Hatching goose eggs

[Barry42001]

11 days in incubating goose eggs. Humidity is around90% as some articles suggest. Temperature 99.6f is there any suggestions. Candling them is tough shell rather thiick

 

[Pyxis]

I hope that 90% was a typo or that you're talking about a wet bulb reading - 90% is much too high even for lockdown and especially for the first part before lockdown.

This is the guide I would suggest to follow, it's the method I use to hatch geese with excellent success:

https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=491013

 

[Barry42001]

I use digital humidity gauge, seem quite sensitive and accurate. With that said I have seen several video on incubating goose eggs. Nearly all wanted very high humidity, with 99.6 temp. Internet is a wonderful tool, but quite confusing at times.

 

[Pyxis]

Then I would definitely lower that immediately, 90% will drown them in their shells. For perspective, I keep my humidity at 30% or mine would drown. Humidity requirements will also vary from location to location, so what works for me might not necessarily work for you, but you almost definitely will not want it any higher than 50%. Especially since you had it so high for the first 11 days; now you want it even lower to compensate. Even during lockdown, which is when you have the humidity the highest it will ever be during incubation, you never go higher than 65 to 70%.

There are definitely some confusing and conflicting articles out there. Even Metzer Farm's website at one point had it listed wrong, and had wet bulb temperatures instead listed as percentages. Almost lost my first duck hatch to that until I checked in here.

I suspect that many of the things you've read or watched made the same mistake and were saying percentage but meant a wet bulb temperature, and those are two very different things.

 

[Barry42001]

Drained about 3/4 of the water out of reservoir have to wait for it to stabilize to get idea on humidity levels

 

[LeeRoadPoultry]

Do you have any updates?

 

[Barry42001]

All eggs did not show any development at all 2 weeks in began leaking yellowish goo. Might not have let them settle long enough.

 

[AndreaV636]

Yeah, 90% RH is crazy high. Sorry your eggs did not progress. When I set eggs, I generally incubate them dry (with no water in the reservoirs). One week later, I start weighing them with a kitchen scale and tracking their weight loss. They should lose about 13% of their laid weight by external pip. By weighing them regularly, you can see if they're losing too quickly or too slowly and adjust the humidity accordingly by adding water, opening or closing vents, etc.

Another thing to keep in mind with controlling humidity by adding water in those wells... the volume of water does not have any bearing on the relative humidity inside the incubator (i.e. a well filled to the top will not create more humidity that a well filled only halfway.) Relative humidity will fluctuate based on the surface area of water.