how long till there will be noticeable egg development?

[matt swenson]

i have emus, and last year tried to incubate 20 or so eggs but they were all infertial. my hen is laying again this year, but i still havent seen them mate. i see mating behavior, her getting in position, him beside her, both on their knees..etc. but havent seen him "mount her" (sorry if that's crude). because you cant candle emu eggs. was thinking of just incubating an egg and the cracking it open to look for blood or something developing. so my question.... how long do you think i should incubate? i was thinking 5 days . too short??? what do you think??

 

[matt swenson]

46 views ....come on any advice is better than just veiwing

 

[briefvisit]

'i see mating behavior, her getting in position, him beside her, both on their knees..etc. but havent seen him "mount her" (sorry if that's crude).'

Morning, Matt. There is no 'mounting.' Did you mean 'beside her'? or 'behind her'?

So this is what we've observed:

male initiates, could grunt, could even take a little swipe at her tail feathers; she adopts a position with chest to ground, and tail/tail plumage raised; he kneels behind; he executes an hilarious creep-creep forward (with body upright, looking off into the distance, as though he wonders if it's gonna rain later that afternoon); there is no 'mounting'; after a minute of so, he pulls some feathers out of the back of her neck.

So, although it's been in pastiche (with most of it on 'Mating-Season in Australia), we have a full set of observations from the mating right through to the hatching. So, we've seen the 'non-mounting mode' copulation followed a week later by the appearance of eggs.]

And apparently Dad feels the first wiggles in the eggs at about a month.

SE

 

[briefvisit]

Here is the creep-creep forward

 

[briefvisit]

Again, the creep creep, and the body upright

 

[Kiki]

I would guess that by day five you should see something if you cracked it open.


Do you hatch other types of eggs in this same incubator?

 

[briefvisit]

 

[matt swenson]

seen the "creep" bit not the final act. never get "hot and heavy enough" for them to ignore being watched. they have such good eyes, they see me then they stop "mating antics "and focus on me. i try to be be sneaky but tht makes me feel like a pervert. just bought a wifi cam, so hopefully video survallience will confirm mating.
in the mean time got an egg in the incubator and going to check for growth this week end.