Egg Laying Issue

[Franki]

I have a young goose right around 6 months old.
She is a Pilgrim/Embden or Buff/Embden cross.
I bought her at two weeks old and the people I bought her from weren't sure.
My guess from her size and attitude is Pilgrim/Embden.
Sunday evening she was a bit reluctant to get out of the pond and come in for the evening.
Monday they were out for the day and I put them in when I came home.
I went out about an hour later to get fresh food and water for them and found two eggs.
Both misshapen. Round shaped. One with a soft rubbery area, One pretty hard with like powdered calcium on it.
It was kind of gritty feeling.
Tuesday morning she was just her fine perky self.
I called my vet Tuesday he said to watch her and suggested adding more dark greens to their
treat bowls at night
They get Romain, grated carrots, grated apples and grapes along with their pellets, and a handful of cracked corn.
They have a bowl of oyster shells and also grit.
Dr. Riggs recommended that I crush some calcium and put it on their food.
I actually took the oyster shells and ground them in a grinder like you use for flax seed or coffee beans.
It powdered nicely and I put it all over their lettuce to the point that I thought they might not eat it but they did.
She didn't want any lettuce this morning or when I came home so I just left her quietly.
I went out and checked on her about an hour ago and she had laid a rubbery egg. There is calcium on the outside but not really adhered to the rest of the egg and you can kind of rub it off.
I bought her as a friend for my 20 year old girl Reebok who lost her mate of 19 yrs last year right before Christmas.
It broke my heart when he died.
This little girl has turned out to be so much fun and has so much personality...I don't want anything to happen to her.
I will call the vet back tomorrow as he said to let him know how the next egg turns out.
Has anyone ever experienced this.
My older goose laid eggs for years and never once had an issue on this same diet..
Dr Riggs mentioned an implant to keep her from laying but said they don't work the best in these guys.
Does anyone have any insight.
I want Piper to have a long happy life like the others.
She is quietly standing in the straw and I hate to even go out and do water as I don't want to disturb her.

Linda,
Reebok, Oliver and Piper

 

[flockman]

Well my first goose laid a rubbery egg. Then the next egg became stuck. She died from being egg bound. My two girls to replace her each laid 20 plus eggs without any issues. With chickens it seems more common to have odd eggs like that. Hopefully things change for her.

 

[Franki]

I am starting to wonder if it could be from too much apple cider vinegar in their drinking water.
I had not put it in for a few days before the first eggs Monday.
Tuesday and Wednesday I put two capfuls in each water bucket and tonight's egg was rubbery.
Although acv is acidic I believe it turns alkaline in the system. I am going to stop it all together and see.
Now that she has recovered she seem to be herself. She somehow got up on the bales of straw and got a pkg of lettuce down, open and half eaten.
Linda
With
Reebok, Oliver and Piper

 

[Miss Lydia]

I am starting to wonder if it could be from too much apple cider vinegar in their drinking water.
I had not put it in for a few days before the first eggs Monday.
Tuesday and Wednesday I put two capfuls in each water bucket and tonight's egg was rubbery.
Although acv is acidic I believe it turns alkaline in the system. I am going to stop it all together and see.
Now that she has recovered she seem to be herself. She somehow got up on the bales of straw and got a pkg of lettuce down, open and half eaten.
Linda
With
Reebok, Oliver and Piper

See what the vet says first but a member on here who has ducks recc calcium gluconate 23% solution for soft shell eggs, her vet recommended it I ordered from Jeffers but you can probably get it in feed stores.You can mix in feed or in water.

 

[tillyita]

If you get a raw egg (shell and all) and put it in a jar with vinegar it will turn rubbery (feels very odd) So that may be part of the problem. Personally I agree with the "needs more greens" which will provide folate which will increase calcium absorption. Also, most greens have large amounts of calcium in them. Have you considered sprouts (my geese love sprouts and fodder)?

 

[Franki]

To let everyone know how Piper's situation turned out... 2 Thursdays ago she laid an egg that had no shell whatsoever, just a very hard rubbery membrane.
I cannot tell you how concerned I was. I spoke to the vet and ran the I did this to her with the vinegar possibility by him.
He assured me I did not as much as he would like to blame me. When I opened the egg it had three yolks in it. One single and two full yolks coupled together.
I took her to see him on Monday afternoon. He put a (anti?) fertility implant in between her shoulder blades. She has been fine ever since. No eggs, chatty, noisy eating well.
As far as their diet being the cause each night they get 3 fresh bowls of food consisting of Quality Feeds (Big 4) mixed with Mazuri, a handful of cracked corn and grit.
They also have a separate bowl of both scratch and oyster shells. On top of that they get 4-6 heads depending on size of chopped Romaine with carrot, apple grated on top, topped off with red grapes. Last of all they each get one slice of whole wheat bread with ground oyster shell ( run through coffee grinder) mixed in.
During the day they have access to all the grass they want. How her diet could be deficient in anything is anyone's guess.
At this point she appears to be happy, healthy, the terror of resident dogs and cats and more fun than a barrel of monkeys.
Thank you for the replies.
Linda
Reebok, Oliver and Piper

 

[Miss Lydia]

To let everyone know how Piper's situation turned out... 2 Thursdays ago she laid an egg that had no shell whatsoever, just a very hard rubbery membrane.
I cannot tell you how concerned I was. I spoke to the vet and ran the I did this to her with the vinegar possibility by him.
He assured me I did not as much as he would like to blame me.

When I opened the egg it had three yolks in it. One single and two full yolks coupled together.
I took her to see him on Monday afternoon. He put a (anti?) fertility implant in between her shoulder blades. She has been fine ever since. No eggs, chatty, noisy eating well.
As far as their diet being the cause each night they get 3 fresh bowls of food consisting of Quality Feeds (Big 4) mixed with Mazuri, a handful of cracked corn and grit.
They also have a separate bowl of both scratch and oyster shells. On top of that they get 4-6 heads depending on size of chopped Romaine with carrot, apple grated on top, topped off with red grapes. Last of all they each get one slice of whole wheat bread with ground oyster shell ( run through coffee grinder) mixed in.
During the day they have access to all the grass they want. How her diet could be deficient in anything is anyone's guess.
At this point she appears to be happy, healthy, the terror of resident dogs and cats and more fun than a barrel of monkeys.
Thank you for the replies.
Linda
Reebok, Oliver and Piper

I've never heard of this implant for water fowl interesting and glad to hear it's working.
Sounds like their diet isn't a problem just something in her. Hopefully this will take care of it, how long do they last the implants?

 

[The goose girl]

So interesting about the no-egg implant. My late goose died from egg-binding. About one third of her eggs were shellless or misshapen, and many of them were enormous.

I wish I'd known that an implant existed - I just kept hoping she'd outgrow her laying problems. So happy for you and your Piper!

 

[Franki]

I don't know how long the implant lasts.
When Dr. Riggs did it he told me they don't always work in these guys so we would have to see.
I too lost one to egg laying problems years ago.
I lost my wonderful Jordan at 19 a year ago right at this time, 2-3 days before Christmas.
He was 19. His mate Reebok was most definitely depressed. I rescued a goose from a farm sanctuary in May and she had to be
PTS after only 3 days at our home.
That's when I just gave up and bought Miss Piper who was two weeks old.
Her and Reebok who will be 21 in the Spring waddle around the yard and I have to rein them in as Piper will stay out in weather that is now too
much for Reebok.
Love them, love them!
Just as a side note we did discuss the possibility of spaying her which is possible according to the vet, just a bit trickier.
Linda,
Reebok, Oliver and Piper.

 

[Miss Lydia]

I don't know how long the implant lasts.
When Dr. Riggs did it he told me they don't always work in these guys so we would have to see.
I too lost one to egg laying problems years ago.
I lost my wonderful Jordan at 19 a year ago right at this time, 2-3 days before Christmas.
He was 19. His mate Reebok was most definitely depressed. I rescued a goose from a farm sanctuary in May and she had to be
PTS after only 3 days at our home.
That's when I just gave up and bought Miss Piper who was two weeks old.
Her and Reebok who will be 21 in the Spring waddle around the yard and I have to rein them in as Piper will stay out in weather that is now too
much for Reebok.
Love them, love them!
Just as a side note we did discuss the possibility of spaying her which is possible according to the vet, just a bit trickier.
Linda,
Reebok, Oliver and Piper.

I hope the implant works, but I do remember someone posting about having their duck spayed after she was having egg laying problems. I remember your posting about your geese and their ages. And thinking wow I hope mine will live that long or longer. You'll to post pics of your lil family I'd love to see them.