2020 Gosling Hatch-A-Long

[CindyinSD]

I’m new to geese. Just got a quad of American Buff goslings last May. Day before yesterday I found one of the gals sitting on a nest in the hay at the back of the coop. She skittered away, hissing at me, and there was a huge egg. I have seen one mating, but I’m still not completely confident that my quad actually consists of three geese and a gander. At any rate I can’t tell them apart really, nor the boy(s) from the girls. I could not find a bullseye nor even a white hazy spot.

This evening I came with food, scared a goose away, and found 4, maybe 5 eggs in the same nest, some buried in the hay underneath. I ought to have counted them, but I had turkeys breathing down my neck, sticking their heads in the feed bucket. I wasn’t sure what to do with these unexpected riches. That’s a lot of goose eggs! It seems very early days to be hatching goslings. It’s been warmer the last few days but right now, 9:00 p.m., it’s 7 degrees Fahrenheit. Hopefully one of the geese is sitting on them.

I suppose I ought to have brought them in but I was afraid they might already have started developing. I think I’ll bring them in tomorrow morning, though. Even if the geese were to manage to hatch them, I don’t see how they could keep the babies alive. I guess I’ll be eating a lot of goose eggs for a couple months.

 

[Iain Utah]

Congrats on finding the nest. Buffs are productive layers, so an early start to season is not unusual. If your girls are still hanging out as a group, then they likely have not started cooking them yet. Really smart geese know to sit just enough to keep them viable and protected until ready to begin sitting. I've also seen my geese hatch babies in the snow, and have no problem keeping them warm and dry in nest.

 

[CindyinSD]

Congrats on finding the nest. Buffs are productive layers, so an early start to season is not unusual. If your girls are still hanging out as a group, then they likely have not started cooking them yet. Really smart geese know to sit just enough to keep them viable and protected until ready to begin sitting. I've also seen my geese hatch babies in the snow, and have no problem keeping them warm and dry in nest.

It’s the cold I’m more worried about. All the water that’s not being kept wet is quite dry. Our temp this morning was -9 Fahrenheit. OTOH when I candled my stolen eggs the yolks moved around freely. When I entered the coop this morning I found two girls crowded into the nest. There were seven eggs. How many do they generally gather before they decide they have enough? Would I need to isolate one or another of the girls along with the nest to keep others from adding eggs once they start incubating them (as chickens will)?

If I keep collecting the eggs, are they likely to abandon the nest? This one is in a nice safe place, so I’d hate to force them to look elsewhere. There isn’t much available at present, though—pretty much just the snow and ice everywhere. It could remain so (hope not) until the end of May. It did last year. On May 20 we had 17” of snow, which stayed for nearly two weeks.

 

[Iain Utah]

If you want your girls to eventually attempt to hatch babies, then I'd not take away eggs. Instead, offer small piles of straw along edge of nest, so they can build nest up and better insulate. Once there are 10 or so eggs, then I start removing the oldest eggs. I find 6-7 eggs is ideal for my geese. I have many shared nests, but usually the dominant sitter will take over once ready to hatch. Sometimes, you may need to pen nest area off, if others are hassling sitting goose, but usually the non-sitting geese/ganders provide protection.

 

[CindyinSD]

Thanks so much! I’ll start dating the eggs, then. The turkeys are all terrified of the geese and my three little Welshie drakes defer (only) to the geese. It’s comical. The geese are the king and queens, the ducks are the dukes, and everyone else is a peasant.

 

[judyc]

So update on my eggs! All infertile still, no embryo development and when I cracked open the eggs there's no bullseye in the yoke :/

Both males mated with the female so it has to be the female that's the issue. Incubator temperature etc are on the dot.

She laid a new egg this morning so I'm going to keep trying until I get a fertile egg!

Out of my first six eggs, five were infertile. Don't give up!

 

[servpolice]

So I got a lot of America friends here thank goodness so I need your advice!

So I'm planning on exporting chicken eggs to someone in America and I was just wondering if it's possible first of all and what difficulties will there be?

Thanks in advance!

 

[Iain Utah]

Serv, it is possible, but you have to get a health certificate that your flock is free of certain avian diseases, and an import permit. Not sure how much it costs or how long it takes, but I doubt it will be quick and easy.

 

[servpolice]

Serv, it is possible, but you have to get a health certificate that your flock is free of certain avian diseases, and an import permit. Not sure how much it costs or how long it takes, but I doubt it will be quick and easy.

My thoughts exactly unfortunately. The health certificate etc. is expected but the main concern is getting the eggs to the US fast enough. I've heard people getting eggs weeks later which is pretty much useless since after 10 days there's little to no viability left especially with travelling and handling.

I wonder if there's a way to deliver eggs to the US within a week?

 

[DiYMama540]

I'm sure you could do some sort of expedited shipping, but I imagine the price will be outrageous! Definitely pack them really well! That's going to be one heck of a trip for eggs!