Hatching Instructions for an Emu Egg

Hatching emu eggs can be a rewarding experience.

Raising emus can be fun and challenging. Female emus generally lay eggs in the winter and spring. In a natural setting, emu males incubate the eggs until they hatch. However, incubating the eggs yourself will allow you to carefully observe the eggs. It will also allow your emus to fertilize more eggs than they would if they were caring for them. Emu eggs usually take about two months to hatch, and completing the process of incubating and hatching a healthy chick can be tricky. Before you decide that you want to hatch an emu egg, it's important to understand the best way to take on the task.

Things You'll Need

• Incubator
• Hatching incubator
• Scale

Instructions

1. Choose an incubator for your eggs. Make sure that the incubator you choose is not only large enough for the eggs, but will also allow you to easily adjust temperature, ventilation and humidity, and will allow easy access for turning the eggs.

2. Collect the eggs from the nest as soon as possible after they are laid.

3. Weigh the eggs and record the weights.

4. Keep the eggs at a temperature of about 60 degrees, letting them rest for between one and seven days before you move them into the incubator.

5. Adjust the temperature of the incubator to a setting between 96 and 99 degrees. Turn the humidity to a setting of about 40 percent.

6. Lay the eggs on their sides in the incubator.

7. Turn the emu eggs carefully at least three to five times a day. If you are up to the challenge, the eggs can be turned gently up to 24 times per day.

8. Move the eggs to a separate hatching incubator between the 41st and 51st day of incubation.

9. Stop turning the eggs about five days before they are expected to hatch. You can determine the timing by weighing the eggs again. The eggs will lose 10 to 18 percent of their weight due to moisture loss just before they hatch. You can lower the humidity slightly in the incubator if the eggs do not seem to be losing weight.

10. Lower the temperature in the new incubator by about one degree. Raise or lower the humidity by 5 to 10 percent depending on the eggs' weight.

11. Wait for the emu eggs to hatch. Try to let the emu chicks hatch without your help. Only help, very carefully and gently, if the chick has been struggling for some hours.

Tips & Warnings

• Because emus are not a common bird to raise, ideas on incubating and hatching their eggs are still undergoing adjustment and perfection. Be sure to keep an eye on your eggs and adjust turning, temperature and humidity according to external factors and past successes or failures.

References

• Egg Crazy: Emu Information
• Oregon State University: Raising Ratites: Ostriches, Emu, and Rheas