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I agree with Pete. I don't find that they are any more difficult to hatch than any other goose egg. I think some confuse fertility issues with hatching problems. They say that Sebastopols have more fertility issues due to their heavy feathering on their backside. I've found that to be true this past year. My geese laid well over 150 eggs and we ended up with 99 goslings exactly. So 33 percent of the eggs weren't fertile. We had 12 that were DIS (dead in shell) I don't know how that compares to fertility rates in other goose species but I thought it was high.
When we had a smaller flock (6 geese) we had a higher fertility rate. This year we had 12 geese and had less. I'm keeping records so that I know what's going on. Also last year, by this time, my flock had already started laying. They started around November 16th. They continued to lay until mid May. Some of my females actually went to nest twice. That's why we had so many eggs/goslings.
Some people will trim the feathering on the backsides of their geese so that it makes contact easier. If you're not going to show them, this is a feasible idea, I suppose. I've basically let nature take its course and let what will happen, happen.
Laurie
