Emu Adventure

[birdmanmax]

This thread will show the progress of my newly acquired emu eggs and include questions I have and hopefully answers. Hello today I got my first emu hatching eggs. I bought five eggs for $100 a pretty fair price in my opinion am in others I have asked.

Here is a picture of the eggs when I first got them, the women I bought them from had them in a refrigerator at 45F. Some of the eggs were laid in December (18th,21st, and the 25th) which worried me but supposedly when refrigerated they can last up to 2 months.

I labeled the eggs A,B,C, etc...
Here are the weights I recorded on the eggs today I don't have that great of a scale and just used what I had.
(These were recorded before any incubation)
A-585g
B-610g
C-525g
D-580g
E-610g

As you can see egg C is rather low in weight, any ideas why or if this is normal?

Here are the pictures of the wiegh in (before any incubation)

Yes I know I should get a better scale but for right now that's all I got.

I assume the eggs will absorb moisture now that they are out of the refrigerator, so I will weigh them right before I place them in the incubator. I just thought I would put this original weigh in just to show what refrigeration does to the eggs. (if it even effects them)


Incubation

I plan on running the incubator at 97F and at 30 to 35 percent humidity. But I have some issues, help needed.

First what do you use to add humidity to the air I have heard an open pan will give off way to much humidity?

My incubator is homemade it can fit the eggs and has hatched out hundreds of other eggs over the past years. But it seems to be hotter where the top of the eggs would be.

So I was wonder if it would be ok if it was 97-98 on the top of the egg and then just a couple degrees color on the bottom of the egg. I plan on turning the eggs 3 or 5 times a day.

Finally o plan to put the eggs in the incubator this Friday the 10th. I have a new more accurate thermometer coming sometime in the coming week hopefully this Saturday should I wait to put the eggs until I get the new thermometer as I am not sure my older cheap one is very accurate? Thanks for reading any advice, tips, and answers are very much appreciated.

 

[Joesmoe3]

It's winter, and my guess is your air is as dry as ours.

Last year, my eggs started later in the year, and the humidity was higher.

I used a custard cup then to keep the humidity where I wanted it.

Now, with the air so dry, my incubator is an old Hovabator 1602, and it has channels molded in the base, and with those full of water, the humidity is proper. I watch it every day.

With the size of the emu eggs, I would recommend you install a small fan, made for computers, in the incubator. This would circulate the air making the temperature more uniform inside the incubator.

Good luck, and keep us posted.

 

[mich9510]

I second the advice @joesmoe3 gave. I would start with a small cup of water for humidity. There were times when I had every reservoir in my LG incubator filled due to humidity being too low.

Did you figure out how much weight you need each egg to lose? I also recommend breaking that down in to how much weight per day.
For example, egg A weighs 585g. 15% of that is 88g or 1.7g/day.
What kind of refrigerator we're the eggs in? Unless it was some kind of humidity controlled refrigerator, those eggs have lost a good bit of weight already. You may want to keep your weight loss on the conservative side since they've been sitting since December. Maybe 13% or even 12%? The reason I'm such a humidity nut is because too much or too little weight loss can cause death in a fully developed embryo.
You need a few good thermometers that are calibrated too. I use digital meat thermometers. I can just slide the long sensor end in the sides of the incubator and leave it. Then when I do a temperature check, I just hit a button and I get the number.
Hope that was some help!

 

[birdmanmax]

I do have a fan in the incubator and I am waiting to make any calculations until I place them in other incubator. I don't know what kind of refrigerator but the lady I bought them from has hatched a lot of birds out and used the same refrigerator to store them. And I am getting a better thermometer shipped in soon it's a GQF temp/hum. thermometer from strombergs. Last year in the same incubator I hatched out 13 turkeys, 8 peachicks, +100 chickens, a goose, 25 ducks, 35 quail, and about 10 pheasants so I know the incubator works and pretty darn well getting +85% hatch rate.

 

[Joesmoe3]

Ayep, hard to argue with success.

 

[mich9510]

Ayep, hard to argue with success.

X2

 

[birdmanmax]

Yesterday I received a brand new thermometer from strombergs. After adjusting the incubator over the past few days I have placed the emu eggs in the incubator today February 9th . When the thermometer is placed at the height of an emu egg and out in the open (inside the incubator) it reads 97.5 at 25%-30% humidity but when it is placed on the back wall it reads around 91.0 and if I pull it out an inch away from the back wall it reads 97.5 again. So I think it is so sensitive the the cold air on the other side of the back wall is giving an incorrect reading.

Can I just keep the thermometer on the back wall and if it fluctuate from 91 then I will know that there is a change in the middle of the incubator?

Here are the weights right before I placed them in the incubator-
Feb. 9 Sat:
A-609g
B-620g
C-526g
D-595g
E-612g

Here's a picture of my incubator set up:

 

[mich9510]

I would recommend another thermometer or two placed in different areas of the incubator. Make sure to rotate the eggs in addition to turning them.
How are your weights now?

 

[birdmanmax]

I have moved the thermometer all around and it's pretty much the same temp all around but might get another thermometer. I turn them vertically, rotate them to different spots and spin them 180 degrees 5 time a day some time only 3 but always try to do all the cycles 5 times a day.

 

[birdmanmax]

I'll get the weights tonight I did weigh them on Saturday exactly a week later but they may be a bit off because I had a low humidity for two days (20%-25%) so I'm going to weigh them again today, I will still post the weigh in form Saturday and today. Thanks for all the help @Mich9510