Goose Hatching Eggs

[Dinos_rock]

Then maybe I'll get a few pilgrims because I like them, and then get several Africans (they can live together right?). By the way, how old do they have to be to guard?

 

[Leslie In North Pole]

I have a Brown Chinese that is a year and two goslings that I hatched April 1st that were suppose to be pure pilgrim but I suspect that one is a cross and they are all loud and very territorial. I feel that this can be a learned behavior as well as an instinctual one. I think the brown Chinese adopted all of the ducks and learned to sound off from the guineas last year and has now taught this behavior to my goslings.

I just acquired four adult pilgrims and was told by their previous owner that they can be quite noisy, once they get comfortable. I am actually looking to make them a new pen further in the back yard, as to shelter them from too much stimulation, they can honk for hours non-stop and I am thinking 7 geese sounding off next to my house is not a good idea.

 

[SundownWaterfowl]

Quote:
How long do you cool them for? You just take them out of the incubator for 15 min? How warm the water to spray on them?

Cool them for 15 min. once a day from day 4 up until it pips the egg. The water is just regular warm water, not hot but warm.

 

[Omniskies]

My geese make noise once a day: the moment they are let out of their pens in the morning they chat to one another happily. After that they calm down.

I do think that the loud honking is learned behavior. Before I bought my main flocks I had a small mixed flock of Embdens, Toulouse and American Buffs. The Buffs started off quiet, but after a few months they became just as chatty as the others. They were much louder than my current flocks.

You can mix different breeds if you want to. If you'd like to raise pure Pilgrims then make sure you only have female Africans flocking with them, otherwise there is a chance that they will cross. A Pilgrim x African cross would probably make a great meat bird: Pilgrims grow rapidly and Africans are larger.

 

[Dinos_rock]

Ok, thanks. I think the we'll get a few pilgrims and some africans and chinese too next year. Would it be cheaper to order goslings or hatching eggs?

 

[SundownWaterfowl]

Probably goslings. Because you can pick which sexes you want.

Many things can happen during shipping that can make the eggs unviable to hatch.