Hatching Goose eggs, I'm pulling my hair out!

[NapoleanGoose]

Arrg! Why is it so difficult?!

I was candling my eggs tonight, this is their last week in the incubator, and only 6 out of 15 were viable and the other 9 stank terribly! All the eggs were fertile to begin with, it looks like something happened during the early second and third weeks. Are all geese eggs this hard to incubate or is it just the dewlap Toulouse? They are my FFA project and I love them dearly, but it's a 4yr project at max and this is my second year with them. If nothing hatches then I'll have nothing to show for all my time and money that's gone into my birds.
And whats more, I have people at my heels for goslings and I wont have enough for everyone that wants them locally and I live 200 m from anything and probably anywhere that sells goslings that are cheap and I could offer to them instead.

Before I try any more batches of eggs, I think I should figure out what could possibly be going wrong. I turn them by hand at least 3 times a day, spray them with water and leave them out 5 min a day, I've kept the RH at 70-80 the entire time, and the temperature has been an almost steady 99 degrees. They had a hot moment early on, at 3-4 days old, but they developed past it so I figured it hadn't gotten to them. They didn't show signs of failing until the next week. I clean my eggs before setting them with a damp rag, and my birds have a deep creek to breed in all day. I have no idea what I'm doing wrong! Could it be something hereditary if not anything else?

Thank you, and thank you for listening to my complaints, it's been a long week.
Sierra

 

[Friend2Fowl]

First off, your temperature is too low. It should be at least 99.5 degrees if your incubator is forced air. If it is a still air incubator you need to keep it at 101.5 degrees. Variances of +/- 1/2 degree are okay, but don't let it fluctuate too much otherwise. You should let the eggs cool for at least 15 minutes, though I don't think that would make all that much of a difference. I think if you get your temps straightened out, you'll have better results. Geese are hard to hatch, but they shouldn't be that hard, especially from your own birds.

Edit to add that cleaning them is okay, but you should use clean paper towels to wipe the eggs. Run the egg under warm running water, then gently wipe any dirt off. Don't even bother if they aren't too dirty. Hope you have better luck, you can always let them set their own eggs to get goslings from.

 

[kelseygirl707]

Now I'm scared, I just received 4 goose eggs to hatch, and this will be my first time incubating goose eggs

 

[NapoleanGoose]

x: Eee. I think this is my forced air incubator, I'll try and variate the temperature closer to 99.5 then. Thank you Friend2Fowl, and don't be scared off of geese kelseygirl707, they are amazing birds. I just managed to pick a breed with a very short laying season, that take years to mature, and that can't set their own eggs for a school project.

Just high maintenance, thats all mine are, high maintenance.

I would let them set their eggs Friend2fowl but they crushed almost all their eggs last year and didn't want to brood them at all after 10 days, so I'm incubating them or sending them to people.

Thank you,
Sierra

 

[Friend2Fowl]

Quote:
That sucks, you don't have any other birds that can set them? Even a chicken hen, a tiny bantam wouldn't be able to cover or turn one properly, but a medium to large hen shouldn't have much trouble with a couple eggs. Hope the temperature is the only thing going on, I always run my incubators around 100* just to be safe

 

[marathonmultiplesmom]

Quote:
Hey there, I'm also new at geese. Almost all of my first batch were quitters. I stopped cleaning them and now I notice a dramatic difference on how many go on.
They are hard to hatch though. No getting around that. I turn 3x a day. first thing in the morning, around dinner time and last thing before bed. Turning them 180 degrees each time. This ensures they don't sit on the same side overnight, two nights in a row. When you turn the embryo is exposed to fresh food and cleans waste... or so I read about chickens but should work the same way. I spray them every time I turn but before bed I also candle them. It allows them time to cool off and I get to look at them so thats what I do for cooling. Also, make sure you stop turning them on day 24 or 25... I have been putting them in the hatcher on day 24 or 25, depending on how the air cell looks... It gets bigger faster right before the hatch. hmmm... what else? Humidity is a constant battle. My geese keep their nests very wet. When I check on their eggs they are always somewhat wet to the touch so I try to keep mine the same way. I think all that water softens the shell so they can hatch. I started out with a 0% success rate

and now keeping to what I do now, I haven't had an early quitter but it's also not hatch time for many of them. My main problem is getting them to hatch in lockdown. If mine die, they die during the hatch now. Which is frustrating... I have several hatch dates in my forced air incubator. My hatcher is a still air because it holds humidity well... but I have temp problems with my still air... always something!