Sebastopol Baby Pics Page 6!

[pete55]

Hi - its sounding fine and they do sound fertile as the red dot (the heart of the developing embryo) is the first indication of fertility. Within another day or two the supporting blood vessels become easier to see. 2-3% weight loss is fine as its often slightly lower in the first week but the rate increases as the embryo grows.

All sounding good and I wouldnt change anything, just keep an eye on that temperature as goose eggs do better at slightly lower temperatures than other poultry

 

[Enchanted Sunrise Farms]

Hi Pete - i'm going to ask my question here rather than pm, in case anyone else might have this issue. We are 15 days into incubation. i weighed again and five of the eggs have lost between 7% to about 8-1/2%. Then i have one egg that has lost only 5%. From what i have read, if they aren't losing enough weight, one should decrease humidity. But i don't have any water in the tray at all. i am misting then cooling 15 minutes every day. Humidity is about 35%, it went up from 30% when i added four more eggs i'm incubating for a friend. i have a terrible candler (better one on the way from ebay). But i do see formation in all the eggs.

So, in your opinion, should i do anything different? This egg that has lost only 5% is the biggest of all of them. i want to give them all the best chance of hatching, but this one egg seems to be a problem child.

 

[pete55]

Oh goodness you wouldnt believe the number of problem 'children' we get here!!! It sure keeps us on our toes - especially the parrot eggs!

There's a couple of ideas I can think of;

Remove the egg from the incubator for 30 minutes twice daily which should help to increase the moisture rate.

Secondly though a little more tricky is to GENTLY wash the egg in warm water while rubbing the surface with your finger as though you were cleaning a dirty egg. The goal is to wash away the mucous coat on the surface of the shell which then makes it a little more porous. Then simply pat dry and return to the incubator.

You can try both ideas but the cooling is the most effective

 

[Enchanted Sunrise Farms]

Thank you SO much! i will start the 30 minute cooling right away. Wow, incubating goose eggs is a lot of work! i had no idea they would be consuming my life for 30 days. Everything i need to do away from the house is broken into 3-4 hour increments, as i'm hand-turning 5 times a day. i would never make it as a mother goose.

 

[Enchanted Sunrise Farms]

Hi Pete - i have another conundrum here. i decided to create a very detailed excel spreadsheet so i can track weight loss on those eggs daily, if needed. That largest egg should have lost 20 grams by today and has only lost 13. That is the one i just recently started the twice a day 30 minute cooling. But the smallest egg of the bunch seems to be losing too much and i'm not sure how to correct it. The other four eggs are within a gram of what the weight loss should be by now, but that little egg should have lost 17.85 grams but has actually lost 20 grams. Is that an okay overage or should i be concerned. And if it is a problem, how do i help that egg when the others seem to be doing okay with the temps and humidity in the incubator? Thanks for any guidance you might provide.

 

[Enchanted Sunrise Farms]

Okay, i'm going to guess here. If increasing the length of time one cools the egg increases weight loss, then to decrease weight loss one should decrease the cooling time. So i think with that one egg that seems to be losing too much weight, i'll decrease cooling time from 15 minutes daily to maybe 6-7 minutes. i'll start today then weigh again tomorrow.

 

[pete55]

Hi - its always problematic when eggs lose weight at a slightly different rate and thats why every ownershould remember they're in their individual environment with their individual eggs. Eggs lose at different rates even within the same clutch. Size, shell thickness, shell porosity all contribute to these differences. However the constant factor is the 16% total weight loss.

This is why I have different incubators running, same temperature but different humidities; a low humidity at 35%, a medium at 55% and a hatcher at 75%. Then its easy to place an egg in a different humidity to control its weight loss. However I understand that its not always practical to have 3 incubators but well worth considering even a still air without auto turn as a hatcher and higher humidity incubator for eggs losing to much weight.

You're right to work out a strategy for your small egg and I would stop cooling it to decrease the moisture loss rate or if you have a hatcher then transfer it to there in higher humidity. Sometimes you have to make hard choices and operate your incubator to suit the majority of your eggs.

Wish I could be more helpful.

Pete

 

[Enchanted Sunrise Farms]

Hi Pete - Thank you for your continuing assistance, and sorry to be relying on you so much. Your input is very helpful. i do notice the increased cooling on that large egg has made a big difference and it seems to be more on track with weight loss. All six of these eggs are very different in size, and then i had to wash 5 of them as they were super dirty. i do have a still air incubator and will get that set up today for that one egg. This is actually a very fascinating process and i am very happy to have the information with which to give these eggs the best chance possible. Thank you so much again for your help. i'm going to name my first born gander after you.

 

[pete55]

No problem with helping at all. Remember when you set the still air up the temperature should be about 99F at the level where the centre of the egg will be (about one inch from the egg tray).

 

[pete55]

By the way you'll also find me on the Sebastopol forum a lot run by Vicky (CottageRose). Have you joined as there's loads of great Sebastopol information there

http://cottage_rose_birdsnblossoms.webs.com/forum.htm