the egg. Only twisting. You will be able to open it enough to give it a rescue hole to breathe. The only time I have to do this is if I know it’s past day 51 and it may be struggling to break the shell. The chick is normally in a bad position to break out or it’s deformed and wasn’t going to make it out either way.

 

[Mrsshetland]

If you haven’t seen it move or heard any peeps, I would open the cooler end VERY carefully and take a peek inside. (This is my personal preference rather than waiting to see if they die or not) At those temps, the chicks should be hatching on day 49 to day 51. Some could say the humidity is kind of low. Mine hatch well at 40% to 45%. But a couple other factors can make for a bad batch.

Oxygen: the incubator should be opened to let the carbon dioxide out. The eggs emit a lot and they need fresh oxygen. Cabinets you can open once a day or so, but small incubators should be opened a lot.

Turning: the cabinet incubators and other larger incubators turn every hour or so. They need constant turning. Half turns, rocking back and forth from one side to another.

Calibration: thermometers and hygrometers should be double checked. I lost 18 eggs the first year hatching emus. All due to both the thermometer and hygrometer being off quite a bit. This was my biggest problem. Now it’s sorted and almost everyone batches.

If you are considering taking a look inside, find the cold end of the egg. That’s where the air cell is. I use a smallish drill bit end and scrape a gouge about a 1/4” or smaller. Once you gouge it enough, you can use the end of the drill bit and twist. No pushing it inside the egg. Only twisting. You will be able to open it enough to give it a rescue hole to breathe. The only time I have to do this is if I know it’s past day 51 and it may be struggling to break the shell. The chick is normally in a bad position to break out or it’s deformed and wasn’t going to make it out either way.


Thank you this is a very detailed response, oxygen is certainly not an issue in fact if anything then my incubator has too much ventilation, I have 3 different thermometers and 2 hydrometers so I’m not concerned about false temps or humidity readings. Turning could potentially be an issue as we’ve been turning by hand (5-7 times per day, odd numbers so it’s lying differently each night, 180 rotations, varying directions. My incubator is a very crude homemade setup and is not a fancy cabinet or even a basic store bought incubator. I think because I haven’t heard anything to confirm internal pipping, I’ll hold off until day 55 before making a small hole in air cell end. I prefer to keep hands off unless absolutely necessary as I think nature will take its course. I really appreciate your time and detailed advice x

 

[ShannonsChimkens]

You’re welcome.

I only check mine now because I heard one peeping one day, I was extremely excited for it to hatch. First or second one from my female from about 6 years ago. I heard it the next day. Kept waiting. Then its peeps started to get frantic. Then they started to fade and were ever so faintly quiet. I just waited for it to hatch… the next day, no peeps. Got worried and checked the egg with a small hole. It died almost like it was crying out for help. Perfectly developed chick with yolk absorbed.

There’s my reasoning lol

Chickens, turkeys, ducks, I don’t assist. Emus I feel like they’re a bit more precious and harder to hatch and acquire.

All just personal decisions. I respect everyone’s.

 

[Mrsshetland]

You’re welcome.

I only check mine now because I heard one peeping one day, I was extremely excited for it to hatch. First or second one from my female from about 6 years ago. I heard it the next day. Kept waiting. Then its peeps started to get frantic. Then they started to fade and were ever so faintly quiet. I just waited for it to hatch… the next day, no peeps. Got worried and checked the egg with a small hole. It died almost like it was crying out for help. Perfectly developed chick with yolk absorbed.

There’s my reasoning lol

Chickens, turkeys, ducks, I don’t assist. Emus I feel like they’re a bit more precious and harder to hatch and acquire.

All just personal decisions. I respect everyone’s.

I tend to agree to be honest, I just am terrified to harm them even accidentally. I have 0 experience with emu but I know from chickens etc that even if you help you tend to lose them anyway or they will be weak etc. I will definitely keep that in mind if I hear signs of life and they start to appear weaker, I’d definitely want to try something at that point I think