Goose eggs didn't hatch.

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I tried hatching out 7 white chinese eggs and not a one hatched. They all had embryos that developed, but did not pip. Looks as if they died about 3 weeks or so into the incubation. I also had 8 rouen eggs and only 3 of those hatched. 2 pipped and died before they could make it out. They started hatching on day 26, so I must have had the temp. running too high??? Could somebody tell me what the incubation period for rouen ducks is. I've seen anywhere from 26.5-28 days listed for ducks. Geese 28-34, so I left the goose eggs in a extra 7 days but no luck. I'm using a Little Giant syrofoam incubator with the egg turner and a expansion ring. I have 2 digital thermometers that read max-min temp. and I know it never went over 102. I also have the turbo fan I just installed. I kept the humidity up and misted the eggs from day 7-25. None of the eggs were over 14 days old and were stored at about 45-55. Anyone have an idea what went wrong? I have another 12 duck eggs and 6 more goose eggs that I'd like to start in a few days. I'm really scratching my head. Thanks for the help.

-- Kent in WA (kent@premier1.net), April 23, 2001

Answers

Rouen eggs are 28 days and goose eggs are 28-30 days (approximate). I find that our Rouen eggs usually hatch a day early (27) and the goose eggs late (day 30). The Chinese usually are right on for day 28 though. Did you have the fan running for these eggs? For an incubator with a fan use 99.5. Depending on the your setup if the temp did spike to 102 at the wrong time during incubation it could account for the dead embroyos. Did you use the egg turner for the eggs? Duck and goose eggs usually do best if incubated on their sides mimicing the natural way they'd be in a nest but this would require hand turning. However, we use ours upright in our Sportsman and have had good hatches.

Did you increase the humidity to 90-95% the last 3 days? Humidity is very important for a good hatch, especially with duck and goose eggs. If the humidity is too low they easily dry out and the membranes stick to them making it impossible for them to break out of the shell.

I hope your next hatch goes better.

-- Trisha-MN (tank@Linkup.net), April 23, 2001.


Kent sounds like the incubato is ot holding good heat temps. Please email me as I have in my current issue of National Poultry News is all about just this question, with answers. I will be glad to send any one a free sample as I am mailing them out in May. It is on incubation for chickens and waterfowl, turkeys and more.Also have a article on "Dry Incubation that works good in those little incubators. Correct wet bulb humidity and corect temerature is very important.Email me at frizzlebird@yahoo.com and i will send you some articles on this and other questions. Any help i an give please let me know. Glenda L. Heywood frizzlebird@yahoo.com

-- Glenda L. heywood (frizzlebird@yahoo.com), April 26, 2001.

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