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Okay, I gave the egs to a friend who wanted geese. Most of the eggs hatched, but only one gosling survived, the rest apparently dying of exhaustion. Do geese help their young escape the eggs? (I mean the lady geese, not the ganders, of course!) My friends were traumatised at losing these babies. But I have no interest in increasing my flock size next spring and even less interest in removing hatched goslings from their mamas. Please advie.All the best and many thanks,Roxie
Optional Information: Type of Animal: geese Name of Bird: not named Already Tried: Please just see the question, which has the details.
Hello again Roxie,I'm sorry to hear your friends were traumatized, but such losses are part of raising animals. Geese do not help babies out of the eggs. It is not recommended that humans help either. It's very easy to injure a baby doing that, and they may not have absorbed all the fluid they should from the egg. Babies that don't survive hatching usually had some sort of problem that made them weak. There are diseases that can be acquired before hatching. Inadequate humidity in the incubator for the last few days can lead to such problems, too. Starting at day 27, it should be upped to 75%.If you would like any additional information or have more questions please don’t hesitate to ask!AnnaPlease remember to only rate my answer when you are 100% satisfied. If you feel the need to click either "Helped a little" or "I expected more", please stop, and instead reply to me via the REPLY button with the issue you have. I will be happy to continue further and do everything I can to provide you with the service you seek.Thank you.
Hi again, Anna,I suspected this (that geese do not help their young hatch). But increasing humidity from day 27 I did not know. Would i be okay with you if I either cut and pasted your reply into an email to ,y friends for future reference and encouragement?
Yes, that would be fine. I'll also give you a couple of links they can look at. This first one is quite technical, and explains how the eggs are incubated and hatched in a commercial hatchery. You'll see that they use a separate incubator called a 'hatcher' for days 27 to hatching.http://www.fao.org/DOCREP/005/Y4359E/y4359e0a.htmThis one is written in more general terms for the average goose owner, but with less explanation:http://www.ehow.com/how_2067968_hatch-geese-incubator.htmlHope this helps.AnnaMsAM41087.6171918634
Experience: Have owned and/or raised parakeets, finches, cockatiels, and poultry over a period of thirty years.