Turner VS. hand turning??

[poultryfan73]

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Pilgrims

 

[poultryfan73]

What do you meen about having to spray and cool down your eggs? Im new to this so i have no idea.

 

[Puddle Foot Farm]

Geese naturally get off the nest for 10-30 minutes a day and to eat and take a quick bath. So, many goose hatchers replicate this by letting their eggs cool, and then misting them before putting them back in the incubator. I forgot how long I let mine sit out, but the time was variable every day. I left them out a bit too long sometimes (40 minutes or over), but it did not effect my hatching rates (I had 8 out of 11 hatch for my first hatch, which I think is awesome for geese).

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[Goose and Fig]

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Could you just take the lid off the bator for a few minutes? I just have a little one with no turner, and my geese have all started laying now. I'm afraid if I wait until spring they won't be laying then. Why do they have to start now??????

 

[poultryfan73]

Is it alright to just turn the incubator off for them to cool off?? What time on the day do you guys normally let them cool? Whats ur humidity at before lockdown and what is it during lockdown??

 

[Puddle Foot Farm]

I had an incubator with a tray, so I could take the tray of eggs out. I think I left them up to 30 minutes, then put them back in the warm incubator. If you took off the lid, I suppose you could decrease the time to around 10 minutes or so, so the incubator would slowly get back up to temp. Also, I forgot to say but you do not start misting until the 4th day. It doesn't matter what time you do it, but I usually did mine in the late afternoon. Our humidity was 55%ish for normal incubation, and 70-80% for lockdown. Good luck!

 

[poultryfan73]

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Alright ill do what you do by just taking the eggs out. Where do you putt the eggs when you take them out?? And what is the point of misting? im just curious because there is humidity in the incubator. Sorry for the newbie questions i just want to know as much as possible before i get the eggs and set them into the incubator.

 

[Puddle Foot Farm]

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I just put them somewhere safe at room temperature. Misting just helps simulate a wet goose going back to her nest, but I read it also helps with moisture loss? I don't know where I read this - somewhere on BYC I believe. You should also look up old threads on hatching geese. Some of the older ones are very informative!

 

[poultryfan73]

Alright thanks a lot!

Do you guys candle your goose eggs during development?

 

[Puddle Foot Farm]

Yes, we do. We used a small sized maglite LED in a very dark room, as goose eggs have pretty thick shells and can be hard to see through. You should definitely be able to tell if they are growing or not, as you will see veins in the eggs. If you think you have a dud any time, mark it, and then make sure you check it carefully a few days later. If it still looks dead, then toss it. We candled every 2 or 3 days, starting on day 4.