4-H Club looking for help on hatching Sebastopol goose eggs naturally

[Cindyetal]

Not really sure but my gut reaction is more often the better. However, when your trying to separate ducks and other poultry into breeding groups I've read wait 2 weeks or more to be sure they weren't fertilized from a prior partner. So my guess is that sperm can last a few days at least, it doesn't have to happen every day. Currently I am having fertility issues with mine. These first eggs 3 of 11 were fertile. I have 3 males and 3 females all approaching 2 years, and two females that hatched last spring. I tried a method of heat treating eggs in storage (to prolong shelf life) so that also could be the problem instead of helping. I don't think there is a magic number of eggs but you may put the 3 ceramic and later add 1 or 2 of your older eggs (as a possible sacrifice) to provoke her to set.

 

[ptjenn]

I like the idea of putting older eggs back along with the ceramic, thanks so much. Our first collected egg will be 7 days old on Monday. Good to know sperm has some 'shelf life' too! I have seen my older male breeding with my younger female who is not laying eggs yet. I have not seen breeding with the older female who is the one current laying eggs. Fingers crossed that they have been.

 

[ptjenn]

Thought I would post some pictures of our project : )
Our geese: Boris, Natasha, Gus and Giselle ( Giselle is in the center, our youngest, just about a year old.
Disenfecting and rehabbing a used goat shelter into a nesting duplex.
Of course, any structure built, needs to be inspected! (Three of our 4- H project doelings)
The 'love' tub, lol!

I

 

[Cindyetal]

Wondering how it's going now? Did she start setting yet. I have a hard time preventing mine from setting. I have one female that started setting and my husband doesn't like to push his luck (makes me confront the hissing geese!). She has a buddy that likes to sit with her. I checked and there are 5 eggs. Another female is setting, I checked her nest. She has no eggs just a feathered nest with small rocks. I gave her 4 from the incubator after she sat for most of the week. She started laying back at Halloween, so I decided if she was determined I'd give her some fertile eggs that were a week along. The fertility on mine is improving. The first batch only 3 of 8 were fertile. The second batch I set has 8 of 13 fertile and the last group is 11 of 13. I tried the heat treating to prolong shelf life on the first two batches. I don't know if it helped or hurt but I had the lowest growth in those groups. The third batch was not heat treated and the oldest eggs were only 9 days old. My call ducks and runner ducks are separated into breeding groups but from researching I think I need to wait closer to 3 weeks to be sure the eggs are pure breeds.

 

[ptjenn]

I've been meaning to update, we are finally getting back on routine after the humongous nor'easter that came barreling through! I came back to my farm last Friday night in the midst of the storm after 12 hours helping out at a friend 's dairy goat farm in Holland MA (feeding 60 bottle babies, tagging, birthing, milking and feeding again) to find the transformer at the end of our road on fire, and of course no power! (Fire dept was there thank goodness!) Luckily we do have a generator, first time having to use in 4 years, regular power restored last night. A few trees down on the property, soggy pastures. All our critters fine, hope all of you who also were in the path of this storm came through ok!

Natasha, the older goose finally went broody! She is sitting on 8 eggs, with the oldest one 10 days old before brooding. March 25th will be day 28, fingers are crossed! Giselle, the younger goose has also started a nest in the other box. I have two porcelain eggs in there, and she laid her third egg yesterday . I've left those eggs in their nest. Temperatures at night in the barn have been about forty degrees F. All the eggs have dates on them so we will have some information on the dates of eggs that don't hatch.

March is looking very busy! Our alpine doe is due to kid the 21st, followed by hopefully goslings on the 28th, followed by our Lamancha doe on the 31st, followed by our youngest goose hopefully hatching out!

More questions:
Should we leave the goslings with mama goose?
Should they have access to some kind of starter feed?
Is non medicated chick starter ok?
Can someone tell us about Angel wing and how to prevent or manage?

Thank you everyone ! Jenn and the Classy Caprines 4-H club

 

[Cindyetal]

Mama goose and the rest of the goose family can be great. If the younger female is setting when the first goslings hatch be careful she doesn't decide to follow them and leave her eggs. I had this happen when females shared a nest! Ganders will be very protective and hands on. When we brood ours we feed chick starter with added Brewer's yeast and I add electrolytes and vinegar to their water. When the parents raised them I had the chick feed available and tried to have the special water close at hand in a dish they could access (and not drown). In a short period of time after hatch the whole family marched them all over the yard and the goslings ate grass and were not near the chick feed. If they are brooding with the parents and free ranging they are less likely to get angel wing than if they are getting only chick starter. General recommendation is to reduce the protein in the feed at 3 weeks to 16%. With them outside a higher percent of their diet will be grass so that helps tremendously. Here is a helpful link about raising waterfowl. http://cottage_rose_birdsnblossoms.webs.com/tipsonraisingwaterfowl.htm

 

[ptjenn]

Thank you, and thank you for the link, I just finished reading the entire post!

 

[ptjenn]

Do the goslings need to be vaccinated for anything at hatching? For that matter, do older geese need to be vaccinated yearly for anything specific?

 

[Cindyetal]

If they have vaccinations for geese, I don't know of it. Maybe some others are more knowledgeable. I know some people treat them for worms, but not as babies.

 

[ptjenn]

Thanks!