Toos and Vlad

[BrinseaUS]

How does brinsea expect someone to know the humidity if there’s no humidity reader with the incubator?

There are a few ways to tell if your humidity is correct without using a hygrometer! You can either mark the air cell or weigh the eggs periodically throughout incubation. Chicken eggs should lose 13% of their weight from beginning to end of the incubation, so if you weigh them every few days you can calculate if they are losing enough weight. Too much weight loss means not enough humidity, not enough weight loss means too much humidity. We also have an article on our website that explains it in greater detail: Humidity in Incubation

 

[servpolice]

So my 3 eggs are in the incubator for the last 31 days and I’ve noticed that two of my eggs are bending down slightly, is that normal? In my head it’s because one side of the egg is heavier and the air cell is at the opposite side None of the eggs smell so I’m hoping they’re fertile.

The eggs are loosing the right amount of weight each week, except one who is one gram off every week but I don’t want to change the humidity etc, because the the other 2 are losing the perfect amount of weight, besides I’m assuming that losing 11 grams instead of 12 should be ok? The humidity is between 30-40% (33% being average).

A question I was also asked was if infertile eggs lose the same amount of weight as an egg containing a chick? I know infertile eggs can develop a huge air cells causing the egg to become lighter

Lastly, when is the earliest you can see the eggs moving or twitching?

 

[BrinseaUS]

It's normal for one end of the egg to become heavier than the other as the air cell grows.

Egg weight loss should be averaged, so if you have one that is losing less or more that isn't something to worry about.

Eggs will lose weight at roughly the same rate regardless of whether a chick is developing.

Around day 18 is when you can sometimes see movement.

 

[servpolice]

It's normal for one end of the egg to become heavier than the other as the air cell grows.

Egg weight loss should be averaged, so if you have one that is losing less or more that isn't something to worry about.

Eggs will lose weight at roughly the same rate regardless of whether a chick is developing.

Around day 18 is when you can sometimes see movement.

Perfect, thanks for the information!

 

[servpolice]

A little update (or big update) on my emus.

Emus are pretty rare here in Ireland, so if you see any for sale, you go for it before others get there first. Anyway, I saw an ad with 2 emus for sale (unsexed). I called your man and he said that he thinks he has two females because they drum.

So I made a deal with him, if he does indeed have 2 females, I’ll swap a male for his female so we both have a pair without any costs (pretty good deal), but if he can’t buy the extra land, I’ll buy both females.

Anyway, we discussed that since I have a lot of land that it would better that we introduce his females to my males on my land since the females are apparently more territorial and with them coming into new territory where there my males are already present, it might be less difficult and they’ll have open space to back off from each other.

The female emus arrived yesterday and I have them in a separate paddock so both males and females are separated but still see each other. My question is, when do I allow them to roam together?

Both my males and both the females are 2 years old. There was no fighting with the emus or anything when they stood next to each other with the fence in between. The females are very tame so that’s a plus. My males do seem like they’re in charge atm (their territory I guess). No aggression so it makes me wonder when it would be the right time to let them roam together

 

[servpolice]

The females are on the inside of the fence where I am standing

 

[briefvisit]

Mud socks!

 

[servpolice]

Mud socks!

It’s from a little mud pit made by my geese haha

 

[servpolice]

Update on my emu eggs, 2 of my 3 eggs are moving a lot now at day 38! At least I know they were fertile. The two eggs are losing the exact amount of weight I need them to lose each week, while the egg I haven’t seen moving, is always 2-3 grams off a week.

We’ll see how it goes!

 

[servpolice]

So, out of 3 eggs, 2 were fertile and the other was infertile.

The 2 fertile both hatched and are doing well!

The 2 fertile eggs:

Egg 1: starting weight - 542g

Target weight loss - 460g

Weight loss - 463g

Internal pipped on day 48 and kept whistling and moving a lot until day 49 when I saw no movement or heard anything so I made an emergency hole and an hour later he began moving a lot again, though was very quiet. Hour’s later he kept moving so much that I knew something was up but I didn’t take notice until his movement slowed dramatically. I made the emergency hole bigger and checked his membrane, which had no blood when I ripped it, meaning he should’ve hatched already. I opened the egg slowly to see if he had absorbed the yolk, and before I could even check if he had the yolk absorbed, he literally jumped out of the egg into my face (I literally had a heart attack!). Yolk was obviously fully absorbed and already detached from the egg. The fact he jumped out mean’t he was done hours ago but couldn’t get out. He never external pipped himself, making me wonder if the safety/emergency hole made him lazy or weaker, or if I never took action either way that he would’ve died in the shell . Main thing is that he made it! He didn’t make any noise until day 2 after hatch and his feathers were slightly sticky.

Egg 2: starting weight - 582g

Target weight - 494g

Weight loss - 499g

Internal pipped day 49 and external pipped day 50, and hatched the same day. Naturally hatched and came out as happy as ever with non-stop talking! Thanks to this chick my other emu chick started talking which made me less worried.

Egg 3: starting weight - 564g

Target weight - 479g

Weight loss - 503g

Barely lost as much weight as the others, never saw the slightest movement from it, on day 47 egg 1 and 2 only stayed on one side when rolled gently, while egg 3 didn’t really stay on one side and got cool fast so I knew it was infertile, but I still waited it out. As the 2 chicks hatched, I made an emergency hole to find that it was infertile, surprisingly clear that didn’t smell one bit.

I didn’t have the chance to lockdown because I heard egg 1 whistle before I had the chance (originally would’ve stopped turning day 50 or when the eggs dip dramatically). I did no changes with humidity and the vent was always fully open.

A member called Pyxis, which you guy’s definitely know here said that fresh airflow is super important, and indeed it was! I opened the incubator 3 times a day when they internal/external pipped and once I opened and closed the incubator they eggs started dancing 10 times more and whistled like crazy (and my air flow vents were still fully open). Enough oxygen is definitely an important factor in incubating emu eggs as I’ve witnessed (At all stages of incubation).

I turned the eggs (180 degrees) by hand 3 types a day in my brinsea octagon 40, while rocking them back and forth almost every hour (90 degrees). Turning by hand means you open the incubator for new oxygen too.

(Just wanted to share my experience for people who are new to incubating emu eggs and for myself so that I can recheck here if I forget anything).

I also have pics of course