Are these emu eggs fertile? Hatchalong

[ShannonsChimkens]

Phooey on #2. But not really a loss. Just a non-starter.
Is it normal for first year females to lay this many eggs? Or do they lay like chickens?

From what I’ve read, they can lay 2 to 30 eggs the first season. So really depends on the bird. She keeps pumping them out! Hoping she stops soon though. I’ll be hatching into late April if she continues

 

[ShannonsChimkens]

I’m so paranoid Wonder how much work won’t get done today.

 

[CluckNDoodle]

So…

I woke up at 4am and laid in bed for an hour and a half worried that the little guy was going to die in the membrane like the other. I would never do this in any other circumstance. Just knowing that the membrane can hold the buggers in there and kill them if incubation is too dry, prompted me to make an opening.

It took a while to lightly scrape the shell until it broke through. All being extremely careful that the little one isn’t injured. I could tell where the air cell was after letting the egg cool for a minute. The membrane looked very dry and was concerning. Pinched a small area to pull it back and saw blood and stopped. Which is good! It’s still soaking up it’s yolk and I won’t be stepping in any further. Now the waiting game begins.

Just fyi, the membrane with blood on it is dry. It did not continue to bleed. It just told me that the chick wasn’t ready and no more intervening was necessary.
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The other 1/7 did not develop.
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I don't have any experience hatching emu but when I assist hatching I usually lightly apply antibiotic ointment with a q-tip to the membrane to keep it from drying out. This should also make the membrane translucent so you can see the blood vessels. I'm just assuming this will all be the same for an emu but it looks healthy inside and not too dry for now. Is today hatch day?

 

[ShannonsChimkens]

I did consider wetting the membrane, but it didn’t look veiny. Found out in a half a second that it was and dried it with a paper towel real quick. Emus require a dryer membrane to hatch vs the opposite for the chicken eggs. At least that’s what I’ve read. But from this point forward I’ll be checking with your method on this egg!

 

[ShannonsChimkens]

Oh and tomorrow is day 49. I guessed that the last chick that didn’t make it died a day prior to day 49. It’s little tiny kicks and wiggles got lighter and lighter before it died.

 

[LavenderDaFlerf]

Oh and tomorrow is day 49. I guessed that the last chick that didn’t make it died a day prior to day 49. It’s little tiny kicks and wiggles got lighter and lighter before it died.

Is the one that's hatching still alive?

 

[Kiki]

Wish I had a better update! Took a video for my oldest daughter this evening. I’ll share

He's dumb!

 

[ShannonsChimkens]

Is the one that's hatching still alive?

As of this morning it was alive and moving around. It looks like it’s still moving in the security camera. I’ll be checking it right when I get home.

 

[ShannonsChimkens]

He's dumb!

Agreed! Extra special dumb.

 

[Kiki]

I'm behind but I'm catching up slowly.