Rockporter's Take II Emu Hatch

[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.

 

[ShannonsChimkens]

Have any stinkers?

 

[drumstick diva]

HOPE NOT!!

 

[drumstick diva]

Sending great hatching vibes to everyone -

 

[Rockporters]

Sorry for the long absence, busy times here.

No stinkers here. In theory, we could see movement in the next week, if any are viable. At least 3 have tilt and a warm end—but after last time, those don’t really mean anything to me. So.. we will wait to see if any rock and roll!

@ShannonsChimkens how goes it there? Any signs of life?? How many did you end up putting into the incubator?

 

[ShannonsChimkens]

Well hello! We’ve been busy too, but most of it has been a bad busy, so confined to a bed at the moment Pneumonia and the car accident.

Had originally put 7 eggs in, but the last chance for a white or blonde started to stink. Such a bummer.

Like you, I’m not going off of anything but a true wiggle. These 6 are a week behind yours I believe. There are two with very poor weight loss or have lost too much. Made a couple modifications to see if it will help with their next weigh in. We shall see!

Glad you have no stinkers.

 

[Rockporters]

Well hello! We’ve been busy too, but most of it has been a bad busy, so confined to a bed at the moment Pneumonia and the car accident.

Had originally put 7 eggs in, but the last chance for a white or blonde started to stink. Such a bummer.

Like you, I’m not going off of anything but a true wiggle. These 6 are a week behind yours I believe. There are two with very poor weight loss or have lost too much. Made a couple modifications to see if it will help with their next weigh in. We shall see!

Glad you have no stinkers.

Ugh!! I’m so sorry. I hope you’re back on your feet very soon!

Because of all your stinky eggs, I am a total sniffer the entire time we are near them lol. For sanity’s sake, the bf took over weighing and caring for the eggs this time. He has the incubator humidity set to 35%. He’s got the auto humidity adjusted so that it stays right on target. At first, weight loss was too fast, but it’s better since adding the humidity.

We could see movement this week... keep your fingers crossed!! Yours next week, right?

 

[ShannonsChimkens]

Ugh!! I’m so sorry. I hope you’re back on your feet very soon!

Because of all your stinky eggs, I am a total sniffer the entire time we are near them lol. For sanity’s sake, the bf took over weighing and caring for the eggs this time. He has the incubator humidity set to 35%. He’s got the auto humidity adjusted so that it stays right on target. At first, weight loss was too fast, but it’s better since adding the humidity.

We could see movement this week... keep your fingers crossed!! Yours next week, right?

Yep, the last 5 are one week after yours. Fingers have been crossed!

I’m trying so hard not to even think about them other than turning. It’s difficult. Humidity is sitting at 25% and we’re not quite losing enough. So may have to try something.

The stinkers are obvious, but hopefully you won’t have to find out.

 

[briefvisit]

'If they wiggle just a little babies are trying to get out.'


So, we get a test subject, a nesting male. Captive or tame-wild. And we introduce a hi-tech 'egg' in under him. Infra-red camera?* Wiggle-ometer? Audio? Other data?

The amount of data that exists on this subject is: none.

It would be most fun with a wild bird, sitting stoically in pouring rain and howling wind in late winter.

*Note: I'm a neo-luddite, so we wouldn't ever actually do this. But it is fun to think about.

 

[Rockporters]

@ShannonsChimkens maybe take your humidity down more if all aren’t losing enough? I didn’t add water last time. Kept at 18-25. Even ran a dehumidifier.