Anybody else having an odd breeding season with their geese?

[Cottage Rose]

We touched on this earlier this winter but I was wondering how many of you are still having an odd breeding season.
Some other geese breeders and myself have been having an odd last several months with their geese.
I had heavy breeding and egg laying in November - December 2009 which I've never had happen before.
Next, the breeding season that typically starts for us around mid February was delayed by a few weeks
and now I'm getting lower than average egg production and low fertility with some of my breeders.
Nothing has changed with my feeding program or the weather. No supplemental lighting has been used.
If you've been breeding geese for more than a few years, please report any unusual happenings with your breeders.
Thanks for any comments!

P.S. Duck breeders please comment too if you've been having any of these same issues with your ducks.

 

[Rare Feathers Farm]

Mine have been breeding since the beginning of Feb but no eggs, yet??

 

[Cottage Rose]

Wow thats weird!

 

[CityChicker]

To say we have had a weird breeding season would be grossly understated. I posted about this on the duck forum a couple of months ago and several people said they were having unusual laying as well. We, however, had a *very* cold and wet early winter. It then became more seasonal and now we are in a cycle of 1-2 FEET of snow followed by 75 degree weather. That is bizarre in and of itself and must be affecting them too. All that said, we have had years of weird weather before. This is still one of the most bizarre breeding seasons ever regardless of the weather.

Anyway, in late December-through January (some into the first weeks of Feb.), almost ALL of my ducks were laying, especially my bantam ducks (which NEVER have done this). They laid a huge amount of eggs over about 6 weeks and then just stopped. Most of my big ducks did too. I seriously worried at the time that it would be to the detriment of the regular breeding season. Now, the bantams have finally restarted. A few of them are laying great. Others, my Mini Appleyards particularly, are not laying hardly at all. Some of my big ducks that would normally be into overdrive right now and also doing absolutely nothing. It is very weird.

Editing to add- I haven't checked fertility yet. We put on our first hatch of about 75 eggs a few days ago, so we shall see.

 

[amity3520]

I've been getting eggs since the end of January, but no idea if they're fertile or not as we don't have an incubator. I haven't seen any breeding yet, but both of my geese are about 11 months old now, so I think the egg laying started a bit early than normal for my goose? The gander is certainly aggressive and all, but I'm not positive he's gotten the hint yet about breeding. We're still getting eggs fairly regularly, every 2-3 days.

 

[ultasol]

I had a clutch of eggs laid in December, then no eggs until last week.

Very odd, especially considering we had an early bout of spring-like weather and they have been breeding since Feb. That said, since I live in a desert clime daily highs do not reflect the true climate overall as our night temperatures drop much lower (20-30 degrees lower, often).

Now I am getting good egg production, we will see how fertility goes. I have eggs in the incubator now.

 

[newnanchic]

My goose laid 8 eggs and started setting !! Since I had gotten all 8 of her eggs she decided to set 4 duck eggs !!! And now we are waiting on duck babies !!! Will she start laying again or is she thru til next Spring ???

 

[Hillside]

Nothing odd on this farm unless you count the idea that everything seems earlier than whatever normal is. Easter is the holiday associated with fertility and I think everything here is taking that idea very seriously.

 

[Mrs. Turbo]

I am getting eggs, but fertility is not great.

 

[ChaosTheory]

Could it be because of the El nino this year?