we hatched out three embden goslings over the week end. The first one took 36 hours from pipping but the other two were much faster. In the end I intervened and gradually chipped pieces of shell off round the hole but it was the tough membrane under the shell that was stopping it from emerging - it just couldn't get through it, so in the end I gave it a sort of cesarian otherwise it would have died - it was getting progressively weaker. Anyway eventually after cutting enough of the membrane and shell it climbed out but was very weak - unable to lift its head at all and both legs were splayed on either sides and falling to sleep in the shallow water trough and crumb tray. We put it in the brooder under the lamp with the others and after some intensive care to encourage it to feed and drink it seemed to fluff up and gain some strength. We were about to tie its legs together but noticed that the other two were struggling a bit and moving about a bit jerkily and thought that they were having a problem getting a grip with the wood shavings and slippy cardboard on the floor of the box. We then put a piece of old carpet on the floor of the box and hey presto 24 hours later we could hardly see the difference between all three. I read later that a common cause of leg splaying is slippy surfaces emphasised by weakness. So a non-slip surface and helping weak ones to feed and drink seems to do the trick thus leg tying may not be necessary.