Broody Goose Questions

[Nestled Chickens]

This is our first year with geese. Our nine geese free range all day and then are locked in their enclosure at night.

This morning my son found one of our toulouse geese on a nest in our carport. She has 3 or 4 eggs so far and is gathering nesting materials. How long can she leave the nest and have the eggs still be viable? She has been locked up every night, leaving her nest and eggs unprotected. Now that we know she has a nest, we want to make sure she and the eggs are protected and we also don't want to scare her off the nest.

Can we put a temporary fence around her without scaring her off?

Can we move her eggs to a new nest in the enclosure without scaring her off?

What should we do?

 

[Miss Lydia]

This is our first year with geese. Our nine geese free range all day and then are locked in their enclosure at night.

This morning my son found one of our toulouse geese on a nest in our carport. She has 3 or 4 eggs so far and is gathering nesting materials. How long can she leave the nest and have the eggs still be viable? She has been locked up every night, leaving her nest and eggs unprotected. Now that we know she has a nest, we want to make sure she and the eggs are protected and we also don't want to scare her off the nest.

Can we put a temporary fence around her without scaring her off?

Can we move her eggs to a new nest in the enclosure without scaring her off?

What should we do?

Just my opinion I'd move her and nest. And tear up anything that is left over. Try to get as much of her nesting material as you can and make her a nice bedded area where she'll have privacy inside. also place something over the original place because if she is nesting with out protection her and the eggs are prime targets for predators. You can use a piece of plywood laid up against a wall inside and secured, and place her eggs under it making sure she has enough room to get in and move her eggs around which they love to do. I just make cubby for mine and she loves being alone to lay and brood.
Usually after 10 days eggs begin to lose their freshness. As long as it's not freezing and she is still collecting she won't sit on them she'll probably stop laying at around 8-10 then begin brooding.