How to blow emu eggs without a top hole

HOW TO BLOW EMU EGGS WITHOUT A TOP HOLE

In breeding season some of us may find ourselves with more eggs than we know what to do with. Blowing them out to be used as ornaments, or carved can give us creative projects, or nice crafting items to sell on for people to carve the beautiful different coloured layers of the eggs into beautiful artworks. 
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Blown and carved emu eggs by Renee Crow

Blowing emu eggs

The emu egg shells always look their best without a top blow hole. The egg can be removed by using things such as an airbed pump, or lamb colostrum feeder, but by far the easiest is a milkshake straw. Thicker than a normal straw, milkshake straws generally come in 6mm or 12mm and are widely available from cookware shops, Amazon or Ebay. 

​Simply, just drill a hole in the bottom of the egg, a cone grinding bit will make a prefect hole, but drill bits can also be used on a drill or rotary tool, large enough for the straw to enter the inside of the egg, then puff/blow through the straw. The pressure of the air will force the egg out.  The inside of the egg will drop out with a bit of wiggle from side to side to let a bit of air in to help the flow, just keep blowing, and it's that easy!  

Once all the egg is out of the shell you will need to deal with the membrane. The membrane releases easier from the side of the shell with hot water to be pulled out gently from the bottom of the egg. A cleaning brush used for straws, like a mini bottle brush is useful to go along the inside of the egg, pushing the membrane down into the egg, the force of water when the egg is emptied will draw the membrane towards the hole where it can be removed.  Watered down bleach, cleaning fluid or detergent can be used to help rinse the inside of the egg. Once the membrane has dried to a crisp inside the shell it can be broken up and poked out the the shell by a long implement such as a thin bottle brush, mandrel, screw driver etc. 

Thank you to Lynda from eggsfromemus for her demonstration video and image
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