hatching geese eggs

[ericay]

Quote:
Nicky - Do you believe that it's better for the eggs to be on their sides? I've hatched chickens pointy side down and they hatched pretty easily. But, I haven't tried it with geese or ducks.

 

[gofasterstripe]

I cant say if its better or not as people all do it it differently with turners or no turners. The way I look at it is...Does the duck lay her egg so they are all pointy end down in the nest...nope. But you can have good hatches doing it the way you are as well as the way im doing it so I supose it doesnt matter what way you do it as long as they hatch. Ive had 100% hatch rates so far..oh apart from 1 that died in the shell and once I opened it he still had the egg belly.

 

[critterranch]

Quote:
Nicky - Do you believe that it's better for the eggs to be on their sides? I've hatched chickens pointy side down and they hatched pretty easily. But, I haven't tried it with geese or ducks.

yes most waterfowl recomendations are for eggs to be on side and hand turned and odd number of times for better results. they can be put into auto turner and point end down, but will not get very good hatch. if you do you are lucky. there is also roll-ex turner that roll eggs on side with auto roller. many people use these for waterfowl but most hand turn waterfowl.

i personally like hand turning because its easier, i have still air so i rotate my eggs around into differnt rows too account for cold/hot spots. plus i can fit more eggs in my lg without turner. its 42 eggs with turner then with out i can fit 60-80 chicken or duck eggs. with my lg still air my temps stay better the fuller it is. i store my eggs in auto turner though pointy end down. everyone just has their own way

 

[ericay]

Quote:
Nicky - Do you believe that it's better for the eggs to be on their sides? I've hatched chickens pointy side down and they hatched pretty easily. But, I haven't tried it with geese or ducks.

yes most waterfowl recomendations are for eggs to be on side and hand turned and odd number of times for better results. they can be put into auto turner and point end down, but will not get very good hatch. if you do you are lucky. there is also roll-ex turner that roll eggs on side with auto roller. many people use these for waterfowl but most hand turn waterfowl.

i personally like hand turning because its easier, i have still air so i rotate my eggs around into differnt rows too account for cold/hot spots. plus i can fit more eggs in my lg without turner. its 42 eggs with turner then with out i can fit 60-80 chicken or duck eggs. with my lg still air my temps stay better the fuller it is. i store my eggs in auto turner though pointy end down. everyone just has their own way

Thank you for the great info! I've had great luck with chickens pointy end down, but will keep my ducks and geese on their sides.

 

[bookerdog]

I have had good luck with point end down on duck eggs. I have hatch several in a brinsea 20 with egg turner. I have never hatched goose eggs like that though. I think next batch of duck eggs I get I will try to lay down in a goose turner rack.

 

[critterranch]

anything is worth a try if you can get cheap eggs!!!

found a stinking oozing goose egg this morning in my incubator. luckly it only oozed a pea size amount and i could clean it. i wiped egg to be sure and it was oozed from pores.

this is one good thing to hand turning. if i had it in auto turned never would of seen or smelled until it was too late. it was completely on bottom could not see until turned.

thank goodness it didnt get on my trout runner eggs they were 5.00 each plus my 8 call duck eggs on day 20.not to mention all my own runner eggs.

 

[gofasterstripe]

Good job you found it in time, and glad it didnt ruin all the other eggs. YAY for hand turning I say

 

[gofasterstripe]

I will be gong into lockdown this week (Thursday) is the day but I will wait and see and Im going to take Petes advice and wait untill they pip before doing it. Everything is looking good so far. candled last night and 1 of them was beeboppin around in there. Aircells look good, 1 looks a little bit behind but im not worrried about it, still got 4 days or so to go yet.

 

[Alas]

I'm going on lockdown Thursday also. I'm going a day early because all my chicken eggs that hatched Saturday morning were a day early. My goose eggs have been hand turned, end over end, 3 times a day. Candling seems to indicate everything is going okay. Maybe we can all compare results once they are hatched.

 

[pete55]

Hi All

Dont worry Im still here but had loads to do over a busy weekend

You're all progressing well and approaching your lockdown phase. About 3-4 days before due date you should see the air cell appear to suddenly enlarge and 'dip' down on its lowest side. Place it on a table and the egg will always come back to one side up which has the greater amount of air cell. We put a cross on the top side and leave it that position that it naturally favours. Candling after another 12-24hrs should see the shadows of the chicks head bulge into the air cell as it manouvres into hatching position. Hold the blunt end to your ear and you may hear a regular clicking noise. Thats internal pipping and the chick is finally breathing using its lungs instead of the membrane. Usually external pipping will occur 6-24hrs after that. Once the chick has cracked the shell and is losing more moisture THEN its time for lockdown

Drove 300 miles yesterday to buy in new Gander with a Canadian bloodline to widen our gene pool for the Dewlaps

We've put him was one our Buffs put found him escaped from the pen this morning and swimming happily with the exhibition Rouens

He was quite happy till the drake went for him and asserted his territorial claim so hope we may see some Rouen eggs at last.

Also couldnt resist and reserved a pair of Buff Africans descended from Holderread lines (very hard to find in UK). Huge birds with no difference in type and size to the Greys/Browns. Then went the whole hog and ordered a pair of Embdens from Holderread lines. Got to do another 600 mile trip next month to collect them

Came home and checked incubator to find that 3 of the 5 eggs from our new 2010 grey Dewlap mated to our big Holderread male are fertile. What a great way to end the day

Pete