Incubating goose eggs- first time

[merry hens]

Hi,

I have two goose eggs that I'm setting up to incubate. I've never done geese eggs before. I have a little giant still air, no turner. I'm wondering what humidity do I need and what is the ideal temperature? I dont have a wet bulb or anything right now, is a full water trough and a wet sponge enough? I did some research and came up with a lot of conflicting information. Has anyone had good sucess with goose eggs in the little giant incubator?

Mary

 

[shelleyd2008]

The one time that I had goose eggs, they turned out to be duck eggs. None of them made it.

A forced air incubator is better for goose eggs, or so I've been told, but you can make do with a still air. Just be sure to move the eggs to a different part of the bator when you turn them, since a still air bator has varying temps in different areas.

I believe the main problem with an LG and goose eggs is that the LG is not as 'high' as other bators. There is a possibility of the baby goose burning itself on the heat elements.

The temperature is the same as any other type of bird. I kept mine about 100-101 for still air. You really do need a hygrometer. There are so many variables with humidity. It's hard to say if the sponge and water wells would be enough or too much. There are some at walmart, made by springfield, that are less than $6. They are the same ones that someone on ebay sells for $20+.

The humidity should be at least 65% during incubation time, and at least 80% for the hatch. Higher is better on goose eggs. Just be sure to watch your air cells, so you can know if you need to increase or decrease the humidity.

 

[merry hens]

Thanks for your help! I'm so excited about my eggs!

 

[SundownWaterfowl]

Starting on day 4, cool them for about 10 min each day, and mist them with some warm water during the cooling period. Do that from day 4, up until they pip the shell. Humidity at hatching should be 70-80%

 

[MrsSmitho]

I just received 4 goose eggs from a customer...

how many days is it to total hatch?? How many days till we take them out of the turner?

anybody??

 

[roboboy]

Goose eggs take about 30-35 days to hatch I usually stop turning on the 28th day. Good luck goslings are just the cutest little buggers ever.

 

[shelleyd2008]

I had some goose eggs that started internally pipping by day 26. Personally I would move them to the hatcher and stop turning them on day 25, I lost 2 goslings because they had internally pipped when I was still turning them

 

[roboboy]

i dont check that well, i only candle once about three fourths through the incubation to take out all the infertiles and rottens. The rule of thumb is the larger the breed the longer the incubation, and nothing here ususally starts picking before the 29th-30th day, but if i lose a few it doesnt bother me too much since i've had an average of 60 goslings over the last two year. (we got a redwood incubator) Our sportmans gave poor hatching, but we did okay with the styrofoam ones. And as it takes ducks 28 days to hatch i always remember as im taking them out of the incubator the geese need to stop turning.