Let's have a gosling hatchalong!

[psue]

Daisy, welcome to the thread and congrats on the eggs! 29-31 days is more typical for geese, unless they are Psue's embdens, which took forever to hatch last year.

Every single one of them

hope the dewlaps and sebbies are nicer

 

[pips&peeps]

My pens are just dog kennels 8X16X6. I have the quad out running about since it would be very crowded. This is my first time doing a quad, but my friend Christina has one going with a yearling gander and he is doing ok.

 

[DaisyMeadow]

Daisy, welcome to the thread and congrats on the eggs! 29-31 days is more typical for geese, unless they are Psue's embdens, which took forever to hatch last year.

Poor P. Sue. Aw, man! I thought my muscovies took forever, and I only hatched them the second half of their egg lives. I guess I shall force myself to be patient.

 

[Mrs. Fluffy Puffy]

Just set my first goose eggs on Wednesday (27th). Bought 6 Embden eggs from a local farmer. I've hatched chicken and ducks with really good success, but these will be my first geese. Fingers crossed! 26-28 days, right?

Congrats! Fingers crossed for a good hatch!

Daisy, welcome to the thread and congrats on the eggs! 29-31 days is more typical for geese, unless they are Psue's embdens, which took forever to hatch last year.

Every single one of them

hope the dewlaps and sebbies are nicer

My pens are just dog kennels 8X16X6. I have the quad out running about since it would be very crowded. This is my first time doing a quad, but my friend Christina has one going with a yearling gander and he is doing ok.

I have two quads this year, my Seb Project gander, Charlie has two Seb p girls, and Penny in with him, then there are my four Americans who are all together. The fertility on the Seb Projects is awesome, pretty much ever single egg from that pen is fertile, but my Americans haven't started laying yet.

Poor P. Sue. Aw, man! I thought my muscovies took forever, and I only hatched them the second half of their egg lives. I guess I shall force myself to be patient.

~ Aspen

 

[Grassman 52]

Who is using natural incubation and who is using an incubator?

Here's my problem - I purchased a dickey 2X2 and now it is full and I am getting eggs daily - The season is just starting and my geese are in their first breeding season, so I don't think they will sit.

 

[Iain Utah]

Speaking of separating breeders, I am torn about separating one of my group yards. It has 2 pairs grey dewlaps and 1 pair production Toulouse. They all get along really well and I don't want to have to deal with the hassle of cross-fencing and then maintaining another yard, but I kind of want to be able to have the option of getting hatching eggs from them....... Decisions, decisions.

 

[DaisyMeadow]

Incubating. These are my first geese (sort of - I hatched only one last summer, but he ran or flew away) and I have no birds, only eggs. I have two incubators, which really helps, especially when I can transfer whatever batch will hatch next to the most convenient side for lockdown, and the second one takes up the slack while I wash out the dirty one post hatching. But, you're right, goose eggs take up a lot of room compared to my duck and chicken eggs. You might want to get a second or a bigger unit. Perhaps the sales of the goslings will eventually offset the investment? I got lucky and found a $12 incubator on craigslist. Works just as well as my other one.

 

[novanod1966]

well, i'm a little ahead with hatching some geese (i think about 2 weeks), but am nervous because i've not had much luck with waterfowl.....this is my 2nd try and have yet to hatch 1. also, i've incubated over 60 call duck eggs and only hatched out 4 (not a good rate, but am resolute in hatching some waterfowl). the calls that didnt hatch was actually fully formed with feathers, but didnt pip the egg. i've been so discouraged. i now have 14 call eggs in the bator, 5 regular duck eggs, 3 geese (1 of which is infertile i think); but, i have 10 white call duck eggs on the way (ones i want to hatch very badly). 99.5 temp and humidity ranges 50% down to 30% fluctuations.

please if anyone knows that i'm doing something wrong let me know so i can adjust before it's too late.

thanks,

don

 

[Iain Utah]

Hey Don, what kind of geese? Do you have a still or forced air incubator? If still air, the temp should be 101.5. I am told call ducks are very difficult to hatch. Depending on breed of geese, they also can be challenging. I like keep my humidity close to 30%, lay on sides and hand turn 3x daily; then mist and cool my goose eggs daily after day 7. I stop turning when I see the air cell dramatically dip as that means they are turning for hatching position. Then, I lockdown when the 1st egg internally pips. For lockdown I push my humidity to 75%+.

There is a waterfowl hatching guide thread under the sticky section. Have you read that? It's wonderful!

 

[Grassman 52]

I have been also having bad luck with water fowl - Started setting in December and have been losing lots of fully formed (but failed to PIP) chicks.

Keeping a close eye on temp - using a water weasel with a spot check.

I went back to the basics and started weighing my eggs weekly and tracking weight lose - Found that the winter air is driving the humidity down so I have been keeping it above 50% (no lower) and my weights have been on track.

My eggs have great fertility but hatch rate below 15% - so I feel your pain (I am not giving up either) - I have done a lot of reading and one variable that I have not considered, is that a lot of the eggs I set were collected during cold spells and if the eggs came close to freezing it could account for the low hatch rates - As the weather here in the Northeast is getting warmer, I am hopping that I get better quality eggs and my hatch rates go up.

Also started setting the Muscovy eggs like goose eggs - Horizontally

I have three more Muscovy eggs in lock-down today (out of 12 that were set) - keeping my fingers crossed.