Are newbie goose eggs fertile??

[daze333]

Hi, I have 5 sebbies nearing 1 year old. They are mating and one female started laying. I have put them in the bator. But wondered if like hens the pullet eggs are not fertile for the first couple of weeks of laying? Is this true with geese too?
Thanks

 

[zazouse]

I have romans and chineese and they will just turned a year old and are laying fertile eggs but mine did start laying at 4 and 5 months last year,don't know if that makes a difference

 

[Olive Hill]

Quote:
Well, for starters it's not necessarily true even for chickens (which is I assume what you're referring to when you say "hens"). The age of the chicken has nothing to do with the fertility of the eggs, it has to do with whether or not they're mating. If your geese are mating and they're being successful the eggs will be fertile, whether it's the 1st, 100th or 1000th egg. The reason you hear people saying not to hatch pullet eggs isn't because they're not fertile, it's because their size is sometimes inadequate for housing a robust chick to hatching age.

 

[goosedragon]

Quote:
Well, for starters it's not necessarily true even for chickens (which is I assume what you're referring to when you say "hens"). The age of the chicken has nothing to do with the fertility of the eggs, it has to do with whether or not they're mating. If your geese are mating and they're being successful the eggs will be fertile, whether it's the 1st, 100th or 1000th egg. The reason you hear people saying not to hatch pullet eggs isn't because they're not fertile, it's because their size is sometimes inadequate for housing a robust chick to hatching age.

The last I knew, Both of the pair had to be mature enough to be fertile. Males mature just a bit slower than females (not to mention that that young ganders have to learn to do the job right) so last summer's geese may be fertile with an older gander and wasting their time with with younger ones.~gd

 

[daze333]

Thanks for all your opinions/experiences. My personal experience with hatching chicken pullet eggs is that they are usually not fertile for a week or two, even though the rooster is mating them all the time. I am not sure why this is....

Also when do goose eggs start to show growth in candeling? Mine are at day 7 and still look clear. Do they take longer to see anything than chicken eggs since they take longer to incubate?

Thanks!