Emu Egg Hatch-along

[WingItRanch]

I currently have 10 incubating. I hatch some every year & I also let my male set some. The only time I’ve ever had a “temperament” problem is when the boys outnumbered the girls.

That's awesome! Until this post I didn't even know the males sit on the eggs!

Also, welcome to BYC!

 

[LB RN]

That's awesome! Until this post I didn't even know the males sit on the eggs!

Also, welcome to BYC!

Thanks!! They are very dedicated, Almost 2 months in a zombie trance.

 

[WingItRanch]

I currently have 10 incubating. I hatch some every year & I also let my male set some. The only time I’ve ever had a “temperament” problem is when the boys outnumbered the girls.

@LB RN would you be willing to show how you incubate 10 emu eggs at once? I'm so curious!

 

[MGG]

I currently have 10 incubating. I hatch some every year & I also let my male set some. The only time I’ve ever had a “temperament” problem is when the boys outnumbered the girls.

Wow, so cool! Good to know. I love all of the photos, they're beautiful! Thanks for sharing them. Any tips or tricks you've learned from incubating them? I'm looking for all of the advice I can get. Also curious as to your incubator set up.
How do you brood them? Any brooder photos?

 

[LB RN]

@LB RN would you be willing to show how you incubate 10 emu eggs at once? I'm so curious!

I use 2 styrofoam incubators. 5 in each.

 

[LB RN]

Wow, so cool! Good to know. I love all of the photos, they're beautiful! Thanks for sharing them. Any tips or tricks you've learned from incubating them? I'm looking for all of the advice I can get. Also curious as to your incubator set up.
How do you brood them? Any brooder photos?

 

[LB RN]

The first year I did everything your doing, base weight, weekly weigh ins, keeping track of weight loss in a note book. The second year I realized I really was only doing that because I couldn’t candle them.
So I didn’t do any of it, I knew I wasn’t going to give up on any of them until the bitter end anyway and had the same hatch rate.
You will notice one end higher than the other as the air sac enlarges & the chicks get bigger.
When they start wobbling, I start playing the Emu sounds from YouTube and just set my phone inside the incubator for them. It definitely increases their activity & whistling!
I let them hatch right in the incubator & use a packnplay that I picked up from a yard sale site for $20.
I will look for pictures.

 

[LaFleche]

Great project, and I really hope that you will hatch two very well travelled emus soon!

Seems like the eggs are small for emus. I keep seeing ones with start weights between 500-600 grams and mine are only just over 300.

You mentioned that the birds just started laying, so the smaller size of your emu eggs seems rather natural to me.

Fingers crossed

 

[Strawberry74]

The first year I did everything your doing, base weight, weekly weigh ins, keeping track of weight loss in a note book. The second year I realized I really was only doing that because I couldn’t candle them.
So I didn’t do any of it, I knew I wasn’t going to give up on any of them until the bitter end anyway and had the same hatch rate.
You will notice one end higher than the other as the air sac enlarges & the chicks get bigger.
When they start wobbling, I start playing the Emu sounds from YouTube and just set my phone inside the incubator for them. It definitely increases their activity & whistling!
I let them hatch right in the incubator & use a packnplay that I picked up from a yard sale site for $20.
I will look for pictures.

In your experience, what is the earliest you can hear whistling from a chick in the egg? In the last few days, after internal pip?

 

[LB RN]

That’s a great question. I never really paid attention to the timeframe r/t hatch. They are responsive weeks prior to hatch to tapping, recorded emu sounds.
I have a video of the first year I incubated when I was tapping and had one almost roll off of the table.
Lesson learned quickly!!