A goose egg weighs three times as much as a hen’s, and it behaves differently in an incubator. Run it on chicken settings and usually less than a third hatch; the rest stop halfway or can’t get out of the shell. Goose eggs have three peculiarities: a lot of fat in the yolk, a thick shell, and a long incubation of about 30 days.
Which eggs to set
- well shaped, with no cracks or ridges, 140–200 g depending on breed;
- no older than 5–7 days, stored at 12–15 °C and about 75% humidity;
- if stored more than 3 days, turned once a day;
- heavily soiled eggs are better not set: washing before incubation is only possible with special products, and still carries risk.
Before setting, keep the eggs at room temperature for 8–12 hours so condensation doesn’t form on cold shells.
Settings by stage
Guidelines for a forced-air incubator. In still-air machines, keep the temperature 0.5 °C higher at the top of the eggs.
| Days | Temperature | Humidity | What to do |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1–10 | 37.8 °C (100 °F) | 55–60% | Turn at least 4–6 times a day |
| 11–27 | 37.5 °C (99.5 °F) | 50–55% | Turning, cooling and misting once or twice a day |
| 28–30 | 37.2 °C (99 °F) | 75–80% | Stop turning, wait for the hatch |
Settings vary by incubator and breed; check your manual. Breed matters too: Chinese geese start hatching on day 28, large breeds on day 30–31.
Cooling and misting
In the second half of incubation, a goose embryo produces more heat than it needs, and the big egg overheats from the inside. In nature the goose leaves the nest and returns with damp feathers. Cooling mimics that:
- from day 11–13, open the incubator once or twice a day;
- let the eggs cool for 10–30 minutes, until a shell held to your eyelid feels warm but not hot (about 30–32 °C);
- mist with warm water (about 30 °C) from a spray bottle and close up.
Cooling doesn’t replace the right temperature — it complements it.
Candling
- Day 8–9: the network of blood vessels is visible. Infertile eggs are clear; remove them.
- Day 15: the embryo is easy to see. A “blood ring” without vessels means early death.
- Day 27: the egg is almost entirely dark with a visible air cell. This is the last check before hatching.
Why so few hatch
A 50–70% hatch from goose eggs at home is a good result. If yours is lower, look for the cause by when embryos die:
| When they die | Likely cause |
|---|---|
| Eggs are clear | Too few ganders (1 per 3–4 geese), old or fat ganders, no water for mating |
| In the first week | Long or cold storage, overheating |
| Midway | No cooling, infrequent turning, poor nutrition of the breeder flock |
| At hatch, failed to get out | Low humidity at the end, overheating in the last days |
General incubation mistakes and chicken settings are covered in home egg incubation.
Day-by-day tasks you won’t forget
In EggPulse an incubation batch knows which day it’s on and reminds you about candling and the final days. At the end you see the hatch rate for each setting, and it becomes clear whether your changes to the settings helped.
