Rockporter's Take II Emu Hatch

[Rockporters]

4 Emu eggs went into the GQF 1502 on Saturday, February 1. Hatch day should be the week of 3/22/20.

It was difficult to tell which end was up on all of them! We guessed, so there may eventually be pics with the writing on the eggs upside down LOL.

 

[CluckNDoodle]

I'm so excited about the attempts at emu hatches I'm seeing lately! I hope your hatch goes without a hitch. I look forward to updates!

 

[Rockporters]

Ya know, it would be my luck to hatch all 4. I have no idea WTH I would do with 4 until winter is over. The BF gets annoyed at me having chicks in the basement.. wait until I turn it into a full on zoo! LOL Actually, I gave him a choice.. eat some of the eggs, or incubate them. After the experience last time with Egg A, he can’t eat the eggs. And trust me, there isn’t a food that man won’t eat or try. He bonded with the little wiggling whistler.

Wow! You found eggs in person! Yay! That should be so much better. You’ve had the worst luck with shipped eggs. I’m glad you’ve got a better chance this time. Of course, you know that one lone egg that’s been through hell is going to be the one that hatches now, right? LOL

 

[Carole McKelvey]

Ya know, it would be my luck to hatch all 4. I have no idea WTH I would do with 4 until winter is over. The BF gets annoyed at me having chicks in the basement.. wait until I turn it into a full on zoo! LOL Actually, I gave him a choice.. eat some of the eggs, or incubate them. After the experience last time with Egg A, he can’t eat the eggs. And trust me, there isn’t a food that man won’t eat or try. He bonded with the little wiggling whistler.

Wow! You found eggs in person! Yay! That should be so much better. You’ve had the worst luck with shipped eggs. I’m glad you’ve got a better chance this time. Of course, you know that one lone egg that’s been through hell is going to be the one that hatches now, right? LOL

Hi, I am a pretty good emu hatcher! We got way too many. Word of advise: When you get near your date, put eggs on flat surface and see if they move. If they wiggle just a little babies are trying to get out. That's when you listen with stethoscope. I found many need help at this stage. But don't just crack it open, wait to hear where the chick is pecking. Very gently try a little hole there. If you see movement and feathers I found it's okay to assist a little. I usually got them started and then put back in incubator and waited. If it then takes more than a day you can gently help them out. Otherwise you find babies hanging from incubator barr or on the floor. Good idea to tape their legs right away (use easily removable blue tape with about 2"s between legs to help them with strong, straight legs. Sometimes wide rubber bands work better. If they get splayed legs they (like ostriches) will just die. We kept our babies in child swimming pool in garage (heated) with brooding lights and some straw. Easy to clean and enough traction they can get a grip. Trough feeder and chicken water with narrow drink slot work pretty well. Good luck! Don't put bucket water in there or they'll fall in and drown.

 

[Rockporters]

@ShannonsChimkens I hope you’re doing better! Any wiggling from your eggs yet?

Day 46!! Time flew by this time! Life has been busy, and I ended up with pneumonia. It’s sugaring season, so weekends are crazy busy. Between that and work I don’t have much downtime. Needless to say, I haven’t been able to kick the pneumonia all the way yet.

3 out of our 4 eggs are still wiggling. “A” is a dud, I think. We are going to stop rotating on day 48. Temp has been 97.5, so I think it will be mid-to-late week next week before we have any hatching.

Egg B is rockin’ and rollin’! Sorry for the chickens laughing in the background.. and even sorrier for the BF who is encouraging it with his whistles lol.

 

[Rockporters]

Baby B hatched overnight. Umbilical looks great. I’m going to drill a safety hole for A and D today. I suspect A never started to develop.C’s beak has aligned properly now. B’s is doing the same thing, so maybe it’s just a ‘freshly chewed my way out of a thick egg‘ thing? Anyway, so far so good!

 

[ShannonsChimkens]

We’re going all out now huh? You’re going to have all 4 hatch lol. Just a tiny bit over run with giant bird cuteness.

Only have Fizzgig left in the bator. He doesn’t stink yet. Picking up 4 eggs Saturday. No shipping damage this time!

All provided we don’t get rear ended again. It’s only happened twice and things come in 3’s?

Mine will be 1 week behind yours. Good luck with attempt 2.

 

[MGG]

Following!

 

[ShannonsChimkens]

Weighed the eggs today. They are all losing equally, but too much. I am adding humidity. The clip broke that regulates water flow into the water pan. I’m now trying to figure out how to regulate it.

Egg A- lost 14g
Egg B- lost 11g
Egg C- lost 12g
Egg D- lost 12g

At least it’s the first week! I have all of mine going into a cheap Chinabator. There’s no fancy regulator lol How much was ideal for them to lose this week?

Im almost home with 6!

I do have to add, the Chinabator just hatched out 80% hatch rate on 35 chicks. So it definitely works!

 

[ShannonsChimkens]

So friggen paranoid all the way home! My daughter got her permit a few weeks ago, spent most of the drive home worried we would get rear ended.

But all 6 are weighed and in the incubator with Fizzgig. We WILL hatch out some emus damn it!