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

[Miss Lydia]

I've heard several different ways of incubating. One is removing them every day and spritzing them, the other, not doing it. What do most people do? And humidity level?

I think most on here use Pete's guide https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/491013/goose-incubation-hatching-guide-completed

 

[Iain Utah]

Pete's guide is the best way to incubate goose eggs, although you may want to make minor adjustments depending on what type of incubator you use, how much moisture the eggs have already lost at time of setting, and how dry the weather is in your area.

 

[8GeeseALaying]

Witnessed the first breeding of the season today. First as in the female actually consented to it and the gander didnt end up landing on her head lol shouldnt be too much longer until im filling my basket with eggs.

 

[Miss Lydia]

Witnessed the first breeding of the season today. First as in the female actually consented to it and the gander didnt end up landing on her head lol shouldnt be too much longer until im filling my basket with eggs.

 

[LTygress]

That's very good news for ME, because I'm waiting for some geese eggs from someone at your general latitude (although further west... Kentucky). I've technically waited for them for a year - I paid last year and then she lost her son. I told her keep the money (not quite expecting her to keep up with me, but certainly not wanting to take money back when she probably needed it most). When she got back home, the geese had stopped laying. And out of the blue, she called me last weekend to let me know breeding season was upon us, and she may be sending the eggs soon - and making sure I was still interested in getting them. OF COURSE! Lol!

She has to wait until they start laying again, and then she plans to keep the first few to make sure they are laying FERTILE eggs. Then she's sending me the three I ordered, plus another 2 or 3 for waiting so long. And if your geese are starting to breed, then hers probably are too!

 

[Miss HennyPenny]

Hope you hatch some gosling hoping for the best      most on here use this guide when hatching   https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/491013/goose-incubation-hatching-guide-completed

Thank you Miss Lydia. I read that before I started but now I have a direct link whenever I need it.

So are goose eggs as difficult to hatch as they say they are? I'm more nervous this time as I can just collect more eggs from the garden if these go wrong. That and the temperature has been up a little today and I can't seem to get it down.

 

[Miss Lydia]

Thank you Miss Lydia. I read that before I started but now I have a direct link whenever I need it.

So are goose eggs as difficult to hatch as they say they are? I'm more nervous this time as I can just collect more eggs from the garden if these go wrong. That and the temperature has been up a little today and I can't seem to get it down.

You'll have to get answers about that question from seasoned hatchers, I've only ever hatched one goose and actually I gave the egg to my Muscovy duck and she did all the work.

I do understand it is more difficult but from following everyone on here thats used Petes guide they seem to do well. I did see earlier today some one said of course depending on your incubator you may need to do a bit of tweaking . Hopefully someone with experience will be able to help. Post 1052 on this page.

 

[DaisyMeadow]

Miss HennyPenny,

I've only hatched for one year, but I did it last year in a cheap styrofoam Little Giant tabletop incubator. I made sure there was always water in the bottom tray, kept track of my temps, and hand turned twice a day (morning and night), laying the eggs on their sides. We were happy with our success rates, even though the goose eggs were in with duck and chicken eggs and got no special treatment. Mine are not high-falutin birds, and we were happy to keep it simple. Our first batch (Embden) we got 5/6, our second batch (Sebastopol/Tufted Roman) we got 6/12 -- these had further to travel. Our next batch (Embdens with some Chinese mixed in) we got 17/20. Our last batch (Toulouses and Embdens) we got 4/12, but they were taken from under broody geese, so they had not been incubated the whole term.

I hope this helps.

 

[livininbrazil]

That's very good news for ME, because I'm waiting for some geese eggs from someone at your general latitude (although further west... Kentucky). I've technically waited for them for a year - I paid last year and then she lost her son. I told her keep the money (not quite expecting her to keep up with me, but certainly not wanting to take money back when she probably needed it most). When she got back home, the geese had stopped laying. And out of the blue, she called me last weekend to let me know breeding season was upon us, and she may be sending the eggs soon - and making sure I was still interested in getting them. OF COURSE! Lol!

She has to wait until they start laying again, and then she plans to keep the first few to make sure they are laying FERTILE eggs. Then she's sending me the three I ordered, plus another 2 or 3 for waiting so long. And if your geese are starting to breed, then hers probably are too!

What a lovely lady after losing her son that she remembered you.
You´ll all be knee-deep in gozzies soon!

 

[LTygress]

Exactly, I was amazed to hear from her! I didn't expect to see the money or goslings anymore after that. But I didn't care either. I knew she was going through a rough time and I did NOT want to bother her at all about it. So I was really shocked to get the call last weekend!

And of course, bouncing with excitement about it now, too