GOOSE BREEDING THREAD - for breeding, incubating, hatching and rearing.

[livininbrazil]

I bought some peacock eggs about 5 years ago and hatch the 2 that I bought from one breeder and bought two more from another breeder. All 4 hatched which I heard is hard to do. I loved my baby peachicks. I had no idea they had full feathers on their wings when they hatch. I fell in love with them and they loved taking a nap with me on a towel and I had the blow dryer on low warm and they snuggled up to me. I loved it! But my one dog killed my favorite two and I placed the dog that same day.... I was a Newfy female and she bite right through them. So had two left and a raccoon got one. So I bought a couple whites to keep the one from being lonely. Then bought more eggs and hatch them... I ended up with 7 peacocks 6 males and one female. Then when that batch was 2 years old the one peacock male killed her.... So my husband made me sell my peacocks

and all my ducks so I could keep the Sebastopol geese.

Here are my first hatched peachicks. This is in my bed. I got out to take this picture. As you can see they were sound asleep on two the other two woke up.



My first two peachicks to hatch.


The last three I hatched.

Beautiful! I had a lovely pair, just normal blue, so gret to have around, but my neighbour complained that the male made a noise at night, it was just once in a while, when he heard strange noises. we got used to it, slept right on, but they didn´t like it. They let off bangers late at night, have their car radio full volume, kids screaming, etc, but our peacock was making too much noise! Well, I sold the pair and all the other neighbours asked where they´d gone, as they also liked to see them (when I say neighbours, the houses are near enough so that if you bellow "your cow in road!" they can just about hear you

) I had them up near the house as that´s where most of the trees are, but we´ve planted trees in the rest of the place (used to be a cow field) so when the trees grow to a good size and I can have the birds in a different area, (away from htese neighbours), I want to get some more, I thing they´re beautiful.
But what a joyful-come-sad time you had with yours, Ruru. Sorry to hear about that. And I guess your hubby was trying to save you from more heartache.

 

[SolarPoweredMe]

I feel your pain ~ I have bought many shipped eggs & have have a few delivered in a plastic bag from the USPS because the boxes were leaking egg yolk. Looks like they played football with a few. When you loose 3 eggs you pay almost $300 for and the seller offers no refunds.... Because it wasn't the shippers fault but the PO handling... A few arrived broken because they were poorly packed, but some were packaged great and still arrived broken. I have had my eggs I have shipped with great care and packing arrive with broken eggs. So its a risk we take when buying shipped eggs.

Also had eggs arrive with cracked eggs and yolk all over the intact eggs ~ I just washed them & set them after letting them set on the table in a egg carton pointy side down for 1-3 days. Eggs can be set even after 14 days of collecting. I have set refrigerated duck eggs that were shipped with 80% hatch rate.

So I would just let them sit and settle ~ your best bet IMO

Thank you!! I didn't realize they had that long a shelf life before incubation and still be viable. Well, viable being a relative term with shipped eggs as I'm coming to find. I looked around at shipping methods after cleaning up the mess of scrambled eggs and found that there are SOOO many infinitely more responsible ways to ship live eggs. Sorry about the opinions bit, just didn't want to get reamed or anything. Thanks again! Do you think I should leave them in the carton when I put them in the incubator, or lay them on the side like the normal ones? Will the air pocket stabilize, or stay a little loose in there? They are quietly sitting fat side up for now... Here's hoping!

It doesn't look like any of the eggs were wrapped properly.

Yeah, was totally heartbroken I think I will steer clear of ordering online if these don't work out. It'd be better to drive a couple of hours myself than have so many eggs ruined again.

 

[RiverGoddess]

"Do you think I should leave them in the carton when I put them in the incubator, or lay them on the side like the normal ones? "

When you set them on their sides?
Or in the do you put them in pointy side down?

What kind of bator are you using?

 

[RURU]

What I did was put them in an egg carton fat side up pointy side down and let them settle for 24 hours. Then put them in the incubator and let the incubator turn them. I had super good luck hatching peachicks. I do better with them then I use to with geese eggs. Geese eggs you do a whole lot different than peachick eggs.

I kind of did spoil them rotten. When I found them up on the side of the plastic container I put them in I did not know that they flew right away. It was so cute. When they got cold they would go down and get under the heat lamp. Then when I came in they get up on the side and wait for me to gather them and bring them in my bed with me for a nap. As you can see the towel I had them on..... We would all snooze together. I miss them dearly!!!

Whoever packed those eggs needed packing lessons! When I ship eggs I take a paper towel wrap around the egg, then take bubble wrap and cut it wrap it around the egg leaving the ends open for air. Then put as much news paper stuff it on the sides and bubble wrap in there to make it solid so nothing moves around. I was told by the post office to then take that and put in a larger box and stuff it full of bubble wrap, Because he said that there are packages that can weight up to 80 lbs that can be stacked on them....
So double packing and double boxing will help get them to you safer!!!

 

[seminolewind]

Quote: That's really sad. I'm sure awful things like that happen to a lot of bird owners.

 

[seminolewind]

Quote: Yes, skipping the mail with goose eggs is a smart thing. I had gotten 5 last year and 4 had detached yolks, and none of them hatched. It's too expensive to spend that much money. Buying babies is good!

 

[SolarPoweredMe]

"Do you think I should leave them in the carton when I put them in the incubator, or lay them on the side like the normal ones? "

When you set them on their sides?
Or in the do you put them in pointy side down?

What kind of bator are you using?

I've read on here that if the air sack is detached that you should put them in the incubator in a carton, fat side up.. But then I see somewhere else that doing that will cause issues come hatching if they make it, and that I should always lay them on their sides? We're using a Little Giant still air. The thermometer it came with sucked so we got a digital thermometer and hydrometer in there, as well as an old school mercury type bulb one.

What I did was put them in an egg carton fat side up pointy side down and let them settle for 24 hours. Then put them in the incubator and let the incubator turn them. I had super good luck hatching peachicks. I do better with them then I use to with geese eggs. Geese eggs you do a whole lot different than peachick eggs.

I kind of did spoil them rotten. When I found them up on the side of the plastic container I put them in I did not know that they flew right away. It was so cute. When they got cold they would go down and get under the heat lamp. Then when I came in they get up on the side and wait for me to gather them and bring them in my bed with me for a nap. As you can see the towel I had them on..... We would all snooze together. I miss them dearly!!!

Whoever packed those eggs needed packing lessons! When I ship eggs I take a paper towel wrap around the egg, then take bubble wrap and cut it wrap it around the egg leaving the ends open for air. Then put as much news paper stuff it on the sides and bubble wrap in there to make it solid so nothing moves around. I was told by the post office to then take that and put in a larger box and stuff it full of bubble wrap, Because he said that there are packages that can weight up to 80 lbs that can be stacked on them....
So double packing and double boxing will help get them to you safer!!!

Ahhhh I can imagine watching tiny babies grow to be such gorgeous big birds! Hopefully soon we'll share in the excitement with goslings! I'm sorry your hubs made you give them up. They are super cute! I'm looking forward to having that kind of lovey relationship. Thank you for the advise as well, it's greatly appreciated. Your packing sounds like you give a hoot about your eggs! I guess that's the determinate difference between someone who loves their animals and someone who views them as just livestock.

Yes, skipping the mail with goose eggs is a smart thing. I had gotten 5 last year and 4 had detached yolks, and none of them hatched. It's too expensive to spend that much money. Buying babies is good!

Agreed. I messaged him with a very... unhappy tone. Funny enough, he hadn't responded to the last 3 messages, but as soon as feedback starts being mentioned, it was instantaneous. He said he ran out of bubble wrap, and would have another set of eggs to me Monday. Never again though, I rather drive a while to pick eggs up.

 

[RURU]

I really love my Sebastopol geese and find it hard enough trying to hatch goslings here. When you ship eggs you never know just what the post office is going to do with them. Each of eggs I sent I treated like babies and hate to see fertile eggs killed by bad handling from the USPS. The odds on hatching shipped eggs with sebs is hard enough with the mishandling of eggs. So I stopped shipping eggs due to this kind of trouble.

 

[RiverGoddess]

So double packing and double boxing will help get them to you safer!!!

I have received double boxed eggs & they arrived intact, but sometimes it is not the cracking but the shaking.... But with all the "could be's" I will still buy shipped eggs! I have gotten 100% hatch rate from shipped Dewlap eggs !!! When Dewlaps are known to be one of the most difficult to hatch. So The best packaging I have received is with "sawdust/shavings" When you package with this and wrap each egg in bubble wrap, no matter how much shaking the eggs ~ do not "SHIFT" in the box, and also hold in heat or cold.

I learned alot about packaged from her, and will only ship in this manner, even though she is a "little" kooky

The thermometer it came with sucked so we got a digital thermometer and hydrometer in there, as well as an old school mercury type bulb one.

Agreed. I messaged him with a very... unhappy tone. Funny enough, he hadn't responded to the last 3 messages, but as soon as feedback starts being mentioned, it was instantaneous. He said he ran out of bubble wrap, and would have another set of eggs to me Monday. Never again though, I rather drive a while to pick eggs up.

They did not look like "great" packaging. But if anyone is going to sell eggs ~ there is no excuse for " OOPS I ran out of packing supplies" BECAUSE that is what YOU are paying for.

Like I said last year from a BYC'er Dewlap breeder I bought dozens of precious shipped eggs & every box arrived intact & had 80-100% fertility.... I have also got 100% fertility from 2 dozen Ancona eggs from a BYC'er here.

 

[seminolewind]

Quote: Take the xtra set of eggs! Ran out of bubble wrap??? Sheesh