3 Females fighting over nest when goslings where hatching

[Pad4paws]

Hi Everyone,

Yesterday I went to check on my goose sitting on eggs and they were apparently hatching. 2 other females were trying to steal the nest. One baby was out of the nest almost dead from hypothermia. I had to go to work so I put a heat lamp on him and when I got home he was fluffy and beautiful. I went out to check on the nest and it was the worst sight ever, all 7 geese where in there and half hatched eggs were everywhere. The eggs were cold and none survived. One baby hatched and was fine sitting away from the group. I got all of them out but Mom and I could see another egg was hatching. Once all settled I gave her two babies back to her. Today I think there just the three, she is still sitting on approx 6 eggs. I feel bad locking out the Dad but I can’t risk losing the babies. Has anyone had this happen! It was really horrible. So what should I do now? Should the others be hatched by now? This is her first time being a Mom.

 

[Pad4paws]

Today I opened the stall to see how the flock would react to the three babies and one female spread her wings and went into attack mode and looked like it was trying to kill a gosling. Help! I have had gosling before and everything was harmonious.

 

[BlueBaby]

I'm sorry but I don't have any geese, just chicken's. I noticed that no one else that does have any geese has answered you. I hope that someone will stop by here soon, though. You might have to separate the mother and duckling's from the other's.

 

[Uwish]

Hi Everyone,

Yesterday I went to check on my goose sitting on eggs and they were apparently hatching. 2 other females were trying to steal the nest. One baby was out of the nest almost dead from hypothermia. I had to go to work so I put a heat lamp on him and when I got home he was fluffy and beautiful. I went out to check on the nest and it was the worst sight ever, all 7 geese where in there and half hatched eggs were everywhere. The eggs were cold and none survived. One baby hatched and was fine sitting away from the group. I got all of them out but Mom and I could see another egg was hatching. Once all settled I gave her two babies back to her. Today I think there just the three, she is still sitting on approx 6 eggs. I feel bad locking out the Dad but I can’t risk losing the babies. Has anyone had this happen! It was really horrible. So what should I do now? Should the others be hatched by now? This is her first time being a Mom.

Omgoodness That’s incredibly sad I really hope somebody with experience answers you I don’t have experience on that end I’m getting my first geese in three weeks

 

[Sierra G]

You've got me worrying now. I have four geese right now sitting on two nests (one of them I've been assuming is a gander because Ego, the big gander, really doesn't like that one). They are in opposite corners of a shed about 12 x 12. I have goslings in the incubator that should hatch in about a week, so maybe I can use them as a distraction. But given that one nest has about 20 eggs in it and the other has only 8, I'm not optimistic that hatching will be harmonious after hearing your story.

As for how long it will take for the hatch to finish I'd say up to three days just as it can in an incubator. If I were in your situation I'd probably wait a few days until she leaves the nest and then move her and the goslings to a brooder that the dad can see into or, if it's large enough, join the family in. After a few days your hyperaggressive goose may start a new nest, waste her time sitting on the old one, or maybe even hatch some if the abandoned eggs if they were developing at different rates. If you have some spare hardware cloth you might want to set things up so you can open the brooder and let your other geese see in but not actually be able to get at the goslings.