We have watched a clutch of goslings hatch over the last 5 weeks. One of the eggs did not hatch and we have taken it home and misted it and placed it in a heating pad (roughly 100 degrees). Is there any hope that the egg will hatch? How can we help it to hatch? We think the other eggs hatched within the last 1 to 3 days.

-- Gabrielle Miller - Massachusetts (bears123@concentric.net), April 22, 2002

Answers

It may not be alive, or even fertile. One of my banties hatched out 9 of her 13 eggs today. I checked the other 4, and they were all spoiled---no chicks in them at all.

-- Shannon at Grateful Acres Animal Sanctuary (gratacres@aol.com), April 22, 2002.

Hold a very strong, small flashlight up to the large end of the egg. If you see movement, continue to heat the egg. I wouldn't try to help it unless you are outdoors. A rotten egg in the house isn't very nice.

-- Robin Downing (Southpawrobin1@aol.com), April 22, 2002.

Gabrielle,

We did something similar a couple of years ago. When the goose left the nest, there was still one egg. I placed it in the hen house under a hen that was setting at the time. She kept pushing it out. After a couple of days, I figured she must know more about it than I did, so I picked it up to throw it out. Just as I lifted it, I heard "peep, peep, peep"!

I took it in the house and put it under a heat lamp on a damp towel. The kids and I had so much fun watching that little guy hatch. The kids would croon encouragement when he started to get tired. As soon as he could get around good, we took him to join the rest of his bunch. The goose took him with no problems.

-- Mona in OK (modoc@ipa.net), April 22, 2002.

We recently found a goose egg in a pond in water about 1 foot deep. The water was very warm - we had a few warm days about 90 + degrees. We took the egg in and have kept it under a lamp about 14 days now. Any chance it may hatch? Are we keeping it warm enough? Any advice would be appreciated! I'd hate to throw it away!

-- Kathy Fontana (k.fontana@att.net), April 24, 2002.