Dewlap Exhibition Toulouse-Incubation Diary with Pics! Hatch Day!!!

[mtacagni]

Fantastic geese, my toulouse aren't as heavy as that sadly, I really struggled to find any in the UK in 2009 but did get a pair for breeding eventually, last year only got 5 goslings out of about 30 incubated, (chickens hatched a couple also) but I'm really struggling this year, out of 25 incubated so far only about 3 infertile but all the rest are DIS at differing stages of growth, 7 dead this morning, they seem to be well formed when I've checked after but none have reached pipping stage, humidity is around 30, I've been avoiding handling the eggs at all once in the incy (access isn't the best once in either) as I thought this may damage them, incy is forced air auto turner that takes 36 goose eggs, only thing I've done different since last year is put incy in a different smaller room which is colder and its only a couple of feet off the floor, so gutted this morning I've put it back where it was last year. I was wondering if airflow can make a big difference bearing in mind its forced air or if low down their not getting enough oxygen? Any suggestions, threads great by the way, you say yours are moving a lot today, is this usual as I've not seen any movement before when candling......?

 

[AquaEyes]

Pardon the newbie question, but are the dewlaps just loose skin, or are these birds also fatter than the non-dewlap birds? I mean, is this just a wrinkly skin characteristic, like on a shar-pei?



~Chris

 

[gofasterstripe]

Pete...im on day 24 today. Im checking the eggs 3 times a day when I turn them but today I havent put any water in so the air sac gets a bit bigger. Here is a pic, taken tonight, do you think they need to get alot bigger or what. You can see where ive drawn on the eggs. 1 egg is quite a bit behind the othere..the bottom right egg. What do you think.

 

[pete55]

DEWLAP UPDATE DAY 21.5
The goslings continue to grow and are now almost filling the egg. There's less active movement now as the free space within the egg reduces. The eggs are now being incubated with the air cell end inclined upwards (approx 25 degree angle) which is to encourage the goslings to manouvre into their hatching position. At this stage their heads are usually bent downwards. The air cell has enlarged downwards another 2mm but I would like to see it larger at this stage. Unless I can achieve further moisture loss these goslings may die before internal pipping

The relative humidity is 25% and they are being cooled daily for 15 minutes, turned through 90 degrees hourly on auto turning and hand turned through 180 degrees once daily. Temperature is stable at 37.2C.

Also see some questions so I'll try to answer them one at a time

mtacagni - Im sorry to hear about your eggs but do bear in mind that early eggs are often more difficult to hatch than later in the season. Environment condition can affect performance and humidity though being lower on the floor shouldnt make a difference. I would suggest that despite a low relative humidity of 30% your eggs are not losing sufficent moisture. Run your incubator dry and cool the eggs after a week for 10-15 minutes daily. I also think you need to hand turn 180 degrees once daily to supplement your auto turning. Waht temperature are you running at????

AquaEyes - The Dewlaps do have loose skin but this becomes even more exaggerated with age. However certain bloodlines do show more dewlap and loose skin with large keels. Our birds are a little overweight but this is their 'type' and the big Gander is fertilizing eggs this year so he's in good condition. Some of our other lines do not have such large dewlaps but its a look that we're line breeding for with both the Greys and now the Buffs.

Gofasterstripe - Very helpful photo and marking your air cells in pencil is a great idea

The 3 smaller eggs look good with good air cell development. The bottom left egg looks to have a very good air cell and appears to be approaching internal pipping. If you candle that egg I think you will see early shadows in the air cell that start at the back and increase in size moving down the side and into the front. At that stage hold the egg to your ear and you may hear regular 'clicking' which confirms respiration and therefore internal pipping. You've got those 3 smaller eggs in the correct position and they would naturally roll back to that side up if placed on a table - its nature's way of saying its time to stop turning

Im hoping the larger egg is no more than 14 days as you've got quite a bit of moisture loss still to achieve, it's obviously from a larger breed or from a small goose with a very sore bottom!!!!!!!! Please give me more details on this egg but larger eggs are more difficult to get adequate moisture loss from (although I've heard Africans often break this rule). I would incubate with a very low relative humidity and cool daily for 15 minutes. Hope that helps

Thats it for now folks and diary page updated with todays candling picture

Pete

 

[gofasterstripe]

Pete.
All the eggs are from Sebbies. 1 is larger than the others, she said it could of just come from an older female....shes got 11 pairs of them. They were all layed on the same day and sent out that day, so I got them fresh.
I have been moveing the eggs round the bator just incase there is a cold spot. All these eggs went in on the same day.
I hope this helps
Edited to ask. Yes when I place them they roll into position, Should I stop turning them now but not go into lockdown. Im going to keep the humidity low today to try and dry that 1 egg out a bit, its out cooling just now. I couldnt hear any noise from any of the eggs...I had to wait for the dogs to stop their morning howl 1st. Oh and talking od howls, Id love to see your bassetts, I have 1 too.

 

[pete55]

Hi

Yes its ok to stop turning them now as they begin to find their own point of balance. The air cells may appear even larger tonight and look for shadows moving into the air cell as the goslings start to lift their heads up so their beaks makes contact with the air cell membrane. Once thats pierced then the goslings will start to breathe and you'll hear the clicking noise, usually about 48 hours before hatching. So tonight you may see enlarged air cell and shadows followed by internal pipping. Keep the humidity low until you see external pipping THEN go into lockdown. About 65-75% relative humidity should be fine

Its an eggciting time for you now

 

[animaladdictions]

Hello my fellow goosers!

I just wanted to make a quick post in gratitude to our friend Pete. A few days ago I created a thread needing advice on air cell size. This is only my second time incubating geese eggs and I was frantic because it was day 26 and my dewlaps air cell was still very small. I thought for sure the baby was doomed but I asked for advice anyway "just in case". Pete was the only person who responded to my post. He told me to take all water out of the bator and to continue cooling the egg for 15 minutes a day. He advised me not to go into lock down until the external pip. I have followed his advice to the T and am so happy to announce that I am 97% sure my baby is going to make it! Had it not been for Pete's sound advice, Im positive this baby wouldn't have had a chance at survival. Now, thanks to him, I can see movement in the air cell and I can HEAR THE BABY BREATHING! Needless to say, I am "eggstatic"! I know I'm not out of the woods yet as we are waiting now for external pipping, but if not for Pete, we wouldn't even be here.

I just want to say, THANK YOU PETE! You are a real asset to this website. Your knowledge and experience has quite possibly saved my little Dewlaps life and your help means more to me than you'll ever know. If anyone reading this thread has any question regarding hatching goose eggs, I very highly recommend getting in touch with Pete. He obviously knows what he's talking about!

 

[pete55]

AnimalAddictions wrote;

Hello my fellow goosers! I just wanted to make a quick post in gratitude to our friend Pete. A few days ago I created a thread needing advice on air cell size. This is only my second time incubating geese eggs and I was frantic because it was day 26 and my dewlaps air cell was still very small. I thought for sure the baby was doomed but I asked for advice anyway "just in case". Pete was the only person who responded to my post. He told me to take all water out of the bator and to continue cooling the egg for 15 minutes a day. He advised me not to go into lock down until the external pip. I have followed his advice to the T and am so happy to announce that I am 97% sure my baby is going to make it! Had it not been for Pete's sound advice, Im positive this baby wouldn't have had a chance at survival. Now, thanks to him, I can see movement in the air cell and I can HEAR THE BABY BREATHING! Needless to say, I am "eggstatic"! I know I'm not out of the woods yet as we are waiting now for external pipping, but if not for Pete, we wouldn't even be here.

I just want to say, THANK YOU PETE! You are a real asset to this website. Your knowledge and experience has quite possibly saved my little Dewlaps life and your help means more to me than you'll ever know. If anyone reading this thread has any question regarding hatching goose eggs, I very highly recommend getting in touch with Pete. He obviously knows what he's talking about!

Well thank you very very much that so kind of you

Im always happy to help if I can but its very nice to get such a lovely thank you from a fellow goosing friend in the States

 

[DaveK]

Quote:
Pete, we sometimes have issues with eggs not drying down. This in a dry environment with NO water in the incubator. We have found that even if the air cells could be larger when looking at them at close to three weeks they can and do increase in size during that last week and hatch well. Hopefully that is what will happen to you with these Toulouse eggs. Good Luck.

 

[gofasterstripe]

Quote:
That 1 big egg that was behind this morning...Its caught up with the rest of them already...im sooo glad. Checked all of them, all air sacs are bigger this afternoon so drew a line to see if they grow again by tonight. Thanks Pete, as said up there in another post, you have been a great help to alot of people on here.