When to lockdown geese

[PartyPat]

Hi everyone, this is my first year hatching geese (or any eggs for that matter) and I think we're getting close to lockdown time. I have a few questions and I've found varying answers when I try to search for myself.
When should they go on lockdown? I believe we're on day 28 right now. This morning we first started hearing peeps from the eggs when rotating them.
My incubator has an automatic turner and I was looking for a way to disable it but it looks like it's on a timer. So the turner stops automatically 3 days from your set hatch date. I thought about trying to reset the timer and set it to 3 days so that the turner will stop but I'm not sure if it'll let me set it that low. We're using a Nurture Right 360. I set my timer to 32 days and it just ticked over to 4 days remaining on the timer, so if they'll be ok for another day then I can wait and lock them down tomorrow evening.
Also, a lot of the information I've found about lockdown is for chickens. How high does my humidity need to be? Is the same 70% still appropriate for geese? The more I try to research the more worried I am that I should already have them locked down and I'm going to hurt their chances by opening the incubator.
Thanks in advance for any help and advice. I'm so excited to hear them alive and making noise, and I can't bear the thought of messing it up when we're so close.

 

[PartyPat]

I was reading the more comprehensive hatching guide on this forum and went to candle my eggs to see if the air sac had dipped down yet. When I picked up the egg a small piece of shell fell off of it and I could hear the baby really clearly. Please help I'm getting pretty worried, I hadn't even put them on lockdown yet and the incubator is still rotating automatically. Is this baby going to be ok?

 

[PartyPat]

I figured out how to stop the incubator from turning. I thought at first I reset the timer all the way back to 32 days, but I was able to reset it and set the timer to 3 days and it stopped turning. I had to take the eggs out for one more quick move to remove the turning tray but now they're back in without the tray and I'm raising the humidity as quickly as I can. I hope it's not too late

 

[JRies]

I figured out how to stop the incubator from turning. I thought at first I reset the timer all the way back to 32 days, but I was able to reset it and set the timer to 3 days and it stopped turning. I had to take the eggs out for one more quick move to remove the turning tray but now they're back in without the tray and I'm raising the humidity as quickly as I can. I hope it's not too late

I stop rotating at day 24-25 to give the babies plenty of time to get in position. Some might think that is early but I stay on the safe side, Then continue to candle daily. When I see the air cell dip I know the babies are close to position. I then Up humidity and put in lock down. I have hevey weight geese so hatch day is usually day 31-32 every breed is a little different. Good Hatching

 

[PartyPat]

I stop rotating at day 24-25 to give the babies plenty of time to get in position. Some might think that is early but I stay on the safe side, Then continue to candle daily. When I see the air cell dip I know the babies are close to position. I then Up humidity and put in lock down. I have hevey weight geese so hatch day is usually day 31-32 every breed is a little different. Good Hatching

I think I definitely waited too long, but the babies are on lock down now. I'm really concerned that having to adjust inside the incubator so late has done something to hurt them. Do you know what I should be looking for to see if they're ok? Nothing has changed since last night.
Edit: We're hearing peeps from inside. It's a lot fainter than when I was candling them for the last time but hopefully that's normal since their eggs aren't being moved as much. One has broken its shall at one point on the end, the other hasn't broken through anywhere we can see but looked like he was in position from the candling.

 

[FoodFreedomNow]

I typically "lock down" (stop turning) on day 25 - my breed's eggs run about 30 days to hatch. I also wait until I see external pipping to raise the humidity for hatch.

Since the eggs have still been turning while the goslings have been getting into hatching position, it's possible that malpositions may occur. It's also possible that the goslings may hatch without problems.

You've said you're new to hatching geese, so I encourage you to continue to read as much as possible to prepare, like this thread by Pete55, as well as this one.

Goslings can take their time to hatch, so it's important to be patient and not rush the process. Best of luck!

 

[PartyPat]

I typically "lock down" (stop turning) on day 25 - my breed's eggs run about 30 days to hatch. I also wait until I see external pipping to raise the humidity for hatch.

Since the eggs have still been turning while the goslings have been getting into hatching position, it's possible that malpositions may occur. It's also possible that the goslings may hatch without problems.

You've said you're new to hatching geese, so I encourage you to continue to read as much as possible to prepare, like this thread by Pete55, as well as this one.

Goslings can take their time to hatch, so it's important to be patient and not rush the process. Best of luck!

The second thread is the one I was reading last night, I will check over the first one you linked. When candling egg #2 I'm pretty sure I could see the beak facing upwards towards the new "top" of the egg where the air bubble had dipped down to. Hopefully that's a good sign. And egg #1 who already broke a hole free I didn't want to candle again. I guess now there's nothing else to do but wait and see if they can get out?

 

[PartyPat]

It's happening! I'm so excited and relieve to see this little one coming out of it's egg. The other egg got its first pip this morning, do I keep the first baby in just for a few hours until its dried out or wait for both babies to be out and dry?

 

[FoodFreedomNow]

A hatchling can survive for up to an estimated 72 hours (at the long end) on its absorbed yolk, so the gosling can stay in the incubator unless the other gosling exceeds 48 hours or so during its hatch.

Short answer: I'd leave it in unless the other gosling takes too long to hatch. The one that has hatched will help encourage the other, too.

 

[PartyPat]

A hatchling can survive for up to an estimated 72 hours (at the long end) on its absorbed yolk, so the gosling can stay in the incubator unless the other gosling exceeds 48 hours or so during its hatch.

Short answer: I'd leave it in unless the other gosling takes too long to hatch. The one that has hatched will help encourage the other, too.

Ok. Thank you. The first baby is all the way out of its egg and trying to walk. The incubator is pretty small for a goose and it keeps bonking its head on the top of the incubator. Hopefully we're just going to rest for most of this time and not keep hitting ourselves, but I didn't know if that was something I should be concerned about.
Egg #2 was rocking and moving a whole lot while the first baby was hatching. We haven't seen a lot of movement since then, and the pip this one made isn't as big. It's more like a small crack than a hole in the egg.