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[Vicke Lynne41]

My dear goose has been laying an egg consistently all week. She is 21 weeks old. This morning she "stole" my ducks egg and put it in her nest. Is this normal? Also should I go ahead and take the eggs from her or leave them be until she is done laying. I dont want her to sit on them because A) I was told she was to young to lay and B) I was told its to late in the season for her. I have someone who wants the eggs for baking but I didnt know if it was a good idea to take them or leave them. The last thing I want is my girl to get sick.

 

[Nyssa03]

take the eggs and use them. they make great omlets and are good for baking also. What you said about the goose and laying this time of year were correct. Next Spring you can let her have a nest.

 

[The goose girl]

Wow, 21 weeks and laying! Amazing!

It's perfectly normal for geese to "steal" other egg-shaped objects. But as the duck egg is more fragile, she may trample it.

I agree, it's too late in the season for goslings. Usually the eggs are infertile in Fall, as the gander hasn't done his thing. Also, she may be too young to properly hatch them or care for them.

If you want her to stop laying ASAP, you should leave the eggs in the nest until she starts sitting. But if you want to encourage her to keep laying, just leave one egg (or a golf ball) in the nest. If you keep emptying the nest, she may consider the nest unsafe and choose another location.

Geese usually stop laying and start sitting when they deem they have enough eggs in the nest to sit on. How many that is depends on the goose. A friend of mine has a grown goose who started sitting after laying only three eggs. 8-15 eggs is more likely. But they don't always start sitting this late in the year.

My goose started laying in October last year. I kept taking the eggs, and she produced 108 eggs until June, when she started molting and we decided to let her sit to stop the laying. We filled her nest with golf balls, and marble and porcelain eggs, and within two days she sat. She only left the nest twice a day for half an hour. We let her sit for 9 days, until we were sure the laying had stopped. Then we removed the eggs while she was bathing. When she returned to the nest, she spent 40 minutes searching and then happily abandoned the nest.

BTW, goose eggs taste great and are very good for baking.