5-Month-Old Goose Laying Eggs!

[The Dim Side]

Hi, all! So this started happening around the same time as my other goose got sick. And it seemed like a pleasant surprise, but now I wanted to check and make sure everything is okay since we really weren't expecting it till she was at least a year old (I've read even like 2 years?).

From what I've seen, this is uncommon but not unheard of. We also weren't sure if she was male or female till it happened! We were initially told male, but I suspected female for a while, lol.

But especially at this age, how often should we expect eggs? How careful do I need to be when picking her up for fear of breaking an egg?

I read something about an egg every other day, but I don't know how long that lasts. She laid her first egg, and then a second one two days later, and then a third one the next day. And now it's been two more days without any egg (that we've seen at least, sometimes they've been a bit buried in the straw!). And is there particular nesting that she needs? Since it was unexpected, we're just totally unprepared. But I mainly want to make sure I know what's considered healthy with the egg laying.

In the photos below, it's the gray one, Tooey. We were told she was a Roman Tufted and would molt to white after a year, but we think she's at least a hybrid of some sort since she doesn't even have blue eyes, lol. She hopped into the straw tote to lay her first egg. But obviously we didn't want her to keep jumping in there to lay, so we currently have another low tote with straw since she likes them as well as their sleeping pen full of straw. But what's a normal option for her?





Thanks!

 

[FoodFreedomNow]

Wow! I raise Pilgrims and can understand your surprise at the onset of POL being so early. Congrats!

Tooey looks awfully cute, all snuggled down in the tote. I don't use a nest box-type setup for my layers, instead providing thick hay bedding in the places they like to lay, like the corners of their coop, secluded areas of the barn they have access to, etc. Since Tooey seems to prefer a nest box (tote), using shorter ones like you mentioned (like a large cat litter pan?) full of straw should keep her happy and her eggs clean. Also, the laying frequency you described, especially for a new layer, seems pretty normal to me: they can lay daily then stop for a few days, or be more consistent - it varies. I typically expect an egg every 2-3 days, on average.

BTW, you may already be doing this, but don't forget to provide a supplemental calcium source, like crushed oyster shell, if she's not already on a layer feed.

Best of luck!

 

[The Dim Side]

Wow! I raise Pilgrims and can understand your surprise at the onset of POL being so early. Congrats!

Tooey looks awfully cute, all snuggled down in the tote. I don't use a nest box-type setup for my layers, instead providing thick hay bedding in the places they like to lay, like the corners of their coop, secluded areas of the barn they have access to, etc. Since Tooey seems to prefer a nest box (tote), using shorter ones like you mentioned (like a large cat litter pan?) full of straw should keep her happy and her eggs clean. Also, the laying frequency you described, especially for a new layer, seems pretty normal to me: they can lay daily then stop for a few days, or be more consistent - it varies. I typically expect an egg every 2-3 days, on average.

BTW, you may already be doing this, but don't forget to provide a supplemental calcium source, like crushed oyster shell, if she's not already on a layer feed.

Best of luck!

Thank you! We have some oyster shell supplement, but we also started mixing some of the all-flock pellets with some layer crumbles. My concern is that our other goose may be a gander or at least isn't laying yet. And they eat from the same place. So is it okay to have them mixed? Or should we offer a separate bowl of just layer feed? And would it be bad if the non-layer goose still eats it? (It's hard to control who eats what, haha.)

 

[FoodFreedomNow]

I also have males and females together, so I feed a ration without calcium in it and I offer free choice oyster shell and grit.

While it's possible that a gander or non-POL goose could eat the oyster shell looking for grit, putting granite grit out makes it less likely...and they have a choice.