Let's have a gosling hatchalong!

[TopHatsNSpats]

I hope I'm in the right place; this is a huge thread but it seemed silly to start a new one to ask pretty much the same kind of questions; I've been hatching poultry for a lot of years but I just hatched my first ever goslings. Boy, are they different! And I have a couple of questio about how to manage them. First of all, I am *shocked* that the poor things hatched at all; I had a 'bator problem (I think the thermostat wafer got flaky) and could not keep temps stable for several days while I got a replacement shipped. Kept jumping from the high 80's to as much as 104, and I figured the poor things were baked. This is a set of 'mystery eggs' my son bought for me for mother's day, they just said 'geese' and the guy at the sale didn't know what kind. Add to this, that this is my first time to do geese, so I did not know until way late, almost lockdown, that they needed to be misted every day... Amazingly enough, two of the 6 hatched, which I will take as a good sign that they are pretty strong little guys, to have lived through that! Three more were weakly pipping, but didn't make it out, and one of those drowned. Under the circumstances I felt lucky to get the two, but here is the deal: the last egg is definitely alive, but the baby is in trouble. Either it is pipped improperly, or it got cracked when the other two babies were bashing around during hatching, because it has a huge crack in it, and the crack bled slightly. Here is the weird bit: I can clearly see the baby thru the membrane, and it is still alive and moving, but to me this does not look as if the baby is old enough to hatch! It does not fill up the egg, the yolk sac is still full and visible, etc. The gosling itself only takes up about 2/3 of the egg. Now, these were set in the incubator at the same time. Could this baby's development have been slowed that much by the temperature issues? And should I continue misting it to keep the membrane flexible so it doesn't 'shrink wrap' and go on and give him a chance, or should I give up and discard it? He still moves, peeps weakly etc but has made no effort to get out. Is it possible he didn't pip but got broken by accident, and what do you tink his chances are? I can give him all the time he needs if there is a chance, but if he is suffering I don't want to prolong the inevitable. Thank you in advance for any help!

 

[Miss Lydia]

Having anxiety attacks. Someone wants to come buy one of my first 3 babies tomorrow. I put them up for sale after they attacked Daisy and killed her, but i still dont want to let them go. They havent attacked anything since. I dont see dollar signs when i look at my animals. Maybe if i was one of those people it might be easier. Its like putting a baby up for adoption.

I know how hard it is to sell 8, that's why I practice Birth control around here with mine. I hope if you do decide sell that you'll feel really good about these folks when they come out. Or change your mind and give them another chance. Plus you don't want to sell just one.

 

[8GeeseALaying]

I was raising mine with full intentions of keeping them. After the attack i decided to sell these 3. This woman has one gosling already so im not too worried but still. She carries hers in the car with her so ill get to see it tomorrow. Then ill decide based on the looks of it.

 

[Miss Lydia]

I was raising mine with full intentions of keeping them. After the attack i decided to sell these 3. This woman has one gosling already so im not too worried but still. She carries hers in the car with her so ill get to see it tomorrow. Then ill decide based on the looks of it.

Good idea, I'm sure you make the right decision. And I'm wondering if something may have been wrong with Daisy health wise is the reason they went after her?

 

[Miss Lydia]

I hope I'm in the right place; this is a huge thread but it seemed silly to start a new one to ask pretty much the same kind of questions; I've been hatching poultry for a lot of years but I just hatched my first ever goslings. Boy, are they different! And I have a couple of questio about how to manage them. First of all, I am *shocked* that the poor things hatched at all; I had a 'bator problem (I think the thermostat wafer got flaky) and could not keep temps stable for several days while I got a replacement shipped. Kept jumping from the high 80's to as much as 104, and I figured the poor things were baked. This is a set of 'mystery eggs' my son bought for me for mother's day, they just said 'geese' and the guy at the sale didn't know what kind. Add to this, that this is my first time to do geese, so I did not know until way late, almost lockdown, that they needed to be misted every day... Amazingly enough, two of the 6 hatched, which I will take as a good sign that they are pretty strong little guys, to have lived through that! Three more were weakly pipping, but didn't make it out, and one of those drowned. Under the circumstances I felt lucky to get the two, but here is the deal: the last egg is definitely alive, but the baby is in trouble. Either it is pipped improperly, or it got cracked when the other two babies were bashing around during hatching, because it has a huge crack in it, and the crack bled slightly. Here is the weird bit: I can clearly see the baby thru the membrane, and it is still alive and moving, but to me this does not look as if the baby is old enough to hatch! It does not fill up the egg, the yolk sac is still full and visible, etc. The gosling itself only takes up about 2/3 of the egg. Now, these were set in the incubator at the same time. Could this baby's development have been slowed that much by the temperature issues? And should I continue misting it to keep the membrane flexible so it doesn't 'shrink wrap' and go on and give him a chance, or should I give up and discard it? He still moves, peeps weakly etc but has made no effort to get out. Is it possible he didn't pip but got broken by accident, and what do you tink his chances are? I can give him all the time he needs if there is a chance, but if he is suffering I don't want to prolong the inevitable. Thank you in advance for any help!

I sure hope those that hatch geese in bators will be here soon to give you some solid advise, I don't use a bator nor have I hatched geese yet under my own goose but I can give you Petes guide which everyone on here uses to do their hatching in hopes it may help you. I hope this last baby makes it out safely and healthy. I do know that they risk getting shrink wrapped if bator is opened causing humidity to drop and if you can see inside the shell and the gosling hasn't pipped through the membrane then you may have to try and find it's bill so you can open it so it can breathe. But first read through this link and please let us know how it goes.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/491013/goose-incubation-hatching-guide-completed

 

[8GeeseALaying]

Good idea, I'm sure you make the right decision. And I'm wondering if something may have been wrong with Daisy health wise is the reason they went after her?

Thats kind of what i thought she was 3 days behind but looked a week behind in size. She ate good and drank good but no growth hardly. May be like chickens they take out the weak ones.

 

[8GeeseALaying]

Here are some pics i took today of my ducklings and goslings. I couldnt watch them today so they went in a run.
First Flip and Flop they were handicapped for awhile brewers yeast helped! Here after a bath and getting ready to meet their siblings for the first time then go to the run.

Here they are with their siblings ready to go to the run for the day.

In the run with Dixie, Minnie and Mickey waiting for their other play pans to be filled.

 

[Miss Lydia]

Here are some pics i took today of my ducklings and goslings. I couldnt watch them today so they went in a run.
First Flip and Flop they were handicapped for awhile brewers yeast helped! Here after a bath and getting ready to meet their siblings for the first time then go to the run.
Here they are with their siblings ready to go to the run for the day.
In the run with Dixie, Minnie and Mickey waiting for their other play pans to be filled.

adorable

 

[Iain Utah]

I hope I'm in the right place; this is a huge thread but it seemed silly to start a new one to ask pretty much the same kind of questions; I've been hatching poultry for a lot of years but I just hatched my first ever goslings. Boy, are they different! And I have a couple of questio about how to manage them. First of all, I am *shocked* that the poor things hatched at all; I had a 'bator problem (I think the thermostat wafer got flaky) and could not keep temps stable for several days while I got a replacement shipped. Kept jumping from the high 80's to as much as 104, and I figured the poor things were baked. This is a set of 'mystery eggs' my son bought for me for mother's day, they just said 'geese' and the guy at the sale didn't know what kind. Add to this, that this is my first time to do geese, so I did not know until way late, almost lockdown, that they needed to be misted every day... Amazingly enough, two of the 6 hatched, which I will take as a good sign that they are pretty strong little guys, to have lived through that! Three more were weakly pipping, but didn't make it out, and one of those drowned. Under the circumstances I felt lucky to get the two, but here is the deal: the last egg is definitely alive, but the baby is in trouble. Either it is pipped improperly, or it got cracked when the other two babies were bashing around during hatching, because it has a huge crack in it, and the crack bled slightly. Here is the weird bit: I can clearly see the baby thru the membrane, and it is still alive and moving, but to me this does not look as if the baby is old enough to hatch! It does not fill up the egg, the yolk sac is still full and visible, etc. The gosling itself only takes up about 2/3 of the egg. Now, these were set in the incubator at the same time. Could this baby's development have been slowed that much by the temperature issues? And should I continue misting it to keep the membrane flexible so it doesn't 'shrink wrap' and go on and give him a chance, or should I give up and discard it? He still moves, peeps weakly etc but has made no effort to get out. Is it possible he didn't pip but got broken by accident, and what do you tink his chances are? I can give him all the time he needs if there is a chance, but if he is suffering I don't want to prolong the inevitable. Thank you in advance for any help!

TopHats, congrats on the babies that have hatched!! Chances are good that your 3rd gosling internally/externally pipped and will take at least 2x as long to hatch as the other goslings. I would keep bator humidity up and mist every few hours (if necessary). I would also leave the other 2 goslings in bator as long as possible to keep the 3rd baby company. Good luck!!

 

[Iain Utah]

I have my latest pair of dewlap eggs in lockdown and they are looking good. Yay! Now it's time to play the waiting game for external pipping to see if beaks are buff or grey.

Also.... my girls just won't quit laying and I got 3 new eggs today after setting 8 eggs less than 3 days ago. Guess I'll be hatching into July. Anyone else hatching late into summer??