Emu Hatch-a-long 2012

[Yoda]

Ok, the 6 eggs I got yesterday, 3 are oozing egg whites through the shell and have only been in the incubator about 12 - 13 hours. One is really badly oozing, pics below. What causes this? Could they have froze during shipment? I sent the pictures to the seller and asked why this would happen. I could see it happen to one but 3 of the eggs? The other 3 so far are not oozing, but now that brings my hatch rate chances from 100% to 50% if I am lucky to get one of the 3 to hatch

 

[Raptor65]

Could be improper handling before they were shipped too, where did you get those from if you don't mind my asking?
One or two weepers out of a large batch is understandable, but 50% is madness, there's got to be more going on.
Took two weeks for my yolkless egg to even begin to weep, those eggs are in some pretty advanced stages there.

 

[ES Emus]

still have almost four weeks to go...!

 

[yinepu]

Yoda, they could be old. Or they could have been frozen. The weepers I had last year were OLD local eggs...

Everyone I got from Kalaya were fresh.. a couple were scrambled.. but scrambled eggs won't weep so soon after being incubated unless they were old to start with. After checking my records.. none of my Kansas eggs were bad or oozing at the beginning of incubation.. I left all of them in throughout the entire time.

To test the frozen theory I have a few day old chicken eggs I can toss into the freezer for 24 hours.. then thaw and warm to room temp.. I can put them in one of the bators and see if they weep.
It will take a few days before I can post results. I'll put 6 eggs in the freezer just to see.

 

[yinepu]

still have almost four weeks to go...!

is that a cup of water in there?

 

[yinepu]

Ok, the 6 eggs I got yesterday, 3 are oozing egg whites through the shell and have only been in the incubator about 12 - 13 hours. One is really badly oozing, pics below. What causes this? Could they have froze during shipment? I sent the pictures to the seller and asked why this would happen. I could see it happen to one but 3 of the eggs? The other 3 so far are not oozing, but now that brings my hatch rate chances from 100% to 50% if I am lucky to get one of the 3 to hatch

Hey Yoda.. have you thrown them out yet?

Check the dates on those eggs.. one looks like its 1-8 ? (the top one)

if it is.. that's an old egg laid on January 8th
(I noticed on the ones I got from Kalaya this year all have "laid dates" written on them)

 

[Calla]

Yinepu ......What a disaster....at least seller is honest.... put dates on them ...lol 2nd egg looks 3rd... They may have got cracked in transit, or even been on ground some time and got frozen ? Other eggs may get contaminated, best remove them.

Last season I bought 5 emu eggs, post took 3 days just 100 miles, supposed to be overnight , unknown to me at the time, 2 were cracked on arrival, white foam coming from 2 eggs after 4 weeks in incubator.

( Cowboy seller ) more about him.
Calla

 

[yinepu]

Yinepu ......What a disaster....at least seller in honest.... put dates on them ...lol 2nd egg looks 3rd... They may have got cracked in transit, or even been on ground some time and got frozen ? Other eggs may get contaminated, best remove them.

Last season I bought 5 emu eggs, post took 3 days just 100 miles, supposed to be overnight , unknown to me at the time, 2 were cracked on arrival, white foam coming from 2 eggs after 4 weeks in incubator.

( Cowboy seller ) more about him.
Calla

Mine from Kalaya are doing fine. all had nice fresh dates on the eggs when I received them. Those weepy eggs are Yoda's

I know she puts a code on the egg as to which breeders it came from. I bought eggs from her last year and she compared the codes on those eggs to the eggs she was sending this year so i wouldn't get any that were related to the boys I kept. Most sellers don't bother to do that much.. and then I noticed that this year the eggs had the code as well as the "laid on" date. So Kalaya does try to help us as much as they can as far as info on the eggs. The eggs from last year may have also had 'laid on dates" but I don't remember seeing two lines of info on each egg.

Mine from her this year were

EGG A: Laid January 10. weight 532 grams
Seller's code "A"

EGG B: Laid January 11. Weight 621 grams
Seller's Code "J"

EGG C: Laid January 13. Weight 659 grams
Seller's code "C2"

EGG D: Laid January 13. Weight 707 grams
Seller's Code "G"

She shipped them on January 14 and I received them on January 16
So my oldest one from her was 6 days old which is still perfectly fine to incubate and expect to do well so long as it wasn't damaged any by the postal service. Granted fresher is always better.. but at least with knowing the dates the eggs were laid I can tell which to keep eyes on as for weight loss (older eggs would naturally lose more weight during storage and shipping than a freshly laid egg) as well as any "rotten egg complications". If you notice on my eggs..Egg A, the oldest one is also the lightest one even though it's not noticeably smaller than Egg B.

I am hoping Yoda's eggs all show a "laid on date" so he can tell how old they were upon receipt. IF that one DOES say 1-8.. and Yoda received them on 1-23... that would have made it 15 days old.. adding on to that any rough handling from the postal service during transit and it very well could have caused major issues.

 

[yinepu]

I did a google search on storage of emu eggs.. found a study where they cited that they should not be stored for longer than 7 days for optimal hatch rates (storage being in a controlled temperature and humidity environment as well as the eggs being turned daily)

They figured that the longer (past 7 days) that the eggs sat the more hatchability was affected. Those placed in an incubator soon after that 7 day mark had a lower hatch rate than "fresh eggs".. but not nearly as low as eggs that had an extended stay in storage.

Now one can argue that a male emu will stash away the eggs for weeks at a time.. but most male emus also don't work for the postal service and ... do they ever have 100% hatch rates?...
I think them covering the nest with leaves while the eggs sit on the cool damp soil would act very much like a storage unit for the eggs.. plus add in any morning dew and the humidity would be pretty much covered for "storage"

When we entrust eggs to the postal service they are not in any sort of "controlled environment" which would add to the loss of hatchability (damage to the yolk, white and shell from vibrations / rough handling as well as extremes in temperature and humidity) .

 

[Yoda]

I did get a reply from them and they said:
It may be possible that something may have happened during shipping, such as starting to freeze them or whatever. Totally frozen eggs split in half, length wise. You may file an insurance claim online on the USPS website for the eggs that did not fare well during the trip. Most of the information they may need should be on the shipping label and the invoice. If there is any additional information that you may need, let me know. Hope the other three eggs will be ok. You may want to wait a day or two to see what the other eggs will do, before filing the claim.
Ok, if they were starting to freeze, why would that be a shipping issue? Shouldn't they have put a heat pack inside the box knowing they were shipping eggs in 20 degree or less weather? My post office told me that when I ship my peacock eggs they are considered "live animals" and I need to package them as such. I am going to bet that they are not going to cover these eggs cause she did not put a heat pack in the box. The other 2 eggs that look like they are oozing, I am hoping that it was from the egg I took the picture of dripping down on them but will not know til they start to smell. We will have to see. I guess buying from Kalaya is at your own risk and they hold no responsibility on their half of the sale. All they had to do was package and send the eggs to the best of their ability and by not using a heat pack, they did not. They did not offer any replacement eggs at all. I lost what looks like 3 eggs and they did not seem to care.