Hatching Time at an Emu Farm

This is the most exciting time of year at Songline Emu Farm in Western Massachusetts. We have hatched 2 batches (12 eggs each) of chicks and more are still in the incubator waiting their time. People love to visit now and ask us lots of questions about the hatching process

(PRWEB) May 14, 2006 -- This is the most exciting time of year at Songline Emu Farm in Western Massachusetts. We have hatched 2 batches (12 eggs each) of chicks and more are still in the incubator waiting their time. People love to visit now and ask us lots of questions about the hatching process.

Our hens began laying eggs in early winter just before Christmas. They are keyed to the shortened daylight ours of fall/winter because winter in the Australian outback is milder than the brutally hot, dry summer. We’ve tried to explain to them that New England winters are not the best time for a bird to lay eggs - but they don't seem to listen. The eggs are large, Florida avocado sized, and emerald green.

Hens lay regularly every 3 - 4 days and can lay 20 - 50 eggs in a season. We gather the eggs (during many a February blizzard) and place them in a 45-degree refrigerator to inhibit incubation until we have a sufficient number (12 or so) to batch. They are then moved into a computerized incubator set at 97.5 degrees with 27 percent humidity for 50 days. The eggs are rolled a quarter turn every half hour. We weigh the eggs weekly; to be sure they are on target to lose between 12 and 18 percent of their total weight prior to hatching. If they lose too much weight the chick can hatch dry and red-eyed, too little weight and the chick can actually drown inside the shell. We adjust our humidity based on these numbers.

At day 48 or 49 we move the now wiggling eggs to a hatcher so they are no longer being rolled. The chick is inside a living tissue sack, inside of the hard egg shell. This membrane has a vascular system and the bird has been pumping blood up through this system in order to exchange carbon dioxide for oxygen through the egg shell as it grew. It also has an external yoke sack from which it has drawn nutrition through an umbilical like cord into its belly.

The chick first pips a hole in the internal sack. There are air chambers at either end of the shell and the bird is able to take its first breath of air. At this time we can tap on the shell or whistle and the bird will whistle back to us. The bird usually takes a nice long nap after this first step. They then break a small hole in the egg shell and we can usually see the tip of a beak and maybe a foot. It’s very cramped inside that shell. Again - they nap, and then begin to stretch and struggle their way out of the shell. In the process they close down the vascular system and pull their entire blood supply back into their bodies; and also absorb the yoke sack inside their bellies. When they come out of the shell they just have a little belly button.

From the hatcher we place the babies in a brooder box for a few days keeping them nice and warm but not giving them any food or water until they have metabolized the yolk sack and their digestive systems are ready to work. After the birds come out of the shell a large over developed pipping muscle on the back of their necks slowly loosens and recedes. At that time we've found it best to put a small tag through the loose neck skin which keeps the bird identified throughout its life.

The babies will then go into a greenhouse structure where they are able to go outside to play in the grass and sun during the day, but come back inside to wood shavings and heat lamps at night. As the sound of whistling baby emus fills the air we know that spring has fully arrived.

For additional information contact Dee Dee Mares, Songline Emu Farm
Founded in 1995 by Geri and Stan Johnson and Dee Dee Mares, Songline Farm of Gill, MA, is committed to raising genetically superior, all natural Emu stock. We maintain records of egg production, fertility and vitality at least three generations back. Our participation in a superior feed and natural supplement program (no hormones or antibiotics), coupled with our focus on genetics and the "art/science" of phenotyping has produced birds of exceptional size and quality.

Songline Farm is a member of the American Emu Association, The Massachusetts Farm Bureau, Community Involved in Sustaining Agriculture (CISA) and The Franklin County Community Development Corporation.

Contact:
Dee Dee Mares
Songline Emu Farm
66 French King Hwy
Gill MA 01354
413 863-2700
http://www.allaboutemu.com
For photos of chicks hatching
http://www.allaboutemu.com/farmnews/hatching.htm

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