Goose eggs not hatching correctly

[Ganders]

Hi All,

I've just hatched 2 Sebastopol Goose Eggs. During incubation the humidity was 50-55% with a temp of 99.5 and both eggs lost around 13% of their original weight. On both eggs when hatching both the goslings made one crack and stuck its beak out and there it sat for 6 hours or so with no progress. In the end I intervened with just cracking away the shell only, leaving the membrane and the gosling to then do the rest itself. I noticed that the membrane seemed very tough and dry. I'm happy to say that both goslings are hatched and well.

I always thought that the bird should work round anti-clockwise round the large end of the egg and then push the cap off to hatch? Is this different with Geese or what did I do wrong please?

Hoping someone can help for next time.

Thanks!

 

[BrieCheese23]

It can be 24-48 hours between pip to zip. Unless it has been over 24 hours, I wouldn't intervene. I just had a duck egg pip Two days ago and hatch last night while I very impatiently checked on him. Now all of his sibling eggs are pipping and another one is zipping as we speak! Mind you the latest any of these guys pipped was last night. I had a chick last week who did what you said, pipped and then waited three days, so finally I helped him by peeling away the shell. Except he hadn't absorbed the veins all the way and I stopped to let him finish. Even with a wet paper towel around him, the membrane glued to his down feathers and when I went to check on him the next morning he was shrink wrapped inside his egg and my humidity was so high I had to tap the lid to see into the bator. His shoulders were so glued he couldn't turn to zip because I hadn't let him finish on his own. It's a hard call on whether or not to intervene, but six hours after a pip is a bit early even if they do take a frustratingly long time. Congrats on your two new babies!

 

[Ganders]

Thanks for your helpful reply. I'll try and be more patient next time tho' it's SO difficult!!