Incubation of ostrich eggs: advice from professionals. How to incubate African ostrich and Australian emu eggs? How to hatch ostriches in an incubator

Igor Nikolaev

Reading time: 4 minutes

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With the onset of puberty, birds begin to lay eggs. In female ostriches, the first clutch occurs at 3.5 years. Experts identify table and hatching eggs. Table eggs are unfertilized. They are brought by female ostriches, which are kept separately from males on farms. They form an egg flock.

To produce chicks, a parent flock is formed on farms. It consists of 4 females and 1 male. Each bird family is kept in a separate enclosure. The result of mating of individuals is incubatory, fertilized eggs.

The clutch is removed from the nest and sent for further maturation to. How are samples taken for hatching? How to care for masonry during the incubation period?

Under natural conditions, 1 female ostrich can lay up to 18 eggs in a nest. Up to 4 clutches can be produced per season. Normally, females lay eggs every other day, taking a week's break. Scientists claim that this feature appeared in ostriches during the process of evolution. Individuals are given time to cover or hide the clutch from predatory animals and birds.

In farm conditions, females can lay eggs 2 times a week. During the season, from 1 individual you can get up to 80 pieces. They do not take breaks from laying. The body has adapted to the new conditions. There is no need to hide the nest from predators.

When removing a clutch, 1-2 eggs are always left in the nest. They are often replaced with dummies. This stimulates the egg production of ostriches and calms them. Removal is always carried out by 2 people. One watches the male, who attacks at the sight of strangers in the enclosure, the other puts the eggs in a container.

• Selection is carried out only after the shell has dried. Wait until the upper cuticle hardens. It protects the embryo from pathological microflora.
• You must be prepared for the fact that 1 hatching egg of an adult ostrich weighs 1.8-2 kg. The masonry may be heavy. The shell thickness is 6 mm, but it can also crack under pressure. It is recommended to use containers with cells. This will preserve the incubation material without damage.
• After removing the masonry, it is inspected. If there are particles of droppings on the shell, then such a specimen is discarded. The remaining samples are washed with soapy water, disinfected, dried and stored. Warm water is used for washing. The water temperature should be 5 C higher than the egg temperature. For washing use a soft brush. Antiseptic "Virkon-S" is used. It is diluted in water 3 g/l. The same product can be used to spray ostrich eggs and disinfect incubation cabinets: concentration 5 g/l.
• The selected samples are not immediately placed into the incubator. It is necessary to keep the material for 5-7 days so that the white and yolk can be distributed correctly.
• In the room where the material is stored, maintain a temperature of 15 C and a humidity of at least 75%. The room is pre-irradiated with ultraviolet light and completely sterile. In this mode, the embryo does not develop, but remains viable.
• Be sure to check the material using an ovoscope. The slightest defects in the shell or in the internal structure give grounds for rejection. Normally, the shell should be smooth, without flaws or chips. The internal contents are light, without any darkening. The air chamber is the size of a tennis ball.
• The place where the air chamber is located is marked with a marker. The egg has the shape of an ellipse. Determining where the sharp or rounded side is is difficult. They should be laid with the air chamber facing up. The marking will make the operator's task easier.

Use the material for incubation no later than 10 days after the female lays eggs. After transportation over long distances, the samples are kept at rest for 12 hours. The room temperature is maintained at 15-18 C.

It must be turned over during the entire storage period. A tilt of 90 is performed. The procedure for tilting and returning the material to its original position takes 8-10 seconds.

Bookmark material

Under natural conditions, masonry maturation occurs in the nest. Ostriches warm her with the warmth of their own bodies. According to scientists' observations, the temperature in the nest is always constant, 36.1 C. At the top point of the clutch it is 37.2 C, at the bottom of the nest and at the bottom 36.1 C. Females sit in the nest alternately during the daytime, males only at night. This is determined by the color of the birds' plumage. During the day, females are less noticeable against the background of savannah vegetation. At night the male is not visible: his plumage on his body is black. He hides his wings and tail, on which there are white feathers, under himself. Before each change of individuals, the birds turn over the clutch. This is done during the day approximately every 3 hours. At night the male does not move the nest. The hatchability of chicks under natural conditions is 45-50%.

At the farm, not only the material is prepared for incubation, but also the closet and the room. This allows you to increase the hatchability rate of chicks to 90%. Before stocking the material, the hatchery must be disinfected. The cabinet is heated to a temperature of 36.6 C.

If you place samples that are in a cold room in an incubator, condensation will form on the shell and droplets of moisture will appear. This is a favorable environment for the development of pathological microflora. The temperature in the room where the eggs are stored is gradually increased. During the day, it is brought to 24 C. Before laying, the material is examined again using an ovoscope. Under natural conditions, chicks appear independently in an ostrich nest. Parents leave the nest and watch the pipping process.

On the farm, each egg is numbered. A card is placed on it, where the weight during different periods of incubation and the results of the examination are recorded. It quickly loses moisture. The embryo develops, releasing carbon dioxide and heat.

The first week in the closet the humidity is kept at 30%. Turn on the ventilation. After 7 days, a control weighing is carried out. Normally, the weight of the egg should decrease by 3%. If at laying it weighed 1.8 kg, then after a week its weight can decrease to 1.746 kg. In 42 days, weight loss is 18%. There may be cases that weight is reduced by up to 30%. At the end of the incubation period, the weight of the egg decreases by 300 g on average.

The samples are turned over every 3 hours. Tilts are made in different directions. This allows the protein to be evenly distributed and the embryo to take the optimal position for development. Otherwise, baking of the shells may occur, which will disrupt the development of the embryo and complicate the hatching of the chick. The material is examined every week until the 39th day.

Starting from days 39-40, the material from the incubator is transferred to the hatching chamber. This is a sterile box or cabinet in which a certain microclimate is maintained. Samples should be prepared for it. The temperature in the hatcher is 25 C, humidity 70%.

The temperature in the incubator begins to gradually decrease, while the humidity increases. When the temperature in the incubator reaches 30 C, the eggs are transferred to the hatching chamber. The regime is changed gradually over 2 days.

In the hatching cabinet, the samples are at rest. They are not turned over. The examination continues. Using an ovoscope you can see where the chick's head, neck and beak are. The material is placed in such a way that it is more convenient for the chick to break the shell. Usually the chicken's head is on the side during the pipping period.

On days 41-42, characteristic sounds are heard from the eggs: knocking and squeaking. They mean that pecking has begun. The chick, having shed its shell, begins to scream. For the remaining chicks, this is a signal to accelerate pecking. Normally, by day 45, all chickens should hatch from their eggs.

The young are kept in the hatching chamber for 1-2 days. The chickens dry out and get used to the new microclimate. At this time, maintain humidity to 50%. If pecking is delayed, then you should not rush to help the chick or free it from the shell. They increase the humidity in the box and saturate the air with oxygen. If on the 46th day the chick cannot break the shell, then it can be helped.

This is done carefully with the help of tools. It is important not to injure the chick. Experts say that if a chicken could not be born on its own, then it will subsequently develop with deviations from the norm. The chick is examined. If pathologies are detected, it is discarded.

A hatchery is a room containing cabinets for maturing eggs and hatching chicks. Access to it should be limited. To maintain sterility in the room, a single-line movement is provided: entrance on one side, exit on the other. Exit and entry is through the sanitary zone. Here, clothes and shoes are changed, hands are disinfected, and gloves are put on.

An ostrich cannot always fully hatch her eggs. In such cases, they resort to incubating ostrich eggs, but this must be done according to a special scheme. The process itself is complex, since it is necessary to choose the right incubator, maintain optimal temperature, spray it in a timely manner, and arrange lighting in order to obtain well-developed ostrich chicks.

Selecting an incubator

The choice of incubator should be taken very seriously, because the health and survival of the young depends on it. What you should pay attention to when choosing an incubator:

• Manufacturer country. Many models are produced by China, but domestic models will be of higher quality.
• Guarantee. Even the best and most expensive models can break down. If the warranty period has not yet expired and the incubator is broken, it will be repaired free of charge.
• Heating elements. The most durable element is thermal film; it heats the eggs evenly, while spending little energy.
• Egg sizes and turnover. Incubators for ostrich eggs are larger than those for chicken or goose eggs, so it is important to pay attention to the internal dimensions. The size of the incubator for ostrich eggs should be at least 100x70x70 cm. It is better to buy an incubator where turning occurs automatically.
• Thermostat. In order for the chicks to grow up viable and healthy, it is important to maintain the correct temperature regime. Sensors must be selected without error, since it can play a disastrous role in incubation. There are 2 sensor options: manual and automatic, the first option is inexpensive, but the second option is more accurate.
• Humidity regulator. It is better to purchase a model with a psychrometer and an automatic humidity regulator. To save your budget, you can opt for mechanical adjustment.
• Case material. The best material is considered to be high-strength steel or plastic with additional foam insulation. In this case, the heat will be evenly distributed in the incubator, and less energy will be consumed.

An approximate model of an ostrich egg incubator can be seen in the following video:

Selection of eggs for further incubation

For incubation, it is necessary to select fertilized eggs; for this, it is necessary that there be both a female and a male in the flock. But even in such flocks, 25% of all eggs are spoiled, that is, unfertilized.

Oviposition in ostriches begins in April and ends in October; in one cycle, the female is capable of laying 20 eggs. Eggs should be picked up immediately after laying so that incubation qualities do not deteriorate.

They are also divided into two classes: first and second, depending on size. The first class includes large eggs, and the second class includes small ones. The weight of the egg of an African animal should be 1126-1800 grams, and that of an emu 350-750, the shell of the first is white, and the second is dark green.

Below is a table of the hatching egg class:

It is necessary to load eggs with approximately the same mass into the incubator. The best conclusion will be if the bookmark is incomplete.

Features of bookmarking and storage

Before placing eggs in the incubator, you need to make sure that the trays are large enough to accommodate the eggs, either lying down or standing up. The egg is laid either with the blunt end up or lying down. The best time to lay eggs is 6 pm.

In an ostrich egg it is almost impossible to distinguish where the blunt end is and where the sharp end is. In this case, an electron lamp or an ovoscope will come to the rescue.

The eggs of these animals are delicate and sensitive, because they do not have a protective film. For this reason, they can quickly and easily acquire pathogenic microorganisms. The pores are open, so before carrying out any manipulations, you need to wash your hands with soap, or even better, wear gloves.

Initially, eggs of the first class are laid in the incubator, and then only of the second.

They should be stored with the blunt end facing up, but if it is difficult to make out where the blunt end is, it is preferable to keep them in a lying position. Can be stored for up to a week before incubation. To avoid spoilage of the product, it should be stored at low temperatures of about 15 degrees Celsius and humidity within 75%. While eggs are stored outside the incubator, they should be turned up to 3 times a day.

Disinfection of eggs and incubator

Before placing it in the incubator, the egg must be disinfected and washed to remove any dirt. Scrubbing the shell with a hard brush is unacceptable, since this is a direct path to the death of the embryo, because the pores become clogged during the process and the embryo stops receiving air.

You need to wash the egg with a special solution. To prepare it, you should purchase Virkon powder in the store and dissolve 3 grams of the substance in a liter of warm water. Cold water will not work because the air supply to the embryo will decrease and pathogenic microorganisms will get inside the egg.

• When cleaning dirt, you will need a soft brush;
• the resulting solution should have a temperature such that it is 5 degrees warmer than the egg itself (the temperature of the egg can be checked with a tonometer, and if you don’t have one, then simply heat the water until warm);
• after all the dirt has been removed, the egg is well dried on all sides, that is, first it should lie on one side until completely dry, then turn it over to the other side and wait until the egg is completely dry.

It is also important to disinfect the device itself before laying eggs for incubation, because after the previous hatching of the chicks, traces of blood and other dirt may remain. There are many methods of disinfection, let’s look at the most common ones:

• Chloramine solution. This drug can be purchased at any pharmacy and is freely available. 10 tablets are dissolved in a liter of water and shaken. The solution is poured into a spray bottle and sprayed throughout the machine. After a few hours, it is washed off with plain water and ventilated for 24 hours in an open state.
• Formaldehyde fumes. This method uses combustion inside an incubator, resulting in disinfection with smoke.
• Formaldehyde fumes. First, the room is washed with plain warm water, then a solution is prepared from 50 ml of 40% formaldehyde and 35 mg of potassium permanganate. The incubator should be heated to 38 degrees and the prepared solution in a bowl should be placed there for 40 minutes. At the end of the procedure, the incubator is ventilated.
• Ultraviolet radiation. This procedure is also carried out after preliminary cleaning of the device, after which one or more ultraviolet lamps are placed inside and left for 40 minutes to destroy pathogenic microorganisms.

Turning and spraying

During the entire incubation period, you should turn the egg over to the other side 7 times a day with your hands or with a special device purchased in the store. On day 39, the eggs stop turning, but they are transferred to the hatching section and laid lying down.

If the required humidity decreases, then the eggs must be sprinkled with warm water. All objects around the eggs must also be sprayed with water.

Incubation tables

Incubation always occurs differently, it all depends on the materials that were laid, the period of the process, as well as the species (African ostrich or Emu). Modern incubators are equipped with many functions, so you can automatically control the entire process. After all, they can be set to the optimal temperature, air humidity, and even automatic egg turning. The table describes the necessary conditions during various periods of ostrich incubation:

The following table describes the criteria that can be used to produce a healthy baby emu:

When the eggs are in the incubator, they definitely need ventilation, because the embryo will need oxygen during development.

Stages of development and transillumination

When you scan an ostrich egg in an incubator, you can see several stages of its development:

1. A week later (from the day the material was placed in the incubator), a shadow of the allantois is visible in the egg, which lines 20 percent of the surface of the eggshell.
2. In the second week, the shadow can be easily distinguished, because it is larger than it was and already occupies half the surface of the shell. The longer the period, the larger the shadow becomes.
3. On the 24th day from the moment of the process, one sixth of the material is occupied by the air chamber, and one second part by the embryo itself.
4. After day 35, practically nothing is visible, because the embryo is located throughout the egg.

It is recommended that you weigh your eggs daily to monitor whether the egg is losing weight properly. In one day it can lose 0.3% of its total mass, that is, in 7 days it will lose only 2%. If the material loses more weight than expected, then the humidity needs to be increased, but if, on the contrary, the losses are small, then the humidity decreases.

Hatching time

African ostrich chicks are born 40 days after laying the egg in the incubator, and emu chicks are born on the 56th day. The height of a newborn African ostrich is 20 cm, while the weight is from 500 to 900 grams, and the weight of emu ostriches is from 200 to 400 grams. If you follow all the rules, you can get many healthy and strong chicks.

What to do after the chicks are born?

During the first hatchings in the incubator, the humidity should be increased to 30%; if there is little material, then the temperature rises by half a degree, and if there are a lot of eggs, then, on the contrary, it decreases. When the chicks are already breaking the shell, the humidity rises to 60%, this will help the chicks to be born more easily.

Unnecessarily, a person should not interfere with the natural process of childbirth, especially when he is still in a protective film. You can help him only if the chick is lying in the wrong position or cannot hatch on its own. In this case, the person must lengthen the puncture line.

As soon as the baby ostrich hatches, it is placed in a brooder, which is a cage with a tray. The cage has metal rods (grids) and heating trays. They stay there for three hours to warm up and dry out. The baby ostrich must be weighed immediately so that future weight gain can be monitored. Next, the umbilical cord is disinfected - these manipulations should be carried out daily until 3 days are reached.

The first days of life of ostrich chicks

From the first days of birth, ostrich chicks grow by 1 cm per day, until they gain 150-180 cm in the first day, the chick may lose 20% of its total body weight, and this is normal. The fact is that they do not eat complementary foods for several days, but live off the accumulated yolk mass. Starting from day 7, ostrich chicks can already be fed.

The first weeks of life, chicks must be kept in a warm place, be it winter or summer. The barn must have light mode and lamp heating, and any drafts are also unacceptable. At the moment when the birds need to eat nutritious food, they initially feed on their mother’s manure to populate the intestines with beneficial microflora.

Starting from the age of one week, ostrich chicks are given crushed alfalfa leaves, a crushed boiled egg, which is sprinkled on the ground about 8 times a day and knocked on it with a pencil so that the kids can see where it is. Feeders and drinking bowls for babies should be constantly full so that they can come up and eat food and drink water at any time.

Common mistakes made by beginners

Breeding babies using the incubation method requires caution and skill, so beginners often make mistakes, the main ones being:

• Incorrect material because the strength of the shell was not tested before placing the egg. If the shell is not dense, the embryo may die in the first days. A loose and low-quality shell could have resulted from improper feeding of the ostrich; the diet did not contain a sufficient amount of minerals. Read more about proper feeding of ostriches in.
• Incorrect position of the air bag.
• If the egg was underheated or overheated even a little, the embryo may die. If the baby is underheated, the baby may be born, but it still won’t live long.
• If the humidity is below normal, the ostrich chicks will hatch prematurely and die almost immediately.
• Increased humidity is dangerous for the health of babies.
• If there is insufficient ventilation, babies may be born with abnormalities that are incompatible with life.

Possible problems of embryo death

Often, the death of future ostrich chicks occurs for the following reasons:

• Infections. When a fungal or bacterial infection of the egg occurs, the white becomes cloudy and a rotten smell appears. Nodules (raw) are formed, which are dead tissue.
• Genes. This category includes underdevelopment of the nose, organs, and fusion of embryos.
• Dystrophy. This pathology occurs if the parents did not eat properly. Embryos lag behind in development and growth, and they also have poor absorption of nutrients. The yolk is thick, and newborn ostriches are paralyzed.

Incubation of ostrich eggs is becoming popular all over the world, because in this case the bird can continue to lay eggs, and the number of living chicks increases due to proper maintenance in the incubator. It is important to follow all the rules, set the exact temperature, humidity and air exchange. You need to be prepared for the fact that not all chicks can hatch alive and healthy, because there are a number of problems that can cause the embryo to die.

Krasnodar city

If eggs are removed from the nest for incubation, this should be done carefully, placing them in a container and using rubber gloves or a paper towel.

It is possible to accumulate eggs before incubation, provided that the storage temperature is 10 - 16 °C and the storage period does not exceed 7 days. Almost all emu eggs are hatched in forced-ventilation incubators, so they typically accumulate enough eggs for a whole brood. Eggs lose 13-17% of their weight from the start of incubation and are difficult to check by candling as they have very thick shells. Sometimes on the 35th day of incubation you can observe the egg moving if you place it on a clean, flat surface. Incubators should be located in clean, well-lit and climate-controlled areas.

Emu eggs are incubated only horizontally. It is recommended to lay eggs for incubation according to certain schemes:

1. “One batch per cupboard” - eggs are laid in large batches, simultaneously loading the cupboard at 100% of its capacity.
2. “Two batches in the cabinet” - eggs are laid in batches, each of which occupies 50% of the capacity of the incubator. The next batch of emu eggs is laid in 24-28 days. Thus, according to this scheme, there are two batches of eggs in the cupboard at the same time with a difference in the age of emu embryos - 24-28 days.
3. “Three batches in a cabinet” - eggs are laid in batches that occupy 1/3 of the volume of the incubation cabinet. Each subsequent batch of emu eggs is laid 18-20 days after the next one. In this case, three batches of eggs are simultaneously incubated in the cabinet, the embryos in which differ in age by 18-20 days.
4. “Seven batches in a cupboard” - laying emu eggs is carried out in an amount of 1/7 of the volume of the incubation cabinet. Each subsequent batch of emu eggs is laid 8 days after the previous one. In this case, there are 7 batches of emu eggs in the cupboard at the same time, with an 8-day difference in the age of the embryos.

It should be remembered that maintaining low relative humidity in the incubator chamber is often difficult to achieve, so in such cases it is recommended to install dehumidifiers in the incubator.

Before the hatching of the young begins, the eggs are transferred from the incubation cabinets to the hatchers. Emu eggs are placed evenly and horizontally in hatcher trays. Emu eggs are transferred to hatching at 46-48 days.

The first sampling of young emus is carried out on the 49th day, and in case of delayed hatching - one day after the start of mass pecking, the next sampling - every day after the previous one, and the final sampling and cleaning of the incubator - on the 55th day. The average incubation time for emu eggs ranges from 48 to 52 days.

A necessary step in ostrich breeding is restocking. Despite the fact that in the wild birds raise their chicks on their own, on a farm it is possible to obtain productive young only by artificial incubation.

The article will describe the main features of ostrich incubation by breed, as well as the necessary equipment and supplies for hatching chicks.

Features of ostrich incubation

Ostrich breeding is carried out mainly by artificial means. Since ostrich eggs have significant differences in weight (from 1 kg to 2.1 kg) and shell porosity, it is necessary to have a good knowledge of the incubation features in order to obtain the desired offspring.

For example, for eggs weighing 1.5 kg, the hatching period is 42 days. This indicator may shift for several days in one direction or another depending on the mass. The hatchability of chicks largely depends on the porosity of the shell. Therefore, constant monitoring of air humidity in the incubator is necessary. Thus, for large-sized specimens, it is necessary to maintain a lower temperature and humidity level, which will prevent excessive loss of their mass.

Note: For this reason, it is not recommended to place eggs of different sizes in the same chamber, as they require different conditions. Otherwise, some of them will overheat, and the rest will dry out excessively.

Hatchers used to produce chicks of chickens, ducks, and geese are not suitable for breeding ostriches, so you will need special incubators of different capacities (Figure 1). Low-capacity cabinets can also be used during periods when female productivity is significantly reduced.

At the moment, models with separate cabinets are considered the best. One of them is intended for incubation, the other for hatching. The convenience of such a device is that both cabinets are loaded simultaneously, and the mode parameters are suitable for all material. On the 39th day from laying, eggs from the first cabinet are moved to the second to prevent contact of the eggs with hatched chicks and dust. Such contact may have a negative impact on raw materials.

If the laying is carried out as raw materials arrive, then it is necessary to ensure that a homogeneous gas environment is maintained, when oxygen and carbon dioxide are distributed evenly.

From the video you will learn about the features of making an incubator for ostrich eggs with your own hands.

Incubation of emu eggs

The emu differs from other bird breeds, and therefore the breeding of its chicks is carried out with some peculiarities.

Despite this, it is better to breed emu chicks using the technology described above so that the young are productive and viable.

Peculiarities

Incubation of cassowary-like emus has its own characteristics. First of all, you should pay attention to the mass of eggs. It should be 350-750 grams.

Other rules for incubating emu include(Figure 2):

• High-quality eggs are selected according to the color of the shell. It should be dark green.
• Emu eggs are laid only in a horizontal position, securely fixed in trays.
• If laying is carried out in one cabinet, then it is necessary to maintain an interval of 12 hours between laying large and small material.
• On days 46-48 from the start of incubation, all specimens are transferred from the incubation cabinet to the hatcher. In this case, they should only be placed horizontally.

On the 49th day, the first selection of chicks is carried out, subsequent ones - every day after the previous one. On day 55, all young animals must be selected and the incubator cleaned.

Rules for incubating eggs

For incubation at home to be successful, only healthy specimens should be selected. To do this, you should choose only healthy specimens.

Other rules for incubating emus include:

1. All manipulations must be carried out with gloves, since the shell is not protected by film and there is a risk of infection with various infections.
2. To successfully complete the process It is advisable to remove eggs from nests immediately after laying.
3. All contaminants are immediately removed from the shell using a dry cloth. Copious stains are removed using a solution of water and iodine. In this case, each specimen is washed for no more than 2-3 minutes. After this, they are dried and stored in a clean box, covered with film, in a horizontal position.
4. Emu eggs are placed in an incubator separately from others in trays of different sizes in a horizontal position.
5. Bookmark passes in two stages: first install large trays, and after 12 hours - small ones.
6. Coup carried out 6-8 times a day at the same time using a special device or manually.
7. On day 46-48 the material from the incubation cabinet is transferred to the hatcher.

If it is impossible to achieve the optimal level of humidity in the chamber, water is sprayed with warm boiled water.

How to choose ostrich eggs for incubation

For laying, you need to choose full-fledged eggs, which can only be obtained when there are both male and female on the farm. All ostrich eggs are divided into two classes depending on their mass (Figure 3).

Large ones belong to class I, small ones - to class II. The normal weight for African species is 1 kg 150 g - 1 kg 800 g; for emu 350 - 750 g. At the same time, the color of the shell is different: in African ostriches it is white, in emus it is dark green.

Poultry incubation equipment

To breed ostriches, you will need special equipment, because incubators for breeding other poultry do not have an air drying system, which is so necessary to maintain low humidity when breeding ostrich chicks.

Therefore, ostrich incubators have been developed, making it possible to obtain the young of these birds as efficiently as possible.

Note: Among these containers there are models with different capacities: from small quantities - for beginners, to fairly large volumes - for farmers and professionals. As a rule, all modern devices consist of two cabinets: incubation and hatching. The incubator is equipped with an air drying system and indicators of all modes, which allow you to obtain a high percentage of chicks hatching.

The eggs are placed in special trays of different sizes made of stainless steel. There are also devices that allow you to secure the embedded material to prevent it from moving or falling out. The body of the device itself is made of aluminum or plastic, which allows it to be used for quite a long time.

Temperature and humidity conditions in the incubator

The optimal temperature is considered to be 36.4 degrees with a deviation of half a degree in one direction or another. At the same time, the humidity level for African ostriches is 20-35%, for emus - 32-44%. Typically, during the last days of hatching, the temperature is reduced by 1 degree while the humidity is increased from 23% to 65% for ostrich eggs and from 30% to 60% for emu eggs (Table 1).

For effective temperature regulation, it is necessary that the camera is placed in a room where it is easy to change the humidity and temperature. Normally, the room temperature is 21-25 degrees, and humidity is 40%. Additionally, it is recommended to install dehumidifiers.

Air ventilation in the incubator

Not only temperature and humidity conditions are important, but also sufficient ventilation in the container. As embryos grow, their need for oxygen also increases. So for 1 kg of raw material there should be 200-300 ml of air per minute, and just before hatching this norm increases to 545 ml.

Ostriches have not yet ceased to be exotic for us, although there are already quite a few ostrich farms and individual poultry farmers in our area who specialize in these African and Australian birds. And not only the climate prevents ostriches from becoming more widespread in our latitudes, but also some features associated with the breeding of these birds. This is what we will talk about.

The main problem that arises when incubating ostrich eggs is the wide variation in their mass, ranging from a kilogram to 2.1 kg, and the different porosity of the shell.

For example, from an egg weighing one and a half kilograms, the chick hatches in 42 days, and with lighter or heavier specimens this period may decrease or increase. In addition, the hatchability rate of chicks depends on how porous the shell is. Important! Ostrich eggs of different sizes should not be placed in the same incubator chamber. Otherwise, some eggs will overheat and others will dry out quickly. The level of humidity required in the incubator depends on this parameter, which is determined by the egg size: for large specimens, lower humidity is required, as well as the temperature maintained in the incubator.

How to choose the right eggs

The level of hatchability of ostrich chicks directly depends on the usefulness of the eggs, that is, on their fertilization, therefore it is necessary to have not only a female, but also a male at the farmstead. All ostrich eggs are divided into two classes. The first is intended for large specimens, and the second for smaller ones.

For the African ostrich this means:

• Class I - from 1 kg 499 g to 1 kg 810 g;
• Class II - from 1 kg 130 g to 1 kg 510 g.

Find out more about ostrich eggs.

For the Australian emu, the indicators should be as follows:

• I class - from 549 g to 760 g;
• Class II - from 345 g to 560 g.

Storage and processing before storage

Oviposition in ostriches begins in April and ends in October, has 2–4 cycles. During each cycle, the female is able to produce up to twenty eggs. For incubation, they must be collected immediately after laying and stored at a temperature within +15...+19 °C with air humidity up to 40% for a maximum of a week, turning them over daily. We advise you to familiarize yourself with the basics of breeding ostriches at home.

It is preferable to store them with the blunt end up, but since it is extremely difficult to figure out which end is which, the eggs are usually stored in a lying position.
The absence of a protective film and the presence of large pores on the shell mean that ostrich eggs are almost defenseless against infection, so they should be handled with extreme caution, protecting them from dust and potentially contaminated moisture.

If it becomes necessary to free the shells from contamination that has fallen on them, this must be done with a clean cloth soaked in a very weak iodine solution. Did you know? The ostrich, whose head seems very small compared to its body, has an eye larger than that of a huge elephant.

Bookmark: revolutions and spraying

Before placing the egg in the incubator, care should be taken to ensure that the trays are of the appropriate size so that they can accommodate the ostrich eggs in both standing and lying positions. The bookmark should ensure that the air sac is positioned at the top. This is achieved by placing the egg with its blunt end up or in a lying position.
Since it is extremely difficult to find the blunt end, it is recommended to use an ovoscope or simply a bright electric lamp. The boundaries of the detected air sac are usually outlined with a pencil to further monitor its growth. Read more about how to disinfect an incubator before laying eggs.

During incubation, eggs must be turned 6–8 times daily using a special device or manually. On the 39th day, turning should be stopped, and each egg should be transferred to the hatching section, placing it there horizontally.

Since the offspring of the Australian ostrich hatch later, the eggs of this bird are transferred to the hatching section after 46–48 days. It should be taken into account that emu eggs are placed only horizontally in several stages with an interval of half a day.

Video: incubating ostrich eggs Eggs belonging to the first class are laid first, and then to the second. The incubator eggs are sprayed only when the required humidity in the cabinets is reduced using warm boiled water. Important! To avoid the penetration of harmful microorganisms through the shell pores, you should spray not the eggshell, but the objects around it.

Incubation mode: table

The incubation process proceeds differently depending on the size of the anlage elements, the time of incubation and their type, that is, whether they belong to the African ostrich or the Australian emu. What conditions need to be created during different incubation periods for future African ostrich chicks can be seen from this table:
And this table shows the conditions necessary for successful incubation of emu eggs. It should be emphasized that emu eggs should be placed exclusively horizontally, and they are turned over in the same way as in an African bird:
Ostrich eggs need good ventilation while in the incubator. As embryos develop, they increasingly require oxygen. Did you know?When in danger, the ostrich does not bury its head in the sand, as people for some reason believe, but runs away headlong, sometimes reaching speeds of up to 97 kilometers per hour. And if you drive him into a corner, he will fight back furiously with his powerful legs, even being capable of killing a not very large predator. On average, for every kilogram of incubator filling, at least 0.2 liters of air per minute is required. The increase in air demand during the incubation period can be judged from the table:

Dates of appearance of chicks

African ostrich chicks require 39–41 days to be born, while emu chicks require an incubation period of 52–56 days. It will be useful for you to familiarize yourself with the rules for raising chickens, ducklings, turkey poults, turkey hens, guinea fowl, quails and goslings in an incubator.

What to do after hatching

There are mandatory measures that must be taken immediately immediately after the birth of ostrich chicks:

1. The hatched chicks should be immediately placed in a brooder, that is, in a cage with a tray equipped with a heater.
2. Within two to three hours of being in the brooder, the ostrich chicks should dry completely.
3. Each baby ostrich must be weighed to further monitor its development.
4. The umbilical cord of the chicks should be disinfected by repeating this procedure for two to three days.

Common mistakes made by newbies

Since breeding ostrich chicks through incubation involves many conditions that must be strictly observed, beginners inevitably make mistakes at first, sometimes leading to sad consequences:

1. Incorrect choice of material, during which the strength of the shell was not carefully checked. A shell that is too fragile often leads to the death of the embryo.
2. The low quality of the shell was a consequence of improper feeding of the producers, whose feed contained few minerals.
3. The position of the air sac in the egg is incorrect, that is, at the bottom.
4. Overheating or underheating of the incubation material is equally harmful to the embryos. If underheated, even chicks that hatch alive then still die.
5. If there is insufficient humidity in the chamber, ostrich chicks often hatch early and then die.
6. Excessive humidity is also harmful to the development of embryos.
7. Improper gas exchange with poor ventilation is fraught with fatal consequences for future chicks.

Breeding ostrich chicks at home through incubation is not a very simple matter. However, with due care, attentiveness and scrupulous observance of all the necessary rules, the efforts of a novice ostrich breeder will not become excessive and will be crowned with success in the form of dozens of cute chicks.