i think i have an idea ! emu hatching tempertures

[coo coo cachoo]

ha anyone noticed that exact hatching temperatures are un known for hatching emu eggs.

would it be possible to use an old emu egg and insert a temperature monitoring thermometer that can record temperatures . than place it in a emu nest, and retrieve the egg after the hatch and get the information. maybe also

am i crazy?

 

[Whitehouse Quail]

I don't see a problem with it!

 

[Supreme Emu]

Wa ha ha -- I bags getting to watch the bit where you 'place it in an emu nest'!!! Presumably there'll be an old man emu ON the nest at the time. I have an old man emu in my environment; and although he goes by the unassuming name of 'Eric,' I reckon I'd put on my Acme titanium zoot suit before I did anything that he might mistake for interference with his Emu Life Mission.

Seriously, though, it's an intelligent notion. You could instal nestcam, and correlate events with temperature -- I have read that the bird turns the eggs periodically.

Supreme Emu

 

[Dingo]

SE, I think it depends on the bird. earlier this year the woman I got my eggs from had a rooster on a nest, if we physically removed him from the nest he'd become defensive, but if he was on th nest he's just be a little disgrunteled by our messing with him. if we moved an egg from the nest he'd promptly roll it back. I have no doubt that if I were to place anything green infront of a semi-tame captive emu on a nest, he'd roll it under him thinking it was his own egg. Of course the stuggle would be to find someone who lets their roosters set to term. and to be a complete study you would need more than one rooster to get a good set of data.

 

[coo coo cachoo]

very good point . maybe if i build it i can send it to different members of the byc.

 

[smoothmule]

There are thermal temperature monitors that you can just point and it gives the temp where the waves bounce off so you could wait till he leaves the nest then point and shoot and you'll have the internal temps of the eggs. I'd be afraid of leaving anything in the nest he might eat.

 

[Dingo]

I'd be afraid of leaving anything in the nest he might eat.

Roosters go on an extreme diet when on the nest. Thats one reason why breeders artificially incubate them, males tend to lose a lot of weight and will refuse food and water until they have little ones to parade around with.

 

[Supreme Emu]

Morning, all

I had a chat with a mate of mine here in the Gully. I'm a blow-in technically: I live here but I've only been here a couple of years. My mate was born here, and has made his living as a professional roo shooter for decades – which is to say that his knowledge of the flora and the fauna of the district is outstanding.

I asked him about emus' nesting behaviour, and he noted a number of intersting things. One is why we keep getting wildly divergent information from various sources (on the Net) about the emu mating-hatching season. He suggests that several decades ago, the season was what it had always been, with chicks hatching around August and September. He reckons, though, that as (for various reasons) more open grassland has become available to the emus, they have simply 'bred up,' and now have chicks at irregular intervals.

He also reckons that the male emu DOES leave the nest during the incubation period simply because he has on occasion found unattended nests with eggs in them.

He recounted seeing an emu bolt from a nest, run thirty yards, and then sit again, playing a pretendy game of This Is Where The Nest Is, hoping the pursuer would not find the real nest close by.

If you guys have any specific questions about emus in the wild, I'll be happy to ask him, and pass on his comments.

Supreme Emu