Goose Incubation & Hatching Guide - Completed!!!!

[Hedgewitch]

Thank you so much for this, it's been really helpful and the reason I have two beautiful Goslings - not entirely sure what breed yet as they were 'mixed' eggs but 1 is absolutely enormous! I've also managed to hatch some Shetland Ducklings, apparently the rarest of the domestic duck breeds in the UK and they are perfectly charming.

 

[kgoslar21]

A couple quick questions. I was trying to hatch goslings out by putting in freshly laid eggs daily. I keep having the same problem. They don't hatch. They get to the point they develop then when I stick them in the hatcher they don't pip. When I go in for egg autopsy it seems they don't pip or absorb the rest of their yolks. I have not weighed them or kept track of air cell. I put some chick eggs in with them and had a successful hatch on those. This is the first year I have done geese. I just filled my incubator full of eggs and set them. I don't have the auto turner in there this time. And plan on misting. Temp is set at 99.5 with an extra thermometer for accuracy. Do I let them sit for 3 days before turning? I have found I have up to 95% hatch rates with chicks if I do dry incubation and my numbers go down to 60% if I follow the rules for CHICKS. Can you dry incubate for geese? What do you set your humidity at? And when do you start misting? Do you take them out to mist? Does anyone submerge eggs towards the end? I have been trying to muddle through past posts for a few weeks so if these are repeated questions, I apologize. Thanks in advance for any questions you can answer.

 

[Pyxis]

I have not weighed them or kept track of air cell.

That's your issue. You absolutely must keep track of their moisture loss to make sure humidity is where it should be. Most late deaths are the result of improper humidity, so chances are good your humidity is wrong and they are either losing too much moisture or not enough, and that's what's causing the late deaths. The humidity that works for chicken eggs won't necessarily also work for goose eggs.

Misting and cooling starts at Day 5, as mentioned in the guide in the first post in this thread. Cool them starting for five minutes a day and slowly increase until you are cooling for 15 minutes a day. I take them out to mist and cool since I often have other eggs going at the same time that don't need misting or cooling. Stop misting, cooling, and turning and move the eggs to the hatcher when you candle and see that the air cells have drawn down.

 

[Greg560]

Wow so much to learn. Thinks so much for you in-depth Expertise.
I have a 1 year old American Buff goose she laid a clutch of 10 eggs. No gander so we knew they were unfertilized. One of the local breeders gave us 12 fertilized eggs. This is a project for my 11 year old niece. I just found your forum and thread. Two days ago the goose quit setting or didn’t cover the eggs temps have been in the 60s at night to 80 during the day. The goose is wobbling and acting funny. She try’s to eat and drink only when I hold water or food up to her. I at the advice of breeder put B12 in water and high Protein 22 % game and chick starter. I am assuming the eggs have been at least neglected for a few days off and on. The eggs has a small air sack and are totally dark I have build a emnqubator temp is at 95 degrees and 45 % humidity as of today. I’m hoping that these eggs have some chance.

 

[Greg560]

Well the goose sadly didn’t survive. I’m suspecting something respiratory problem. The 10 eggs are in last week. The home made incubator is a struggle to maintain temp at a constant point. It very from 99 to 93. Humity is at 35 % the eggs were badly attended last two days by goose. What’s the chances

 

[TheCrazyBirdGuy]

WOW This thread is so helpful to a newbe like me... Thanks SOOOOO much for the info. I have read this 3 times and some parts more. I had a clutch of embden/Chinese cross breed goose eggs. There were about 18 eggs (2 moms) and 9 have successfully hatched. My last completed hatching was 2 days ago. The moms abandoned the eggs and they got quite cold by the time I found them. I candled them the best I could. I identified 4 worth working with. 2 so/so maybes, one for sure viable with an internal pip and another that moves when the egg is tapped on gently (no body was moving until I got them warmed back up). I thought for sure they would all be dead considering how cold it was. I manually external pipped the egg (egg 1) that had the internal pip to make one final effort to find life. IT WAS ALIVE!!! OMG! I immediately got them in an incubator and got the temp to 99.5 F and I am working to keep humidity in the 75-80% range. The egg that had internally piped had not made progress in 24 hours so I started to make an opening about the size of a nickle to help it out. This chick is fairly active. Talks quite a bit and the membrane that I can see in the air cell seems to have dried. I just am not sure if I should help this baby further or give her more time... The one eye I can see is occasionally partly open. My instinct tells me to help her more. But I'm not sure.

The other egg (egg 2) with no internal pip moves when tapped on. I am worried that it has been long enough and she will run out of air. I am at a disadvantage as I do not know the start of incubation date. I am just basing my timeline off when the other eggs stopped hatching. All of these eggs were incubated on a shared nest... Both moms sat side by side on the same nest. I feel like I should help this baby along. Should I do an external and internal pip??? They have been in the incubator for about a day and a half +/-.

 

[AquaDuck]

This article is fantastic! I wish I knew all this when I first started incubating ten years ago.

I have a question. Artificial external breathing (making a tiny hole into the air cell). Does it do anything at all for wrong-enders that haven't pipped themselves?
I've had a couple of duck eggs that were slowly turning yellow on the inside. They died without breaking the shell, and the eggtopsy revealed wrong enders. Now, would a hole in the air cell to change out the stale air inside, have helped the duckling breathe easier even if it hasn't broken the inner membrane? Or has it no effect through the inner membrane?

 

[cursichella]

Hi!

Thank you for the informative post! I have some questions about goose "natural childbirth" and hoping for some input.

I have one young (first year laying) Toulouse/Chinese mix named Ducky. She was/is visciously protective off her eggs so early-on we decided to allow her to manage her eggs in her coop. Honestly, we didn't think any would hatch so were stunned when 3 hatched yesterday. They are healthy and she's allowed us to check them, give sips of water and we return them to her afterwards and they snuggle under her. The gander (also her dad or maybe her uncle) is Chinese, kind and protective of her and the babies though a bit clutzy so at a safe distance. She still will not let us near the remaining eggs without creating havoc so we're unable to candle them. Can anyone suggest how long to allow her to continue sitting on them?

Our Toulouse, Ducky's mom, is also fiercly defensive of her egg s as well. None have hatched but this morning while hissing at me one of the eggs exploded! It looked like a hard boiled egg inside. My daughter and I managed to lift Lucy out so I could clean up. She has five remaining eggs. Three feel heavy and two lightweight, all feel warm. Possible hers may hatch? I don't want to distress her further by moving her again to candle the eggs.

Once the goslings are old enough to go into the pen, will we need to keep our other gander and Lucy away from them? When Ducky was young (incubator) both she and her gander mate were not nice to Ducky. It took months to get them to accept her. Ducky's mate was fine from the beginning.

Lastly, is triple-sifted Mallard Creek bedding safe for the young ones?

Thanks in advance for any advice.

 

[Fisherlmiranda]

What an amazing post! Very helpful! Well done. I've read it several times!

 

[saraphin]

Good day . New to the forum this year . Trying to hatch my second round of goose eggs ( 1st resulted in two deaths ). We were directed for he guide on incubating and hatching goslings .
Now that we regrouped and started again I have an egg that started to make peeping noise at the fat end of the end . I noticed it about 12 hours ago . From what I understand the chick has broken the into the air cell. But I also understand the air is gone within 24hrs ... no sign of the egg being cracked still .
So should I make a hole in the fat end or wait ? I don’t want it to suffocate ....
Any guidance would be greatly appreciated