Christmas Goose Eggs

[Grassman 52]

My Geese gave me a Christmas present this year - 4 early eggs during Christmas week. Geese were only 8 months old so not expecting any eggs until spring (if then). Well thought I would put these in the incubator with my Muscovy eggs that I am learning with and I have one that is now 28 days along

.

Trying not to get my hopes up, have seen a lot of things go wrong with the duck eggs, but the egg still looks good. Stopped turning today and waiting to see if and when I get an internal PIP.

 

[sourland]

Good luck on hatching that egg!

 

[Miss Lydia]

Good luck on hatching that egg!

X2

 

[Going Bhonkers]

x 3!!

 

[Miss Lydia]

Any news?

 

[Grassman 52]

Egg died at 28 to 29 days -

I have been busy trying to figure out what is going wrong - These where the first eggs that my geese laid (7months old) had 4 eggs and only one was fertile. Not sure if this has anything to do with it.

Been looking at the humidity - was too low - corrected

Just started looking closely at my thermometers - I have a Dicky 2X2 cabinet incubator with the TRH158 digital thermometer and humidity gage - just picked up a Brinsea Spot Check and two glass medical thermometers - Temps were running high about 1.5*'s (as far as I can see - ordered a water snake today to get the real temp of the eggs)

I am loosing a lot of Muscovy eggs right around 28 - 31 days, I hope to get it straightened out before spring -

Up to 14 healthily ducklings while I am working on it.

This is very frustrating - any words of wisdom?

 

[Miss Lydia]

Egg died at 28 to 29 days -

I have been busy trying to figure out what is going wrong - These where the first eggs that my geese laid (7months old) had 4 eggs and only one was fertile. Not sure if this has anything to do with it.

Been looking at the humidity - was too low - corrected

Just started looking closely at my thermometers - I have a Dicky 2X2 cabinet incubator with the TRH158 digital thermometer and humidity gage - just picked up a Brinsea Spot Check and two glass medical thermometers - Temps were running high about 1.5*'s (as far as I can see - ordered a water snake today to get the real temp of the eggs)

I am loosing a lot of Muscovy eggs right around 28 - 31 days, I hope to get it straightened out before spring -

Up to 14 healthily ducklings while I am working on it.

This is very frustrating - any words of wisdom?

Sorry about the eggs, I know nothing about incubating, I leave that to my girls to do. But congrats on 14 healthy ducklings!!!

 

[1MrsMagoo]

Grassman.....


Have you looked at Pete55's Waterfowl hatching guide....found here - https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/491013/goose-incubation-hatching-guide-completed ?

I have had GREAT luck hatching waterfowl using this guide. Two things I noticed using his techniques: One the goose eggs need a slightly lower temperature than other eggs, and two they seem to benefit more by carefully tracking the air cell and weighing. If they do not lose enough weight, they won't hatch.

Also, did you start misting them and letting them have a cool off period after 6 days in incubation? This also seems to improve hatch rates.

Good luck....and hope you have more goose eggs to try.

 

[Grassman 52]

Thanks - yes I have been re-reading the guide. That's why I started calibrating my thermometer and hydrometer. Have everything dialed in now and found that the dry winter air in my basement is real dry, brought the humidity levels up to where the guide suggests and weighting weekly. Have not been misting due to the air cells being to large, misting actually can cause more evaporation.

Running through a new cycle with the Muscovy eggs getting everything just right before my geese start laying again - Found a frozen goose egg today that the girls had covered up, should start laying soon.

 

[1MrsMagoo]

Thanks - yes I have been re-reading the guide. That's why I started calibrating my thermometer and hydrometer. Have everything dialed in now and found that the dry winter air in my basement is real dry, brought the humidity levels up to where the guide suggests and weighting weekly. Have not been misting due to the air cells being to large, misting actually can cause more evaporation.

Running through a new cycle with the Muscovy eggs getting everything just right before my geese start laying again - Found a frozen goose egg today that the girls had covered up, should start laying soon.

You know, having accurate temperature and humidity readings seems to be the biggest challenge all the way around. I am glad you figured out about the humidity: Is your central heating equipment down there by any chance? If so,a furnace will take almost all the moisture out of the air. I remember how dry the air would get once the furnace kicked on when I lived in Ohio.

In addition to weighing the eggs, I candle the eggs about every 4th day and use a pencil to mark the air cell. Till the last couple days, when the air cell dips, their should be fairly incremental increases..no big jumps or large segments. I plan on buying a digital scale to replace the old kitchen scale I've been using (used for measuring baking ingredients) since it is not terribly accurate. It gives me a ballpark, but nothing more.

I just ordered a gadget to check all my thermometers and my Brinsea's digital temperature. It is a Precision Frio-Temp Digital Verification Thermometer. It comes with certified calibration certificate and is guaranteed to be within .5 degrees F of the actual temperature from -58 to 392 degrees. The probe is in a glass jar filled with some sort of media that evens out the temperature so a uniform reading can be obtained. That ought to help me correctly set the temps for incubation. So far, with chicken and turkey eggs, I've had 100% hatches this year. I just want to be more careful with the goose eggs since they seem to be more fragile.

Sorry about the frozen goose egg: That is a bummer. I am sure your girls will give you more eggs soon. Also, good luck with the Muscovy eggs!