Emu Hatch-a-long 2012

[Grassman 52]

Came home tonight and weighed them 13% weight loss and both are still moving - the sound when tapped is a little different (hope its not wishful thinking). I looked at my calendar at work and I had day 52 circled so I am where I thought I would be 52 - 54 days.

Tomorrow is 53 days - so they need to get busyyyyyy

pulled my next setting of 10 eggs - weighed and tap tested - 7 out of 10 were moving to some degree - they are 46 days old - average weight loss of 13.5% with a week to go.


Then my last setting at 40 days.

 

[Avie]

to you guys with the wigglers!

Meanwhile -- I think I mentioned that when one of my CA eggs arrived damaged, I asked for "something educational" instead of a refund, and she said "uh, would you be interested in a dead chick?" So the poor frozen chickie arrived a few days ago. Today I took it in to my son's high school biology teacher, along with some other interesting bird stuff we have (eggs, skulls). The teacher was super-enthusiastic!

I hope the students are interested and that there's not too many squeamish ones.

They just did a fish dissection last week

so at least they're prepared!

 

[Kiril749]

Ok, I'm well into day 50.......no sound but plenty of movement for sure. The guy I got the eggs from said his hatch by day 48 to 51.......so my question is at what point would you drill the little hole in the air cell? Would I wait until they sound, even though some people say their eggs can hatch without ever sounding......

Oh crap, I can feel my blood pressure rising.

 

[Grassman 52]

Day 53 for two of my eggs:

One egg I can hear scratching and soft beeping - the other egg has not sounded and still has a lean to one end so I don't think it has internally PIP'ed yet (still moving good) - I can't wait to get home and see what's going on.

I have to re-think my brooder set-up - last night my wife came home with 12 Meat chicks (she forgot to tell me she split an order with someone at work). Its OK because I don't think my chicken brooder has enough head room.

I am going to setup an area in the basement (incubation room) with old carpet and a heat lamp for the first few weeks and take them outside on the grass daily. I have hatched a few 100 or so birds and have never been this excited before

As far as drilling a hole - I would wait - you cant be 100% sure when they need help and it is still early - If the bird had sounded and you were getting near 48 - 72 hours - then I would make an air hole (MHO)

 

[Avie]

The guy I got the eggs from said his hatch by day 48 to 51......

From what I've heard here, the hatch date is dependent on the temperature of the incubator...so your guy knows what works for him but might not know your situation. Adding to the frustration, it's hard to measure the temperature exactly?? I've got 3 thermometers and I'm taking the average, argh.

Anyway, hang in there!! I would be going nuts, too.
Again, from what I've heard here, it actually is good for the chick to take a few days longer. Experts please chime in!

 

[Avie]

I am going to setup an area in the basement (incubation room) with old carpet and a heat lamp for the first few weeks and take them outside on the grass daily. I have hatched a few 100 or so birds and have never been this excited before

That's so cool -- after all this time and experience it's still fresh for you! Birds certainly bring a lot into our lives

Although sometimes it's kind of an agony / ecstacy thing...

Meanwhile, my little bit of drama for today. Weighed the last egg. Minus 4.0 grams, divide by two days -- ACK!!! OMG OMG!!! That's waaaay too much. And when it's been doing so well (it's day 21 and has always been within 0.1 g of the desired weight loss. )

Oh no oh no, my egg is dead for sure, that's my last chance for a chick this spring...

Wait...maybe I made a mistake weighing.

Re-weighed it. Nope, definitely 4.0.
Wait, what day is it? Isn't it the 29th?
Duh, no, it's the 30th

That puts me at a weight loss of 1.3, which is slow. Makes sense, it's been raining the last 2 days. Moved the egg closer to the fan.

Whew!! Yeah, I'm over-reacting a tiny bit.

I'm going to be an absolute wreck if this thing ever starts to wiggle!!

Kiril, I wonder if there is some sort of Lamaze breathing for those of us who are "expecting"??

 

[yinepu]

Ok, I'm well into day 50.......no sound but plenty of movement for sure. The guy I got the eggs from said his hatch by day 48 to 51.......so my question is at what point would you drill the little hole in the air cell? Would I wait until they sound, even though some people say their eggs can hatch without ever sounding......

Oh crap, I can feel my blood pressure rising.

It's really not possible for a chick to hatch out and survive without "sounding"
The early stage of sounding is when the membrane pulls away from the shell.. the chick's movement alone can cause that to happen.. the vessels will still be blood filled.. so they must pull down the majority of the blood before it's safe for the chick to hatch completely

if chick were to try to hatch before that it would stand a very good chance of bleeding to death

Once the chick pips through the membrane the sound will change even more.. which would be the rest of the tonal change of "sounding"

now assuming the chick pips through the wrong end of the shell without pipping the membrane at the air cell.. the egg would have still "sounded" since the membrane would have separated from the shell.. but the chick still stands a good chance of bleeding to death since the veins at the lower end of the egg are the last to "dry up"

Day 53 for two of my eggs:

One egg I can hear scratching and soft beeping - the other egg has not sounded and still has a lean to one end so I don't think it has internally PIP'ed yet (still moving good) - I can't wait to get home and see what's going on.

I have to re-think my brooder set-up - last night my wife came home with 12 Meat chicks (she forgot to tell me she split an order with someone at work). Its OK because I don't think my chicken brooder has enough head room.

I am going to setup an area in the basement (incubation room) with old carpet and a heat lamp for the first few weeks and take them outside on the grass daily. I have hatched a few 100 or so birds and have never been this excited before

As far as drilling a hole - I would wait - you cant be 100% sure when they need help and it is still early - If the bird had sounded and you were getting near 48 - 72 hours - then I would make an air hole (MHO)

X2.. even then I would be very hesitant to drill unless it was very apparent that the chick was beginning to weaken

Quote:
yes.. hatch date is very dependent on temperature.. lower temps take longer than higher temps.. just like any other bird

for emu chicks they are healthier at hatch (and not considered "premature") if allowed to go the full length of incubation as daddy emu would have done it




one reason (and I know it hasn't been brought up before) for the higher temps is that y'all have to remember that the majority of the info we have for incubating emus is from the MEAT INDUSTRY.. you know those guys.. the "rush rush we have to grow them out faster" guys.. so naturally they want as short of an incubation as possible without having loads of dead chicks..

they were brooding them anyway and it didn't matter if the chick couldn't stand or walk on day one.. since they were just being shoved into a brooder anyway.. BUT the extra room in the incubator meant they could set the next hatch sooner.. it also would save on the electric bill if they could shut the incubators down a few days early

it was all about getting the job done faster.. regardless of how sturdy the chicks would be

in all honesty if I hadn't spoken to Janice Castleberry and found out what she had discovered about the temperatures.. i would be right there with everyone else and incubating at 97.5

but having seen for myself the difference in the chicks.. I'll stick with 95.5 from now on.. yes it adds days to the incubation. but the chicks proved to me that it made a difference

 

[Grassman 52]

After all the reading I have been doing on temp - Papers on the net - two books - and many web sites - I have decided to use 97.5 F as the top most point and 95.5 F as the bottom.

Now this is because of my setup (not yours) - I can't be sure that I am at the exact temp - It will always fluctuate up and down and in my cabinet I will have hot and cold spots - So I am shooting for 96.5 +- 0.2 - I have already made the adjustments.

Not to hot and not to cold - If my eggs hatch out around 52 -54 - I will be happy and so will my chicks.

I posted (yesterday) about all the changes I made to my cabinet incubator just trying to get an even temp with better airflow - now all I can do is wait and see.


The problem is shipped eggs - it is so hard to separate shipping problems from incubation problems (except when they are scrambled of course)

My first set was12 eggs - 8 eggs from one seller (major shipping problem) only one good egg - the one that pip'd this morning - balance of 7 either leaked or were scrambled (all eggs cleaned out - no embryo's) - I can say not an incubation problem.
In this set were 4 eggs from a second seller two leakers one that died at around 20days (picture in earlier post) one that looks real good.

So this is a leap of faith, if I look at it this way - I only had three good eggs and two are close to hatching (This is why I purchased and set more eggs than I wanted)

 

[Grassman 52]

OK home from work and no change - Day 53

Kiril749

How's your eggs doing?

 

[Kiril749]

Ok, I just got home as well.......3 eggs still active and 1 I can distinctly here scratching. Actually it's more like it sounds like he's eat potato chips. I whistled to try and get him to chirp but he was too busy scratching. SOOOOOO Emu people, I assume that means he's through the inner membrane and working on the outer membrane and shell.......am I correct in that assumption? I'm so excited cuz I've got tomorrow off so I can watch closely.