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

[Miss Lydia]

It's at our cabin not to far away.

I hope they will be happy there, will there be someone there to keep an eye on them or will they be on their own. might be pretty scary for them being you have been caring for them, sorry nervous Nelly here.

 

[Jharper]

I hope they will be happy there, will there be someone there to keep an eye on them or will they be on their own. might be pretty scary for them being you have been caring for them, sorry nervous Nelly here.

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There are some people who stay out there by the pond. They will be fine.

 

[Tivona]

Sadly the late egg didn't make it. I think it was to weak by the time I got it in. I kept it moist and could see the veins starting to recede so I was hopeful. It got quiet by noon yesterday, then stopped moving by evening. Not sure when it died but was gone this morning. It never chipped at the egg or broke the membrane and it only talked and rocked a bit at the beginning when I first got the hole open. It never really rolled the egg around just rocked it. It never talked as much as the other eggs had talked to me out in the nest either. Not sure if anything had been wrong with it other then being rather dry and later then it should have been. I am glad I gave it the chance though. Everyone else is doing great.

I moved a clear tote to brood the ducklings out to the goose pen and have it on top of the goose nesting box (technically a large dog carrier with a flat top). She is currently sitting on the nest warming the goslings and the little ducklings are on top with their light. So far so good. I figure this way Nimbo can hear the ducklings and who knows? Maybe she'll take them in the end. Meanwhile everyone seems happy. The gander Cirrus stood back far enough so he could see the ducklings in the clear tote. He seemed to like the idea but wondered why they were up there. Nimbo hasn't seemed to notice anything other then a few sounds from somewhere but nothing to worry her. I'll be moving them back to the house tonight as I am not so sure that they would be warm enough when the temperature goes down. I can keep an eye on them during the day making sure they don't get to cold or hot. So far the temps seem okay but the tote is not to large so I will be keeping an eye on it making sure this works. Seems to be holding at about 70 away from the light. I saw them sleeping near the light but not right under it so I think the ducklings should do fine this set up during the day.

I will see if I can get some pictures here.

 

[livininbrazil]

Sadly the late egg didn't make it. I think it was to weak by the time I got it in. I kept it moist and could see the veins starting to recede so I was hopeful. It got quiet by noon yesterday, then stopped moving by evening. Not sure when it died but was gone this morning. It never chipped at the egg or broke the membrane and it only talked and rocked a bit at the beginning when I first got the hole open. It never really rolled the egg around just rocked it. It never talked as much as the other eggs had talked to me out in the nest either. Not sure if anything had been wrong with it other then being rather dry and later then it should have been. I am glad I gave it the chance though. Everyone else is doing great.

I moved a clear tote to brood the ducklings out to the goose pen and have it on top of the goose nesting box (technically a large dog carrier with a flat top). She is currently sitting on the nest warming the goslings and the little ducklings are on top with their light. So far so good. I figure this way Nimbo can hear the ducklings and who knows? Maybe she'll take them in the end. Meanwhile everyone seems happy. The gander Cirrus stood back far enough so he could see the ducklings in the clear tote. He seemed to like the idea but wondered why they were up there. Nimbo hasn't seemed to notice anything other then a few sounds from somewhere but nothing to worry her. I'll be moving them back to the house tonight as I am not so sure that they would be warm enough when the temperature goes down. I can keep an eye on them during the day making sure they don't get to cold or hot. So far the temps seem okay but the tote is not to large so I will be keeping an eye on it making sure this works. Seems to be holding at about 70 away from the light. I saw them sleeping near the light but not right under it so I think the ducklings should do fine this set up during the day.

I will see if I can get some pictures here.

Some goslings just don´t make it. but all sounds good with the rest. thanks for letting us know. Looking forward to pics.

 

[carolina91]

I hope someone can provide some advice for me. I have been using the incubation and hatching guide as a reference, but have never hatched goose eggs before. As background, I have hatched both chicken and duck eggs that were shipped in the past. I had success with the chicken eggs. The duck eggs were another story. Of the five who made it to lock down, only one pipped externally and hatched. I hadn't read the hatching guide yet and didn't assist any of them. I just didn't have the heart to open up the eggs and see what went wrong. However, I am sure that the humidity was too high and they didn't lose enough fluid. I also feel that I should have made an air hole for the ones that never pipped externally.

Right now, I have 4 American Buff and 2 American Blue in the incubator on day 26. These were shipped eggs. I am using a forced air incubator and have tried to keep humidity around 25-30% to ensure proper weight loss. Two have very uneven air cells. I have placed them with the overall lowest side up. Two have really good looking air cells with an obvious dip that made it easy to place them correctly for hatching. Two have flatter air cells with a dip that is not as deep as the others. My light for candling is not the best, but when I candled last night at midnight I saw a little movement at the edge of the air cell on two of the eggs as if they were pushing at the membrane (one had the really good aircell, the other was flatter). This morning when I checked around 7 am, there was no movement.

I was planning on waiting until they had definitely pipped externally before increasing the humidity, but I am worried that they have pipped internally and will pip externally today while I am at work and then not have enough humidity to hatch. I will be gone for at least ten hours, so I added enough water to raise the humidity to 50% ish just in case. If they have not pipped when I get home, I will let the humidity drop and keep a close watch. So . . .

What are the chances that they have pipped on day 27 and will hatch today? Should I have increased the humidity more?

How long should I wait after seeing the shadows that indicate internal pipping to make an air hole? Did I mess up by not doing that this morning on the two that I saw movement on last night? and should I make an air hole on those two when I get home if they have not pipped externally yet?

Could incubation go longer than 28 or 30 days?

With the two that have wonky air cells, it may be hard for me to see the shadows that indicate internal pipping. Absent any sound or movement, is there a point at which I should make an external air hole for these eggs?

Thanks so much in advance for any advice.

 

[wlhtx]

Just to give you an example on the timing between internal and external pipping, I have an African goose egg hatching this weekend. I noticed the first attempts at internal pipping on Tuesday night about 9:30 pm. The gosling had totally internally pipped by the next morning (Wednesday). I left it alone the rest of Wednesday and yesterday, only occasionally candling just to make sure it was still moving inside (and listening for the little whistles!). I was going to drill an air hole this morning if no progress was shown, but it had externally pipped when I checked on it at 6:30 am.

Now, even though it has externally pipped - and I've raised the humidity - I don't expect it to actually hatch until probably tomorrow...

Point being, it can take them awhile in between stages. The goslings take much longer compared to chicks!

 

[carolina91]

Thanks so much. That is what I needed to hear.

 

[RiverGoddess]

Well here are pics of my White African GIRL !!!


I made little suet hangers that I put goodies in ( Cilantro ~ Veggies ~ Bells etc)

 

[RiverGoddess]

Here is my Male & Female Saddleback Paint pair !








My Blue Cayugas !









I have my Blue Cayugas & 3 hens ~ I have a Project hen I am breeding

 

[livininbrazil]

Here is my Male & Female Saddleback Paint pair !








My Blue Cayugas !









I have my Blue Cayugas & 3 hens ~ I have a Project hen I am breeding

They´re gorgeous! What´s with that little black line on the bill?