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

Hatching - A Symphony in the Key of Egg

Hatching - A Symphony in the Key of Egg. YouTube

Andrew Abyss, Goose Bay, Labrador, Canada

 

The emu egg hatch symphony has four movements:

 
Storage  Emu males repeatedly hide their mate's eggs in a nest until a hatch of 8-12 is collected. See more detail in this blog post

 
 



Incubation  When time is right the male goes broody
and sits on his eggs for about 50 days only getting up to move them several times a day. See more detail in this blog post

 

Hatching   The emu male will know when it is time for the hatch. The audible signals from the eggs will bring him out of of his trance.                                                                                                  

As in nature the farmer collects and stores enough eggs for a manageable batch. Emu chicks are very social and need the company of others to be healthy and grow. The momentum of the hatch then builds over the next 40 days. 

First quiet observation takes place as each egg is weighed regularly during incubation. Careful adjustments are made to slow or increase the rate of evaporation to ensure healthy embryo growth. 

Finally the chick is fully developed and will demonstrate its readiness to hatch. It will remain in the incubator until the final signals are given. Audible and visual signs are apparent in the form of tipping, tapping, piping and whistling characteristics. 

• When a fertile egg is placed on a counter it will tip down to the pointed end where the chick is laying and tip up to the rounded end where the air sac is positioned.

• Tapping the egg with a pen or long nail will get the chick to wiggle gently at first and more aggressively as it hears outside stimuli. 

• When the chick runs out of room and is ready to hatch it will pip (break) through the inner membrane to the air sac. The egg will when placed on the counter sit in a level position (ie no tipping) and have a different tapping sound to it. The chick will make whistling sounds that exercise its lungs and signal to the outside world that it is time to break the shell. It is then moved to the hatcher for the final stage.

Finale (ta-ta-ta-TUM) to be continued....

It's A Waiting Game

These emu eggs have been stored in a non frost-free fridge until a batch of 20-25 are ready to incubate. They will sit for 12 hours to come to room temperature. Each is labelled with the hen #, date of lay and weight. That turquoise one will eventually be discarded. It does not have an outer dark green protective layer and will not develop properly (more). It will be incubated until its fertility can be determined.

The eggs are in the incubator at 97.5 degrees, 30% humidity and rotating side to side every two hours (more). Germicidal lights minimize bacterial growth on the shell. A schedule for each hatch is written on the door. Hatch 1 went in on February 9 and will be ready to move to the hatcher on March 30.  Each egg will be checked for predictable weight loss (more) to monitor the chick development and candled for fertility (future blog) at the 14 and 20 day marks. We are keeping a list of requests for empty egg shells on our website.   So.... it’s a waiting game now.