incubating african eggs - detached air cell (day 30 - they are hatching!!)

[Iain Utah]

Today is day 14 and time to mark air cell loss. I had hubby take a lot of pics to show you what I'm seeing. All 6 goosies are still swimming strong.

Normal air cell pencil marks showing day 7 and day 14:

Normal air cell:

Two if the normal air cell eggs candled:


Weird air cell:

Weird air cell embryo:

 

[flaming007]

Looking good! I hope they hatch for you!

 

[pete55]

All looking promising

 

[Iain Utah]

Thanks!! Today is day 19 and all 6 goosies (4 standard and 2 large dewlap) are still rocking it. The membrane filled in the space nicely, so I laid the one egg down with the others a couple of days ago. It is hard to tell it had a damaged air cell other than it is larger than the others. However, my other weird air cell which I did not prop upright has a well defined air cell on the side of the egg. I am not overly concerned though because from what I have read, it sounds like it should hatch ok. In 2 days (day 21), I will mark cell on eggs and show pics, to make sure everything is going as it should, or if I should do anything different for them as we get close to hatching time.

Thanks for staying tuned in and for your help & encouragement with my hatching effort!! I am pretty sure my geese really want to be parents!

 

[Iain Utah]

Today is day 21 and all is well with my goosie eggs. The goosies are filling the egg so much it is not worth taking a candling picture. But I did take a picture of the air cells I marked tonight. The bottom row of 4 are the standard eggs from byc member celtic oaks. The far right and left show the markings for day 7 and 14. I think the evaporation rate is pretty good. The two eggs on top are the large dewlap africans I got from ebay with the messed up air cells. The one on the right is the one I propped up and I can hardly tell now it was messed up. The other egg's air cell is more on the side of the egg, but I think is also ok.
The way they are going, I feel pretty good that all 6 will make it to lockdown.

 

[pete55]

Hi
All looking very promising. At this stage I would be removing them and letting the cool for 20 minutes. I also mist them with water when first removed as this promotes further cooling and gas exchange. Although it seems odd it does help the egg to lose sufficent moisture. Our eggs only go into high humidity (lockdown conditions) once they've pipped. I also keep the temperature around 37.2C to prevent overheating

 

[Iain Utah]

I will start the 20 min daily cool with misting as soon as I open bator today. I will also maintain low humidity until I can verify internal pip. 99F for lockdown? I assume for still air? I have them incubating between 100-101 F (still air).

By the way, the evaporation and cooling due to misting is not an odd concept to me. I can relate it to horses, as they cool by sweat/water evaporating off of their skin.

 

[pete55]

Yes 99F will be fine as geese tend to do better at slightly lower temps than chickens or ducks. Best of luck with them and a great way to monitor progess by marking the outline of the aircell. You'll know you're near to pipping when the air cell enlarges suddenly and dips down on one side of the egg as the gosling manouvres into its hatching position.

 

[Iain Utah]

Just finished the 20 minute misting/cooling. While my day 22 duck eggs are showing significant dipping with air cell, no real change in goose eggs in past 24 hours. However, all 6 are rocking now in the bator. It won't be long!!

 

[psue]

good luck Iain!