Farming Friends

June 13th 2008

Can Geese Incubate & Hatch Rhea Eggs Successfully?

Does anyone know if geese can incubate and hatch rhea eggs successfully as Rick would like to know?

Hello this is Rick from Wisconsin….I have three rheas fro a bout threeyears… this is first year they are laying egggs good… i have two greyfemales and one 4 year old Male breeding with them…eggs in incubator look fertile and are developing….for a week i found no eggs and now found five of them under one of my BigWhite embem goose hen in her nest..the rhea was lkaying them next to the gooseand goes in by the goose like they are friends…. do you think the goose willincubate those eggs or will the eggs get too Hot??? what do you think ..ever here of a goose hatching rhea or emu eggs??? just curious to leave them or
put them in incubator,,, or will male take them over..he seems like hes protecting the shelter but has made no real nest…he kinda tried making a nest last week by moving straw around but now hes just protecting the gooses nest…what is yoru thoughts??? any one thinks thay can help me feel better about her being on the eggs?? thank you

Hi Rick,

Thanks for visiting the farmingfriends website and getting in touch. I hope all is well with your rhea eggs and the goose and male rhea.

I have never heard of a goose incubating rhea eggs although I am sure it may occur. The temperature and humidity levels are different for goose and rhea eggs so this could be a cause for concern, particularly the humidity levels as the rhea eggs need a humidity of 35% until day 33 whilst goose eggs need a humidity of 55% until day 27. If the goose gets off the nest the male rhea may get on.
As you say that you have eggs in the incubator, I think if the eggs were mine I would leave the other eggs under the goose and see what happens. I know that the success rate for brrody hens hatching eggs is much better than eggs hatching in an incubator, so maybe it is the same for the goose.
I am sorry that I cannot be more helpful but I will post your question onto my website and if I get any advice I will let you know.
I would be interested to hear how the eggs get on.
Best of luck.
Kind regards
Sara @ farmingfriends

I am pleased to say that Rick emailed back;

Thank you…. my female rhea tried pulling eggs out from the gooses nest today but after 5 days under goose i wasnt going to let her so i confined the goose now so rhea cannot take eggs she is still laying more…In incubator it seems like 30 % are showing fertility… thank you for your reply i will keep you informed on ending.. thank you
Rick

If anyone has had any experience of geese incubating and hatching rhea eggs then please leave a comment.

3 Comments »

hi
can you help

i have 2 rhea eggs in the incubator now for 35 days, i candle them but comparing them to other sites the egg is not full i would say two thirds full, do you think they have died, how much longer should i give them untill i bin them?

thanks

kris

Comment by kris — July 5, 2008 @ 7:38 am
hi can u help.
i have a rhea egg in my incubator and it is well over due to hatch. it is now day 48 and still nothing i have listened to the egg and it is still alive inside. i have stopped turning the egg after day 33. what should i do?

Comment by wayne bodman — July 28, 2008 @ 5:31 pm
Hi Wayne,
Thank you for visiting farmingfriends and leaving a comment.
I have heard that eggs can hatch out up to ten days late so I would keep the egg in the incubator especially if as you say it is still alive. Look out to see if the chick has pipped the shell and if so keep an eye on this because if the egg is cracked for a number of hours without a lot happening then you will need to decide if you are going to help the rhea chick out. When incubating quail and guinea fowl I have found that if the egg pips and nothing much is happening after about 2-6 hours then I make the decision whether I am going to help the chick out, depending on what else is happening to the other eggs in the incubator. if you have only one egg then if it pips and nothing much has happenined after a couple of hours then if it was me I would probably try to crack some of the egg and peal back the membrane to try to help the chick. If you do this you do need to be careful not to make the chick bleed and it is also important to peel back as much of the mebrane as you can so that when you place the chick and egg back in the incubator the membrane doesn’t dry onto the chick making it more difficult for the chick to hatch.
I hope that your rhea has hatched successfully. Let me know how you got on.
Kind regards
Sara @ farmingfriends

Comment by Sara @ Farming Friends — July 30, 2008 @ 8:37 am