Methods for checking Emu eggs Pre-Hatch (please post methods)

[punk-a-doodle]

Darn! On top of egg weighing helping guide proper humidity, I was told infertile/cracked/non-developing eggs lost heat when exposed to lower temps more quickly, and also lost weight more quickly. Not so, huh? Would have been too easy. XD

 

[yinepu]

Darn! On top of egg weighing helping guide proper humidity, I was told infertile/cracked/non-developing eggs lost heat when exposed to lower temps more quickly, and also lost weight more quickly. Not so, huh? Would have been too easy. XD

around day 31 or so infertiles/bad eggs will cool down.. since there is no chick in there generating heat.. but as for losing weight.. nope... I have had rotten eggs barely lose anything and have also had rotten eggs and infertiles lose at the same rate as a good egg that contained a chick..

so at the later days of incubation the heat/cooling can be an indicator.. (I would never count on it early into the incubation since the chick wouldn't be generating heat at the early stages)
but weight loss is only an indicator of the humidity needing to be increased or decreased (or the egg needing to be moved away from a fan)


some eggs will lose weight faster.. but those are ones which have a more porous shell or are too close to a fan..

 

[msheets]

Bump, thought this may help anyone just getting into, also anymore input would be great!

 

[SassyMustang198]

Any more info on this thread would be awesome, as i'm new to Incubating Emu eggs.. i'm at day 14 not too far in.. but broken scale is keeping me from having a good weigh count.. is there any way to check them this early to see if they are fertile? they don't stink so at least that is a good thing..

thanks and hoping to hear more info on pre-hatch checks and such..

I have mine set at 95.5-97 F with 20% humidity .. Dry bulb temp.

 

[ExoticRescue]

So I have some fantastic news!
My first 3 emu eggs are on day 38 and I've seen no wiggling yet sooooo... I used to be a vet tech and decided to try the stethoscope. I heard chicks in all 3 eggs! I'm so super psyched! And now I know it works so can do with my next set of 3 as well!

To do it I used a dual head stethoscope with a bell. This is important because I used the bell side of the stethoscope. If you don't know about stethescopes, the part that conducts the sounds to your ears can have 1 side with a diaphragm, or 2 sides, on most of which is a bell on the second side. To use the bell instead of the diaphragm, twist the end 180 degrees. I then put the bell over the pointy end of the egg and tapped and talked to the egg. I could hear the chick talking back to me!!! Since they haven't pipped the inner membrane, you can not hear this sound without the stethoscope. It was really cool and anyone still incubating eggs should definitely give it a go!

I am including a pic of the bell side of the stethescope. Happy listening!

 

[mich9510]

So I have some fantastic news!
My first 3 emu eggs are on day 38 and I've seen no wiggling yet sooooo... I used to be a vet tech and decided to try the stethoscope. I heard chicks in all 3 eggs! I'm so super psyched! And now I know it works so can do with my next set of 3 as well!

To do it I used a dual head stethoscope with a bell. This is important because I used the bell side of the stethoscope. If you don't know about stethescopes, the part that conducts the sounds to your ears can have 1 side with a diaphragm, or 2 sides, on most of which is a bell on the second side. To use the bell instead of the diaphragm, twist the end 180 degrees. I then put the bell over the pointy end of the egg and tapped and talked to the egg. I could hear the chick talking back to me!!! Since they haven't pipped the inner membrane, you can not hear this sound without the stethoscope. It was really cool and anyone still incubating eggs should definitely give it a go!

I am including a pic of the bell side of the stethescope. Happy listening!

I'm glad that method worked for you. I was a registered nurse in a previous life and tried and tried to listen with my stethoscope. I tried the bell and the diaphragm to no avail. The only way I knew I had a live chick was to watch it wiggle. Thanks for the info though and I hope it works for others. Or for me if I ever decide to hatch any more...

 

[Erka97]

So I have some fantastic news!
My first 3 emu eggs are on day 38 and I've seen no wiggling yet sooooo... I used to be a vet tech and decided to try the stethoscope. I heard chicks in all 3 eggs! I'm so super psyched! And now I know it works so can do with my next set of 3 as well!

To do it I used a dual head stethoscope with a bell. This is important because I used the bell side of the stethoscope. If you don't know about stethescopes, the part that conducts the sounds to your ears can have 1 side with a diaphragm, or 2 sides, on most of which is a bell on the second side. To use the bell instead of the diaphragm, twist the end 180 degrees. I then put the bell over the pointy end of the egg and tapped and talked to the egg. I could hear the chick talking back to me!!! Since they haven't pipped the inner membrane, you can not hear this sound without the stethoscope. It was really cool and anyone still incubating eggs should definitely give it a go!

I am including a pic of the bell side of the stethescope. Happy listening!

Hi, so I tried a stethoscope on my three eggs that are currently on day 23, both the bell side and the diaphragm side. What I do is I set the egg on top of the stethoscope on something soft in case it falls or rolls off and then keep it there with blankets -I was having trouble hearing anything from the egg over the sounds my hands seem to cause for some reason -I guess I have really squeaky joints or something.. Anyway, I'm pretty sure I'm hearing little swishing sounds coming from the eggs, as I hear them with the eggs but not with non-alive objects such as a shoe. What did your chicks sound like? I really want to know if what I'm hearing is them, or if I've just gone insane from having no idea how they're doing in there.

 

[ExoticRescue]

My fingers make all sorts of squeaky noises too!! It makes me quite crazy as well! Lol I got lucky that one time and my chicks actually chirped at me. I haven't been able to get them to do it since and I believe my eggs to be on the larger side size wise so I'm not sure if that is affecting their ability to wiggle but I've only seen the slightest movement from them.

I didn't get them to chirp until day 38 and it is extremely difficult to hear anything else going on inside there unless the chick is moving around. I'm like a nervous wreck at this point because I haven't heard them again an we're going on day 51 now.
This last part with the anticipation is crazy!

 

[Erka97]

Can they chirp without breathing air? As I understand, birds chirp the way we speak, roughly speaking, therefore if they haven't pipped internally and started properly breathing they shouldn't be chirping yet? If they do, that's pretty weird but cool, and I have no idea how they do it.
Tomorrow I'm having some of my family members take a listen to make sure I'm not insane. I've also found I can hear my own heartbeat in my one ear; It's much too slow to be a baby emu's.
How much do yours weigh? Mine are between 500-600 grams and I've heard this is on the lower side; still more than my half-grown chicken, though, I'm pretty sure.

 

[mich9510]

Birds dont chirp without air. Also, an emu chick makes more of a whistling sound. As far as the size of your eggs, mine started at 655g and 716g. I think someone on here had one that was 420g. As far as the swishing sound you're hearing, that makes perfect sense. I was never able to hear anything in my eggs until they internally pipped but that doesnt mean youre not hearing anything.