Dewlap Toulouse

[GUNNERMATE]

Are there any special tricks to hatching Dewlap toulouse eggs? I have read that they are harder to hatch than standard goose eggs. Anyone know the secret?

 

[arherp]

My friend hatches them under his Muscovies and has never complained about hatch rates. I imagine what you have heard is either a rumor or from people that inbreed theirs - Toulouse DO NOT take to inbreeding like other birds.

 

[pete55]

We found that Dewlap eggs are sensitive to sufficient weight loss. We aim for 13 to 15%

 

[ultasol]

They are very sensitive to the loss of water,.. they don't lose water as well as some (probably due to extremely thick shells). While muscovies may hatch them well, when using an incubator they can be tricky to hatch. I had issues with pipping and hydroencephaly r/t not having enough water loss from egg during incubation. Talked to some breeders who have raised this breed for a couple decades and found it to be a common problem. I purchased a humidaire used in order to achieve more stable humidity levels, and I also added standard cochins to the "dewlap incubation" team. I wouldn't be above sneaking those dino eggs under a sebastopol either- anything to get them hatched!

 

[pete55]

Hi

I was talking with 'Adrian' on the forum and discussing sufficient water loss from the Dewlaps' eggs. As I said, we run our forced air incubator dry until pipping to achieve a reasonable weight loss. We were also discussing the merits of daily cooling for 5 -10 minutes to help water loss. I was wondering if this helps as during the cooling the egg the heat rapidly radiates out to the cooler environment. During this process perhaps there is also an increased loss of water molecules?? However Adrian did raise the topic of washing the eggs and that the 'bloom' on the surface may be another barrier to water loss. Although he also raised the issue that this may also be a barrier to bacterial infection.

Im still struggling to understand how misting actually contributes to water loss. Adrian suggested it may help to 'wash off' the surface bloom or could it also be that misting helps cool the egg further promoting further heat and/moisture loss.

Pete