Interactive lesson

Ducklings and goslings, step by step

Interactive lesson: a goose or Muscovy as the broody, hatching eggs, an incubator with cooling and misting, the hatch, the brooder and the first trip out to grass.

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The whole lesson as text

1. The broody: a goose or a Muscovy

The surest way for a beginner is to let a goose or a Muscovy sit on the eggs.

Three durations — A duck sits for 28 days, a goose 28–32, roughly 30, and a Muscovy 35. Set all the eggs on the same day so they hatch together.
A nest on the floor — For a duck, a quiet, dark corner with clean straw, fenced off so the others don't lay into the same nest. For a goose, a nest of straw bales in a U shape.
How many eggs — An ordinary duck 10–14, a Muscovy 12–18, a goose 8–12. A broody hen covers 4–6 duck or 3–4 goose eggs; you turn the goose eggs yourself once a day.
Water and peace — Feed, water and a tub go near the nest: wet feathers bring moisture back to the eggs. The gander guards the nest and turns aggressive, so keep children away.

Why: A mother knows how much moisture the eggs need, when to cool them and when to lead the young to water. Incubation takes longer than with a hen, and for geese natural hatching is almost always better.

Many keepers slip Pekin and Runner eggs under a Muscovy, because those breeds rarely go broody.
Keep the nest safe from mink and rats, and give the broody water nearby.

2. Hatching eggs

Hatching starts in the flock and in the larder, weeks before the incubator.

Collect early in the morning — Keep the nests clean and dry. Choose medium-sized, well-shaped eggs with no cracks; no double-yolkers and no small ones.
Clean but unwashed — Clean a slightly dirty egg with a dry brush or sandpaper. Don't set a very dirty egg.
Cool, not the fridge — Store them at 12–15 °C (54–59 °F), at roughly 70–80 % humidity, for no more than 7 days. Duck eggs stand pointed end down, goose eggs lie on their side.
Pencil, not felt-tip — Write the date and the female's mark on the egg in pencil. Tilt the carton once a day, and before setting leave the eggs 6–12 hours at room temperature.

Why: A dirty egg in the incubator is dangerous: bacteria pass through the shell, the egg rots, swells and can burst, infecting all the others. Eggs older than 7 days hatch noticeably worse.

The male should be in the flock for at least 3–4 weeks before you collect eggs, and breeder feed should start 3–4 weeks before the season.
Buy hatching eggs only from a healthy flock, ideally a registered one (in the US, NPIP-certified).