Hatching and Incubating Geese Questions

[SkyBlueEmu]

I have a total of 9 geese eggs in a styrofoam incubator and today is the 20th day they have all been in the incubator, but the person I got the eggs from gave me 6 of the eggs and said a goose had been sitting on them for around 4-6 days. The person did not want any more geese so I immediately put the 6 eggs along with the other 3 (which had been in storage since I was waiting for more eggs) into the incubator. I candled the eggs today and saw lots of movement and reaction to the candling light in one of the eggs that could potentially be 26 days old, but have heard no piping. I could clearly see the wings and bill moving while candling the egg and I am not sure if I should start to prepare the entire incubator for hatching as the other eggs don't appear to be as ready to hatch. It's hard to see into the other eggs, but I was able to see a little movement and lots of veins in the rest of the eggs. Any advice on what to do? Should I stop turning this egg and open the more vents on the incubator or should I wait until I hear piping? I don't want to harm the other eggs, but I also want to make sure the humidity and temp are right for the one gosling to hatch if it does hatch earlier. I also don't know exactly when the eggs will hatch based on breed because the eggs came from a variety of different breeds. Thanks for any suggestions.

 

[AndreaV636]

That's a tough situation... you have a staggered hatch and most people accomplish this by having two incubators going: one kept at the appropriate temperature (about 37.4 degrees) and humidity (low) for growth and development, and a second kept at a slightly lower temperature (about 37.0 degrees) and high humidity (about 70%) for hatching. The eggs stay in the first incubator under normal conditions until they have externally pipped through the egg shell. At that time, the egg can be moved to the hatcher.

To answer some of your questions more directly... it sounds like the one egg has internally pipped into the air cell. It can remain under normal conditions, although it is probably best to stop turning it and let it lie in the position it rolls to. Once it has externally pipped, you would not want to open your vents... that would actually lower the humidity inside the incubator. At that time, you'll want to try to get your humidity VERY high by misting inside the incubator, adding water to the wells if you've been running the incubator dry previously, and even adding soaked rags or sponges. This will be to the detriment of the other eggs because they are likely to stop losing adequate moisture at such a high humidity level. If you've been weighing them or monitoring the air cells, maybe you can make a judgement call and feel confident that they are on track and you can make up for lost time once the first egg hatches and you can get the incubator back to normal conditions again.

 

[AndreaV636]

Hopefully it was obvious, but in case it wasn't, those temperatures are in degrees Celsius!