First Emu Hatch

[AlexBracken]

Hello everyone!

I have been browsing this forum for weeks, and finally decided I would become a member. I have been hatching quail and chickens for a while, and just recently I received the opportunity to hatch emu. I have three beautiful emu eggs sitting in my Little Giant incubator right now, and I am anxiously awaiting their (hopefully) arrival.

Today is day 6 of the incubation process. They've stayed at a temperature between 96 and 97 degrees at the bottom of the eggs and between 96.5 and 97.5 degrees at the top. The humidity is pretty high right now at between 38-40%; I have it so because they have been losing a little more weight than I want at this time. I weigh them every day, and turn them five times throughout the day.

In the near future, we expect to get a GQF Sportsman incubator, which I'm sure will be much more ideal. But for this project, the Little Giant is holding up just fine. Anyways, the purpose of this thread is to give updates on the incubation/hatching process, and ask the questions that I am sure will come up. Please give me your input, and I'll be sure to let you guys know how everything is coming along!

 

[AlexBracken]

Hello everyone!

I just have a quick question for you guys. My three eggs that are in the incubator seem to be losing a little more weight than I would like, and some opinions on whether or not I'm just being paranoid would be nice. My temperature and humidity are staying pretty constant at 96.8-97.3 degrees farenheit and between 37-40%, respectively. Now I am weighing them every day, but just with a simple digital food scale that measures in whole gram increments; this leaves it's accuracy questionable. So these are their current predicted total weight losses based on their average daily weight loss and using a predicted 50 day time frame:

Egg 1: 17.3-18.6%
Egg 2: 19.1-20.7%
Egg 3: 15.8-17.3%

Now today is only day 8, so I don't have a whole lot of data to work with. Weight loss should be from 10-20%, with 15% being ideal. Am I just being paranoid? Let me know what you guys think. Thanks!

 

[KlaHaYa Gardens]

No one is talking to you, eh? Sorry. I haven't hatched emu eggs . . . yet. I'm thinking about it . . .

 

[SeramaChick]

I have no emu experience, but I'm rooting for you & your eggs. I am interested to hear how it goes!

 

[AlexBracken]

Today marks the (relative) halfway point for the emu egg incubation process! I've been weighing them everyday, which I understand is a little overboard, but I want to make sure I'm doing everything right. The first and third eggs have settled into an almost perfect weight loss schedule, and the second one is losing a little more than I would like (18-18.4%) but it's not crazy bad. One thing I noticed is that the eggs are getting a tilt; when placed on a flat table, one side of the egg is higher than the other. I would assume this is from the air sac. Does this happen only in fertile eggs or do all eggs, even unfertile, get this tilt? Thanks!

 

[chickenzoo]

There is an emu hatching thread here somewhere that has a lot of info. I hatched mine in a hovabator w/fan at 96-97 and 33 % humidity. took 50 days for mine

 

[AlexBracken]

Today marks day 31, and I have some more questions, sorry! On day 28 I started to notice that one of my eggs was looking funny, and it turned out it was oozing. I opened it up, and there was no growth. Luckily, I managed to keep the shell as a souvenir. Anyways, I have a few questions about the two other eggs. When I rotate one of my eggs left, I can feel what seems to be the air sac float to the top. Neither egg is sloshy, but that caught me off guard. The other egg doesn't due this. Is it normal? And also, when do the eggs start to rock or the chicks start to chirp? Does anyone who has hatched emu have a time period of when I can start to notice signs of life? Thanks!

 

[foulman007]

Mine seemed like lifeless rocks up until after day 45 or so thats when I noticed a bit of movement ever so slight. they will start chirping after they break into the air cell anywhere from day 48-54.
I turned my eggs about 3 times a day in a back and forth method never making a full revoloution. and kept the humidity around 20% the temp at 96.5 give or take a bit. I never felt anything loose or sloshy in any of my eggs but only had 3 out of 20 that did not hatch. I have 8 more to go tat I amletting my breeder male hatch out. they have about 15 days to go. our temperature outside has ranged from 45 deg to about 100 and the humidity anywhere from 20% to about 80% over the last month. amazing that they can get any of them to hatch..

 

[AlexBracken]

Based on my research, I would say that the one has a detached air cell. I really hope this didn't affect it's growth. Does anyone have any ideas of what to do about this? I would think to just turn the egg big end up during lockdown, so that the air cell would be in the right position. Any thoughts would help. The other egg is still doing well, and it does not feel like it has anything loose in it.

 

[AlexBracken]

I have an egg that is rocking!

One of the two eggs I have left (not the one with the air bubble floating around) has been rocking for three days, since day 34. It's gotten more and more visible; now whenever I turn the eggs, it gets fussy and rocks around quite a bit. The other egg hasn't shown any signs of life yet. Hopefully I'll have a baby in the next two weeks, keep it in your prayers! I've still been weighing it, as it is the egg that is losing the most weight; about 18-18.5%. Do you guys think this is okay? I know I've asked that a lot. Thanks!