![]() ![]() Had the membrane been punctured, I would have called the egg a loss: setting a leaky egg is asking for trouble. Regardless, I’m going to give this egg – if fertile – the best chance I can to hatch the damage only involved the outer shell, leaving the inner membrane intact. The other egg in the nest with it was unscathed. How, exactly, the crack occurred is a mystery: it was laid in a nest with thick hay atop a dirt base. I set all of the fresh eggs I had collected, including one from a new layer with a large dent/crack in it. ![]() Generally, I wouldn’t expect fertility to be as high for new layers, and smaller eggs are reputed to have more issues at hatch, but new layers’ eggs can – and do – hatch. ![]() Our gaggle is comprised of both new and mature layers, so some of the first goose eggs are smaller than those laid by more mature geese. Semper paratus! Don’t let the dirt scare you – the bloom prevents bacteria from getting in If you’re hatching eggs, read, read, read and have your “assistance kit” prepared before you need it. Further, hatching assistance should only be attempted after performing exhaustive research and preparation. Assisting prematurely or too extensively can have serious (and potentially fatal) consequences for the hatchling. Let me be clear about this: I help as cautiously and incrementally as possible, with the goal of safely facilitating the hatchling’s emergence on its own. Since I’m hands-on, I closely monitor progress and assist if it looks like a gosling is running into trouble. When they begin to hatch, it can actually take a couple of days for them to zip and emerge – that egg, as large as it may be, is still a tight fit for a gosling. Pilgrim goose eggs have about a 30 day incubation period, which is roughly a week and a half longer than chicken eggs. “Set and forget” eggs these are not in truth, I don’t incubate any of my eggs, regardless of species, that way because I like to check temperature and humidity several times a day, as well as talking to the developing eggs so that hatchlings already know my voice. Hand-turning the eggs at least three times a day (roughly every 8 hours), misting and cooling daily…these are eggs for the hands-on hatcher. Starting at day 10, they also benefit from daily misting and cooling, which involves carefully removing the eggs from the incubator, spraying them with lukewarm water, and letting them sit at room temperature for a specific period, which changes based on the eggs’ developmental phase. I’d describe them as being high touch compared to chicken eggs: often too large to fit into incubators with automatic turners (hand-turning is optimal, anyway). Goose eggs gave a reputation for being difficult to artificially incubate. It’s a short hatching season, so I’ll be making the most of it! If all goes well, in a few weeks, the fuzzy charm of baby geese will return to the farm. Happiness – for me, at least – is an incubator full of goose eggs. ![]()
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