Here we go again - I'm hatching more goslings!!

[gooseegg]

Found nest being sat on March 17th. Checked on the nest at 10am March 21st. Nest was destroyed all but one egg. Goose was nowhere. I started incubating March 21st. At that time i saw nothing in the egg. Set temp: 99.5 degrees. Humidity: 50-55% (a couple times it shot up, and I took water out). If I start counting from when I first incubated it then today is day 22. Per the advice of someone I lowered the humidity to 40% because the egg had a small air sac. So here is a picture today of the egg from both sides. And a video (I had to put the camera down to turn the egg and then I picked it back up). There is alot of movement inside the egg. My question is: am I right that i am on day 25 since there was nothing to be seen the first day of incubation? Is the air sac too small right now? Do I keep my humidity at 40%. When do I stop turning the egg and raise the humidity? And, do I continue to spray after the 27th day? Any way to get the air sac bigger?

Today is day 25. My humidty is now 37%. I am trying to get more air in the egg. when do I raise humidity. Im afraid my baby goose is going to die on me!!! NEED HELP!!!!

video taken at 22 day

 

[CelticOaksFarm]

I would reccomend referring to Pete's hatching guide for artificial incubation. It really is the standard for hatching.

The egg should be farther along than you are stating if the goose was sitting it before you put it in the incubator. Either way yes the air cell is too small. Lower humidity allows for moisture loss and air cell development. Misting and cooling also help with this. Again I refer you back to the sticky about hatching to read the guide there and tips for helping it along.

 

[igotgoosed]

Hey ya'll!!

Marty, glad you (and your brood lol) made is safely through the storms! You too psue!!

Celtic, sorry to hear you lost some babies

Iain, that pic of molasses and blackstrap is

cute!! Molasses is so ridiculously precious. Almost as cute as a gosling....hehe

I'm expecting an external pip today from my 3/17 pilgrim egg!

 

[CelticOaksFarm]

Is that egg showing movement whe. It is held completely still or only when you move it while candling?

 

[BullCreek]

Well, update on the 4 egg hatch attempt. Baby#1 is extremely vocal, energetic, eating/drinking, and can tell the difference between me and my fiancee.

Baby #2 (slightly preemie baby that hatched last night) was pretty weak when I got up this morning. And I'm talking really weak. Fairly vocal. I notice an occasional crackly sound as it breaths. May be a crackly feeling, but it seems like it's a sound... does that make sense? Thought I noticed it last night when I moved it from bator to brooder, but wasn't sure. What could that be? Bizarre. Got it to take some polyvisol water, and I cushioned it with towels and put it in its little tub in the big tub (because otherwise #1 will trample it). We'll see. It's lungs are good (loud peeps).

Iain, #4 didn't make it. I wasn't totally expecting it to, but still sad. It was fairly swollen, and it happened to be one of the eggs that was a couple percent behind the others in weight loss. I think the whole process was just too much for it. Was a bit of a relief to remove it from the bator this morning, poor thing.

#3 is still in it's shell, though seems strong. Good peeps, nibbling on shell. Its beak seems much bigger than that of #1. I think this is a big baby. I hope that doesn't make it too difficult for it to get out.

 

[erijn5]

Iain: Congrats on baby!!!! I'm glad it made it out just fine.

 

[BullCreek]

Baby #1... Very difficult to photograph, as it refuses to be more than about 6" from my face. Goodness, this little guy is fast. I don't remember our geese being this fast when they were babies!

 

[Iain Utah]

Erin, thanks! I love this little guy. He is even more precious and huge than my other toulouse babies, and to watch him with my teeny cayuga puts a perma-grin on my face!! If any of your new eggs show development, I will nurse them extra special because I would very much like to have another gosling from your stock.

Goosed, I think they are both equally cute... which is actually saying something for Molasses! Hope you see the external pip soon!

Bull, sorry about the one baby, but the other baby is adorable!! Best of luck with your other two!

 

[CelticOaksFarm]

Marty, to answer your question. Yes we would gladly hatch Scovy duckling and chicks to ship together. It might be sometime though. The Marans are just starting to lay and the Scovy are not yet laying. There are lists of places to get Muscovy from though as well as BCM. You might even find some local to you. The state thread for your area might have people with one or both on it for you buy from. They might be close enough to drive to also.

If you still want us to do the hatching feel free to email, and we will let you know when they start to lay all at the same time and pick a hatch date with you then.

 

[gooseegg]

Thank u. I have terribly mixed messages on here from people in regards to what day I am actually on. It's so frustrating. Between the humidity and not knowing hatching days I'm losing all hope. Now I don't know if I need to go ahead and raise humidity and stop turning. When I candled it the first day of incubation there was nothing in it at all. And there is movement when I hold it still but not alot. It's slowed down just within the last 24 hours