No progress after internal pip

Chrifister

Chirping
Apr 5, 2020
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70
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Hello again!

So today I am looking for advice on how to proceed with 2 Embden goose eggs that are still in lockdown in our hatcher (old small incubator). There were 3 eggs that made it to lockdown.

Day 26: Candled all three eggs and seen movement in all of them. Egg #2 was internally pipped already with the beak almost tapping the inside of the shell?
Day 27: Egg #1 has an external pip. Egg #2 can be seen wiggling throughout the day.
Day 28: No progress in egg #1. Egg #2 still wiggling but less often.
Day 29: Egg #1 has a bigger hole and is starting to unzip in the morning and hatched in the afternoon. Didn't notice any wiggling from egg #2.
Day 30: Gosling making slow progress in the incubator. Since no pips on the other eggs and gosling was dry, we moved it to a brooder. Candled the remaining 2 eggs and both have movement. Egg #2 is still internally pipped and the beak is still moving back and forth but not touching the shell?
Day 31: Today there is still no progress in the remaining 2 eggs?

The gosling was very shaky after hatching, which I thought was unusual. Left it in there for 30 hours to try and stimulate the other eggs to hatch. It didn't move around much until you moved the styrofoam cover to check on it. Something tells me it's delayed. The shaking is very quick, not a cold trembling but more a neurological thing. Head is very shaky. Seems normal otherwise and is chirping loudly and quickly responds when the styrofoam cover is moved.

When we moved the gosling to the brooder, it was having trouble standing. Looked kind of like splayed leg, its legs were going out to the side. I suspect part of the issue was the paper towel that's laid over the shavings is not enough grip for it to stand with the leg issue it has. Chirping loudly. Drank water when I dipped its beak. Made good progress through the day and was standing and running by the evening. Doesn't like being alone so my father has been spending a lot of time with it. Likely not helping the loud chirping it does when left alone.

Today the gosling is standing very well and walking/running around. Head is still a little shaky and it wobbles a bit when standing, but huge improvement. Knows where the water dish is and I've seen it drink. Doesn't seem to know about the food dish even though it will follow our finger into the dish and peck. We put food on the paper towel and it eats from there, also eats from your finger. Loves being talked to or held.

Anyway, back to the eggs. Much of what I've read say geese can take anywhere from 28-35 days to hatch so I guess we just leave the eggs and wait? Some stuff I read last night said you should help with a safety hole for the one that has internally pipped, and that you shouldn't wait longer than 48 hours to add the hole? We're well beyond 48 hours now, it's near 5 days since we moved them to the hatcher.
 
I found it difficult using a screw, I managed easily with a small 2mm drill bit from a Makita tool kit (it had even smaller ones in the kit), disinfected it with alcohol before the procedure, of course.
 
I couldn't do it with a screw either and had the same idea. Just happened to have my drill bag nearby so took one of the bits out and used it scratch the egg for a bit until a very small hole appeared. Then I used the screw.

It's bright here but I tried candling them. I can't see as well with the flashlight that of course is also dimming when I need it most. I ended up in a closet that's kind of dark. I can't see any movement in either egg. I put a hole in the egg that was internally pipped and am waiting a bit for the egg to warm up again. I'll open the hole a little more to see if the little one is still alive.

Also put the darned flashlight battery on a charger.
 
We candled and then opened the air sacs on both eggs and both had passed. The one that pipped internally looked okay. I'd like to think that we could have saved it had we intervened earlier but it was internally pipped on day 26 before I put them in the hatcher. This means it had pipped internally in the incubator while it was still in the egg turner? Something must have been wrong with it to have started hatching that early?

The other egg had no internal pip.

The lone gosling is doing better every day. Less shaky and wobbly on his feet today. Can run very fast now. Eating and drinking fine. I put some of that electrolyte stuff in the water. Loves attention and loves being held. We couldn't find a suitable teddy from our daughter to put in with it so we folded up a piece of an old shirt. That was a success because it slept on that piece of shirt last night and was much quieter. We have more eggs hatching every weekend so it should have some company soon.

Thanks everyone for the advice.
 

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