First time hatching Emus, some fairly urgent questions

[Erka97]

So I've been watching my temperatures more closely and now I'm just confused by it.. When it gets colder in my room, the temperature seems to go up.. So I've actually been keeping a blanket over the front of the incubator to keep it from doing that. But then today I came home and it was around 90 degrees in there, which is about six degrees cooler than what it's set at.

I've managed to keep the temperatures within 90-99 degrees, and mostly between 93-97. I hope they'll be alright, I'm pretty sure I hear them in there for now and we're just about half way to hatching.

 

[Erka97]

Weights for today so I don't lose where I've written them down;
A: 506
B; 553
C; 541

 

[Erka97]

Day 35 Weights
A:495
B:538
C:515

C was in front of the fan and losing weight a bit fast, so it was moved away. The other ones seem to be losing the proper weight. I haven't got any definitive wiggles yet, but with the stethoscope I can hear them moving, especially when they bump into the shell. It seems that all eggs have made it this far, which in itself is surprising, so hopefully they will also all make it out alive! Only 13-29 more days, given the widest hatch range I've seen is between 48 and 64 days. They'll probably be later due to the cooler temperatures they've mostly been incubating at.

 

[AlishaRichard]

Any update? Did these eggs hatch?

 

[Erka97]

If I remember this hatch correctly, I had one infertile [C], A almost hatched but seemed to have lung issues which caused death during hatch, and B lived to be around four months old before dying of what we assume was complication of the leg deformity he/she developed.
The next year I tried again with two eggs, of which one was fertile and hatched. He or she is currently a healthy nearly year old emu napping in a shed in my back yard -lazy bird.
I also now have two eggs in the incubator in the hopes of producing a mate for my currently lone emu.

 

[AlishaRichard]

If I remember this hatch correctly, I had one infertile [C], A almost hatched but seemed to have lung issues which caused death during hatch, and B lived to be around four months old before dying of what we assume was complication of the leg deformity he/she developed.
The next year I tried again with two eggs, of which one was fertile and hatched. He or she is currently a healthy nearly year old emu napping in a shed in my back yard -lazy bird.
I also now have two eggs in the incubator in the hopes of producing a mate for my currently lone emu.

I have 10 eggs in my incubator. This is my first time hatching ever. So far none stink. Three of the eggs are on day 42 today. I have no idea if they are even alive. I think they are, but this is just a guess. Now, I am debating if and when I should stop turning. I have my temperature at 97.5. Three more of the eggs are only 5 days behind. The other four are just starting out. I never realized how much I rely on candling my eggs. I think I feel movement but nothing intense yet. I don't hear anything either. I hand turn religiously 5x a day same times daily. I really hope some hatch for all this effort. Good luck to you too.

 

[Erka97]

That's quite a few eggs, must have been expensive. What kind of incubator are you using?
I myself only stopped turning my eggs when I heard the first baby whistling, but I think it's safe to stop anywhere after day 50 or so.
It sucks that you can't candle these eggs; I candle everything else daily.
Instead of candling, you can set your eggs on a flat surface outside the incubator. It is a good sign if they appear to "lean" to one side rather than sitting level on the surface. You can also whistle and talk to them and, if they're awake and feel like it, they might wiggle in response. This is said to start around day 30, but I don't think I've ever seen anything before day 40 or so myself. That's a good sign too, but it does not mean that they're not alive if they don't; some eggs do a lot of nothing for 60 days and then hatch right out.
You can also go by temperature. If you feel the eggs after some time out of the incubator [like 5-10 minutes, I measure mine at both times before returning to incubator] a good egg will feel very warm in most spots with a cool spot where the air cell is. It's really difficult to tell by feel if they're alive, though. What's better is if you can find a thermometer kind of like the ones for industrial use or for taking the temperature of infants where you just point them at or hold them against a surface and press a button to test. Living eggs will remain very warm [above 90] for longer than non-living eggs due to the heat produced by the chick's body. Somebody on another thread described a more exacting method, and I am testing by testing each of my eggs in for spots [top, bottom, and both ends] at five and ten minutes out each day. I have one bad egg being kept for use in comparison, and I don't believe the test will harm the living eggs as the male sometimes stands up partially while nesting [In some cases they abandon the eggs later on in incubation for even a day or so, and they'll still hatch if transferred to artificial incubation], they're big eggs that won't lose much in core temperature, and my incubator lacks a fan so I think the fresh air will be helpful to them -hoping to transfer them into one with a fan as soon as I can get one.
Anyway I have noticed with my eggs [day 26] that they are about equal temperature all over when taken from the incubator, and then as time goes on they lose temperature -up to about ten degrees at most on the coolest part of the egg. The top of the egg remains warmest and does not get below 90. Bottom gets down around 90 as does small end, while the air cell end gets closer to about 82 before they are returned to the incubator. Since my known dud egg loses more temperature, does get below 90, and does so in a more uniform way I am hopeful that both of my "good" eggs are currently alive. I will only know for sure if I get some wiggling or hatching.
All of these are good for trying to get an idea of who is probably alive, but never throw away an egg that doesn't seem alive until you know for sure by stink, leaking fluids, or last time I hatched I had one that would swish when I moved it. I could feel it when I picked the egg up or turned it, so I knew that one was infertile; I still kept it until my current emu had hatched, but I knew for quite a while before that that it was a dud -I even named the egg "Dudley."

 

[AlishaRichard]

That's quite a few eggs, must have been expensive. What kind of incubator are you using?
I myself only stopped turning my eggs when I heard the first baby whistling, but I think it's safe to stop anywhere after day 50 or so.
It sucks that you can't candle these eggs; I candle everything else daily.
Instead of candling, you can set your eggs on a flat surface outside the incubator. It is a good sign if they appear to "lean" to one side rather than sitting level on the surface. You can also whistle and talk to them and, if they're awake and feel like it, they might wiggle in response. This is said to start around day 30, but I don't think I've ever seen anything before day 40 or so myself. That's a good sign too, but it does not mean that they're not alive if they don't; some eggs do a lot of nothing for 60 days and then hatch right out.
You can also go by temperature. If you feel the eggs after some time out of the incubator [like 5-10 minutes, I measure mine at both times before returning to incubator] a good egg will feel very warm in most spots with a cool spot where the air cell is. It's really difficult to tell by feel if they're alive, though. What's better is if you can find a thermometer kind of like the ones for industrial use or for taking the temperature of infants where you just point them at or hold them against a surface and press a button to test. Living eggs will remain very warm [above 90] for longer than non-living eggs due to the heat produced by the chick's body. Somebody on another thread described a more exacting method, and I am testing by testing each of my eggs in for spots [top, bottom, and both ends] at five and ten minutes out each day. I have one bad egg being kept for use in comparison, and I don't believe the test will harm the living eggs as the male sometimes stands up partially while nesting [In some cases they abandon the eggs later on in incubation for even a day or so, and they'll still hatch if transferred to artificial incubation], they're big eggs that won't lose much in core temperature, and my incubator lacks a fan so I think the fresh air will be helpful to them -hoping to transfer them into one with a fan as soon as I can get one.
Anyway I have noticed with my eggs [day 26] that they are about equal temperature all over when taken from the incubator, and then as time goes on they lose temperature -up to about ten degrees at most on the coolest part of the egg. The top of the egg remains warmest and does not get below 90. Bottom gets down around 90 as does small end, while the air cell end gets closer to about 82 before they are returned to the incubator. Since my known dud egg loses more temperature, does get below 90, and does so in a more uniform way I am hopeful that both of my "good" eggs are currently alive. I will only know for sure if I get some wiggling or hatching.
All of these are good for trying to get an idea of who is probably alive, but never throw away an egg that doesn't seem alive until you know for sure by stink, leaking fluids, or last time I hatched I had one that would swish when I moved it. I could feel it when I picked the egg up or turned it, so I knew that one was infertile; I still kept it until my current emu had hatched, but I knew for quite a while before that that it was a dud -I even named the egg "Dudley."

I made my incubator myself out of an old mini fridge I got free. I ordered a kit online for the parts at incubator warehouse .com. I also hand made the Turner. I only baught 3 of the eggs which will be white or blondes. The rest were given to me free.

I can feel my eggs move when I hold them up to my ear. I can also hear them move. I am pretty sure they are all good. One has recently started to feed different and slushy.
I should know soon day 44 today. Fingers crossed.

 

[Erka97]

You managed to find white/blonde eggs for sale? That in itself is amazing, besides getting any eggs for free. Making your own incubator is pretty cool too; mine's a bacterial incubator from my college, and soon I hope to switch to a forced air that I bought from the local farm store [if the thing ever reaches temperature]. I hatched my previous emus in something similar to a reptipro; didn't have the name on it but looks just like those pictures. I always have temperature issues, and yet I've not had a batch hatch zero yet.

Slushy sounds bad, but hopefully the rest are good. That'll be a lot of babies! I hope you have help or a big pen to keep them all when they start running -I could barely keep up with one!

 

[AlishaRichard]

You managed to find white/blonde eggs for sale? That in itself is amazing, besides getting any eggs for free. Making your own incubator is pretty cool too; mine's a bacterial incubator from my college, and soon I hope to switch to a forced air that I bought from the local farm store [if the thing ever reaches temperature]. I hatched my previous emus in something similar to a reptipro; didn't have the name on it but looks just like those pictures. I always have temperature issues, and yet I've not had a batch hatch zero yet.

Slushy sounds bad, but hopefully the rest are good. That'll be a lot of babies! I hope you have help or a big pen to keep them all when they start running -I could barely keep up with one!

I got the blonde white ones on Ebay. I think I paid 90.00 so about 30.00 each egg. The free ones were from a farmer down the road and wanted to check fertility. My favorite incubator is my little giant still air. I hate fans all together bc of temp fluxs. I read emu need oxygen so that's why I added the 2 fans. I have always had best luck with still airs at higher temps for all other poultry. Try shutting the vents to get temp more accurate. Then just open 5x a day to turn them is what I am doing. Seems to keep temp more stable with the fans but I am new to fans altogether... I have a lot of help. I farm full time, am retired, and have 5 children. Hubby and I are home all day. I have a friend who lost her emu in a house fire so I hope to give her some as well. The slushy one moved today.