Just won goose eggs - Teach me about geese!

[Sjisty]

I just won Sebastopol and Emden cross goose eggs. These will be my first geese. I know they take longer than chicken eggs to hatch. Is there anything else I should know about hatching and raising these guys?

Teach Teach Teach!

 

[farmerlor]

Are these eggs coming to you in the mail? Have you ever hatched eggs before? Specifically goose eggs? Generally speaking the hatch rate on shipped goose eggs isn't all that great.

 

[Sjisty]

I have hatched many chicken eggs that came through the mail. These are my first goose eggs. They should be here tomorrow.

 

[rainplace]

Purchase "The Book of Geese: A complete Guide to Raising the Home Flock" by Dave Holderread. That should get you well on your way. Good luck!

 

[Soccer Mom]

PM Rustyswoman. They hatch differently and you need to take them out each day to cool.

You will love geese. They are the absolute sweetest babies. I second getting Holderread's book. It's great.

Some highlights:

Geese bond very intensely with their people and with one another. They mate for life and will pair up when they get old enough. You can't seperate mated pairs or they will mourn. It's very sad when one loses a mate.

Geese are vegetarians. Mine look at bugs as playtime, not food. They love to graze and will weed gardens. Just don't leave them in when the strawberries start setting fruit. You'll have happy geese with red mouths and no berries.

They are curious and talkative. Everything must be explored, played with, exclaimed over.

They need to have water when they eat, just like ducks. They will choke if they can't drink when they eat.

Oh, and it's mandatory to post gosling pictures here when they hatch. Seriously, we will find you if you don't.

That's enough for now.

 

[DulcyDoll]

Hatching takes about 28-35 days, at 99*F, humidity should be 50-55%. They need to be turned 3 times a day.. Day 4-27 the eggs need to be cooled for 15 minutes and sprayed with luke warm water (simulates the mom getting off the nest to swim) At day 27 stop turning the eggs, and put them on lock down, raise humidity to about 75%..and wait lol

They should be fed non medicated chick starter(they can overdose quickly on the medicated feed) and be provided with fresh water at all times..The feed may feed to be supplemented as geese need niacin. This can be done by sprinkling brewers yeast on the feed. It should be supplemented for 10 weeks.

They are messy babies, they can destroy a clean brooder in a matter of minutes if allowed to play in their water. Keep them on non-slick "substrate", don't want them slipping and sliding. And Spend LOTS of time with them, the more time you spend, the friendlier they will be as adults.

The rest is all about having fun with them!
take lots of pictures, they grow up fast.



Good luck with your eggs, I plan to get some more this year, but I will probably find them locally.

All of my info is from memory, I hatched goose eggs 8 months ago, feel free to correct me

 

[MagsC]

I hatched 7 out of 8 shipped eggs last year doing as DulcyDoll posted, except my humidity was around 60, probably a little high.