Hatching - A Symphony in the Key of Egg (continued)

 The emu egg hatch symphony has four movements:

(for details on Storage, Incubation and Hatch click here)

The Melody and Rhythm:

Tipping - if there is a maturing chick in the egg it will tip (tilt) to the pointed end where the chick grows and tip upwards where the air sac is located. At hatch the egg will level out as the chick occupies the whole egg space.

http://www.digimorph.org/specimens/Dromaius_novaehollandiae/egg/

Tapping - if the egg is fertile it will sound solid when tapped with a pen or large nail - if infertile it will sound tinny like tapping a china cup. At hatch the chick will make wiggle responses to this tapping.

Piping - at hatch the chick will use it's beak to break through the membrane (internal pip) and access the air sac. Now the tapping will sound hollow as the chick occupies the whole egg space.



Whistling- at hatch the chick will respond to out of the shell sounds like whistling. Chirping and pecking can be heard and an increase in the temperature of the egg will be noticeable.



The Finale (ta-ta-ta-TUM)

As it has all come together: the egg sits level and sounds hollow, wiggles and whistles.....it is time to move it to the hatcher. The environmental conditions are different than in the incubator: temperature is lowered a degree to 96-96.5 and relative humidity is raised to 50%. The hatch might be as little as a couple of hours or as much as 2 to 3 days. No need to rush as the chick is warm, fed and breathing air and will break from it's shell when it's ready.

Source: Wikipedia