Low goose egg hatching rate affects the profitability of goose farming; how should it be addressed?
Geese
1. Malnutrition in breeding geese
Malnutrition in breeding geese leads to poor embryo development, dead embryos, deformed goslings, and reduced hatching rate.
Preventive measures: Strengthen the nutrition of breeding geese, especially within 1 month after breeding geese enter the laying period, increase the amount of soybean cake and peanut cake so that the protein level in the feed reaches about 17%. At the same time, add multivitamins and trace element additives to balance the feed nutrition and meet the nutritional requirements of geese during the laying period.
2. Too low fertilization rate
The fertilization rate of goose eggs is about 75—85%; if infertile eggs exceed 30%, it is abnormal. A too-low fertilization rate is mainly due to an uncoordinated ratio of male to female geese, breeding geese being old, too fat, or lame, lack of a mating pond, and insufficient supply of green feed during the breeding season. When the fertilization rate of breeding eggs is low, the hatching rate is even lower.
Preventive measures: To improve the fertilization rate of goose breeding eggs, breeding geese must be strictly selected and retained; geese that are poorly developed, weak in constitution, or weak in mating ability should be culled. For small breeds of geese, the male-to-female ratio is 1:(6-7); for medium breeds, 1:(4-5); for large breeds, 1:(3-4), and a suitable water surface for geese to mate should be provided. Before laying, supplement breeding geese with barley malt and other feeds that can supplement vitamins to ensure nutritional needs. It is worth noting that first-laid eggs have a low fertilization rate and are not suitable as breeding eggs.
3. Breeding eggs too dirty
When goose breeding eggs are stained with feces, soil, grass debris, etc., bacteria can easily invade and cause spoilage; it also clogs the pores, affects gas exchange, forms dead embryos, and reduces the hatching rate.
Preventive measures: Lay eggs at fixed locations and replace bedding straw frequently. Before breeding eggs are incubated, they must be disinfected; the most commonly used method is fumigation disinfection, using 14 ml of formaldehyde and 7 g of potassium permanganate per cubic meter of space, fumigating for 0.5 hour, then using an exhaust fan to discharge the gas.
Goose egg hatching
4. Long storage time
When goose breeding eggs are stored for a long time, too much water evaporates, the pH value inside the egg changes, various enzyme activities intensify, causing embryo aging, nutrient deterioration, and reproduction of residual bacteria, thereby harming the embryo and reducing the hatching rate.
Preventive measures: Goose breeding eggs are best stored for 7 days, or 3 days in summer. In cool weather, such as early spring and early autumn, storage can be relatively longer; in severe winter and intense heat, it should be relatively shorter. In addition, if stored for more than 7 days, turn them 1-2 times per day.
5. Unsuitable incubation temperature and humidity
The critical temperature for goose embryo development is 23.9°C; above this, embryo development is slow, and although limited, cell metabolism will gradually lead to goose embryo death. To inhibit enzyme activity and bacterial reproduction, breeding eggs should be stored below the critical temperature, but after the temperature is below 0°C, breeding eggs are prone to freezing, and frozen breeding eggs lose their hatching ability.
High humidity in the storage room easily causes bacteria to reproduce on the eggshell surface and causes breeding eggs to become moldy; if humidity is too low, during storage the water inside the egg evaporates, the air cell enlarges, and the breeding eggs lose too much water, affecting the hatching effect.
Preventive measures: The storage time of breeding eggs also differs slightly according to different temperature and humidity. For within 7 days, 15°C is more suitable; for more than 7 days, 11°C is suitable. Before storage, if the temperature of the breeding eggs is high, it should be gradually lowered so that the goose egg temperature approaches the storage temperature before placing them in. The relative humidity of the storage room is generally best at 70-80%.