Emu Egg | Color, Size, Weight, Incubation Period

Emus are famous due to their different adaptations like taller height, territory and spiting behavior, but here, we are going to explore them from a new aspect, their eggs. Emus egg remains a topic of different discussions because their eggs are unique.

These eggs are different in color, have huge size and weight compared to other bird’s eggs. The incubating period of these eggs also have some facts such as the male incubate them but all this is going to be part of discussion, below.

Emu contains eggs with dark green color, but just after laying, these eggs can speckle a blue look due to mesmerizing, which makes it look just like a night sky. The egg’s surface feels granulated and sometimes contains dark and sometimes light granules-like appearings. During the incubating period, these eggs become darker.

Why Are Emu Eggs Green?

1.   Safety Against Predators

Protecting eggs from predators is crucial, but green color helps emus to deceive most of predators. They lay eggs on green grass that causes a camouflage, which helps to avoid the eggs from predators’ look, but what about the predators with a keen sense of smell?

2.   To Protect Embryo During Incubation

Emu live on vast ground, and they have to lay eggs in such vast landscapes. Here, sun raises can easily approach the eggs. This dark green color is also helpful in saving embryos from the ultraviolet sun raises by filtering sun raises.

3.   To Show Power

It is a theory that the green color of their egg reveals their strength. It is believed birds with dark colors are stronger than colorless or white-colored birds.

How Big Are Emu Eggs?

Size

These eggs are more than a normal egg. The length of an emu egg can approach 5 inches vertically and 3.5 inches horizontally. These both dimensions make their egg difficult to grab.

Weight

With this size, the eggs of these flightless birds can approach the weight between 500 grams to 600 grams.

Shell

Having such big size and weight, their shell is 1 mm thick. This thickness can vary according to regions as the northern emus have eggs with thin shell.

How Many Eggs Does An Emu Lay?

During the breeding season (May, June), these birds often mate and lay 5 to 15 eggs after three days. After a single mate, the female emu can fertilize six eggs with the sperm collection of the mate.

Just after laying eggs, males become active for safety of the eggs and start incubating process. Here, females leave this male and approach next male to mate.

Note: Against other animals where males fight for dominance to gain mate, females emu fight with each other to win mate.

How Often Do Emu Lay Eggs?

Female emu mate more than one male during the mating season. They mate several times a day and after 3 days, emu lay clutch of eggs that contain eggs between 6 to 15.

This process goes on, and female emu can mate with 3 or 4 males. According to it, in all mating seasons that lasts for 2 months, a female emu lays between 40 to 50 eggs.

Incubation Period | Maximum Days

Eggs of these giant but flightless birds take almost 50 to 60 days to hatch. After coming out of the eggs, the child emu lives with their father for the whole year.

Note: If you are looking to incubate their eggs at home, you have to provide them high temperature with consistency. Falling degrees of temperature will lead to increasing the incubating period of emus eggs.

During the all-hatching period, male emu suffer a lot and deny eating or spending time on other activities. They move eggs 10 to 12 times a day to provide them proper heat that is necessary for eggs hatching but in last weak, he deny to make further movements that provides static position to chick to grow with consistency.

On the flip side, mother emu who put their body resources into laying eggs gets time to heal their body. This also allows them to empower themselves for the next year’s egg-laying season.  

How Do Emu Chicks Came Out Of Eggs?

This phenomenon is unique because emu chicks lack egg teeth. Almost chicks of all birds contain it, and these egg tooth allow them to cut or break shell of their eggs but what do emu chicks do?

Emu chicks rely on their legs that they use to kick the shell and make a hole in it. This process takes three days, and after coming out of the egg, emu chicks start to walk with wobbly steps within a day.  

How To Tell If An Emu Egg Is Fertile?

After almost 33 days of starting the incubation period, the eggs start to wiggle, and this movement shows that these moving eggs are fertile.

Are These Eggs Edible? Taste

Their taste does not have a unique taste, rather casual eggs, but they consist of more yolk and less white area. Further, its nutritional value is also enough, and a small family can easily vanish their hunger with one egg.

After these eggs, duck eggs are also rich in nutrients.