No chirp and wiggle on 49 day old emu eggs?

[moonjelly]

Ugh, my emu eggs aren't chirping or wiggling, but are still losing the correct amount of weight every day. What gives? I am incubating at a slightly low temp., so they may take longer than 51 days, but I would have expected something by now. What I'm really wondering is if I should stop turning them now. I don't want to make it difficult for them to hatch by rotating them.

 

[ES Emus]

at this point, you are safe to stop turning them. Although we can sometimes hear the birds whistle up to three days prior to hatching, we have had a few not whistle at all until they have made that first penetration of the outside of the egg shell. At a lower incubation temperature, you can probably not expect a hatch til 52 days or so, assuming that they are developing okay

 

[yinepu]

Ugh, my emu eggs aren't chirping or wiggling, but are still losing the correct amount of weight every day. What gives? I am incubating at a slightly low temp., so they may take longer than 51 days, but I would have expected something by now. What I'm really wondering is if I should stop turning them now. I don't want to make it difficult for them to hatch by rotating them.

it could be a lot of things

At what temp are you incubating?
Were the eggs shipped?

Have you tap tested the eggs to see if any have sounded?

 

[moonjelly]

The incubator is at 96.5. I've tapped on the eggs, the counter and whistled at them and I don't hear anything. I even listened with a stethoscope and couldn't hear anything.

 

[ES Emus]

The incubator is at 96.5. I've tapped on the eggs, the counter and whistled at them and I don't hear anything. I even listened with a stethoscope and couldn't hear anything.

96.5 is the same temperature that we use to incubate our eggs. Remember that the temperature should be taken at the midpoint of the height of the egg. So, your temperature should not be a problem. Hopefully, you have good eggs. If you bought infertile or mishandled eggs (including during shipping), the best care and incubation in the world will not hatch them. The trouble with mail ordered eggs is that you are at the mercy of the USPS.

 

[moonjelly]

They were shipped eggs and I was worried about them from the start. I started to get hopeful though when I was on target with my weight loss every week. If there's proper weight loss I assumed the eggs must be developing correctly. I really really hope these guys make it. It's my last chance to raise emu this year, unless I can find some adults for sale nearby, but I'd much prefer to raise chicks up that are used to this environment.

 

[ES Emus]

hopefully you will be hearing them soon, Good Luck!

 

[moonjelly]

Thanks. I'll update if anything changes.

 

[moonjelly]

I just saw an egg wiggle! I keep opening the incubator to get fresh air in there and one eggs started rocking when I whistled at it. It was going crazy rocking back and forth! I'm so excited. Today is Day 51. What do you advise for humidity level for hatching? I'm in the very dry desert, so there is almost no humidity if I don't add a little water to a pan. Right now I have it at 30% and I'm trying to keep it there for hatching.

 

[moonjelly]

And now the second egg is also wiggling!