Broody goose with infertile eggs

[SwimingWithTheGeese]

Hello all! I have a darling female Toulouse goose, Bella, Bella has been broody for a very long time, I think about a month and a half or more, unfortunately our gander died of old age so her eggs are infertile, I’m worried she might start getting depressed if her eggs don’t hatch, but after a bunch of work I’m getting some eggs for her tomorrow but I was just wondering how much longer she’ll stay broody? I’d hate for her to incubate them halfway and then give up because she’s been sitting in her nest so long.
Any advice or thoughts appreciated! No mean comments please,
A photo of the sweetie in picture, she decided to nest in our hay storage

 

[Hungry Chicken]

Hi! Bella's looking lovely over there! Don't have much duck experience but if she's anything like my broody hen she'll stay there until her eggs hatch, it gets really cold, or we break her. Personally haven't seen birds get depressed when the eggs don't hatch but I'm glad you got eggs for her! I think she'll stay there for them. If all else fails or she goes half-hearted broody you could try incubating the eggs. But my hen was broody for a good two months, and my friend's silkies are kind of broody year-round. Best of luck to you and Bella!

 

[Goosebaby]

Has she been truly broody? “Sitting on her eggs non stop and barely eating?”

If that’s the case you should scoot her off that nest and take her eggs, most are likely rotting at this point and will be a health hazard when they explode, and a month and a half on the nest is not good for her health. Use an incubator for the eggs coming in the mail, if they hatch she’ll adopt the goslings regardless of wether she was the incubator or not, geese usually don’t have any issues taking on babies wether they think they’re theirs or not.

 

[SwimingWithTheGeese]

Hi! Bella's looking lovely over there! Don't have much duck experience but if she's anything like my broody hen she'll stay there until her eggs hatch, it gets really cold, or we break her. Personally haven't seen birds get depressed when the eggs don't hatch but I'm glad you got eggs for her! I think she'll stay there for them. If all else fails or she goes half-hearted broody you could try incubating the eggs. But my hen was broody for a good two months, and my friend's silkies are kind of broody year-round. Best of luck to you and Bella!

Thank you for the advice! Its greatly appreciated

 

[SwimingWithTheGeese]

Has she been truly broody? “Sitting on her eggs non stop and barely eating?”

If that’s the case you should scoot her off that nest and take her eggs, most are likely rotting at this point and will be a health hazard when they explode, and a month and a half on the nest is not good for her health. Use an incubator for the eggs coming in the mail, if they hatch she’ll adopt the goslings regardless of wether she was the incubator or not, geese usually don’t have any issues taking on babies wether they think they’re theirs or not.

Thank you the advice! We’ve switched her eggs to blown ones until we get the fertile eggs, and we’re making sure she gets ups multiple times a week and feeding and watering her while she’s on the nest if she really does not want to get up, she’s as stubborn as a donkey! And she seems to have no health issues, but I’ll definitely kick her off her nest if she seems to start having issues, we’ve been trying to make little health checks on her every other week. Greatly appreciated!

 

[Goosebaby]

Thank you the advice! We’ve switched her eggs to blown ones until we get the fertile eggs, and we’re making sure she gets ups multiple times a week and feeding and watering her while she’s on the nest if she really does not want to get up, she’s as stubborn as a donkey! And she seems to have no health issues, but I’ll definitely kick her off her nest if she seems to start having issues, we’ve been trying to make little health checks on her every other week. Greatly appreciated!

Make sure she gets up and eats and drinks a little every day.

 

[Cek goose]

Thank you the advice! We’ve switched her eggs to blown ones until we get the fertile eggs, and we’re making sure she gets ups multiple times a week and feeding and watering her while she’s on the nest if she really does not want to get up, she’s as stubborn as a donkey! And she seems to have no health issues, but I’ll definitely kick her off her nest if she seems to start having issues, we’ve been trying to make little health checks on her every other week. Greatly appreciated!

i totally hear you…i have a white emden goose who has sat on an empty nest for at least five weeks. she does get up daily to take a bath and eat with her two female goose friends but won’t leave the nest. she has put a kind of round rock in the nest…i have moved it to the outside edge of the nest (was tempted to throw it away) and she rolled it back. i don’t know whether to destroy the nest…or whether she would just exhaust herself in this heat and make another….any advice that works for her would be appreciated. she seems in good shape and does eat and drink and bath the few times she is up everyday. thank you!

 

[KathiQuacks]

i totally hear you…i have a white emden goose who has sat on an empty nest for at least five weeks. she does get up daily to take a bath and eat with her two female goose friends but won’t leave the nest. she has put a kind of round rock in the nest…i have moved it to the outside edge of the nest (was tempted to throw it away) and she rolled it back. i don’t know whether to destroy the nest…or whether she would just exhaust herself in this heat and make another….any advice that works for her would be appreciated. she seems in good shape and does eat and drink and bath the few times she is up everyday. thank you!

Please destroy the nest and break her broodiness. If she makes another, destroy that one too. Remove bedding, block her off from her nesting ground. She shouldn’t waste any more time and energy on goslings that will never be.

 

[SwimingWithTheGeese]

i totally hear you…i have a white emden goose who has sat on an empty nest for at least five weeks. she does get up daily to take a bath and eat with her two female goose friends but won’t leave the nest. she has put a kind of round rock in the nest…i have moved it to the outside edge of the nest (was tempted to throw it away) and she rolled it back. i don’t know whether to destroy the nest…or whether she would just exhaust herself in this heat and make another….any advice that works for her would be appreciated. she seems in good shape and does eat and drink and bath the few times she is up everyday. thank you!

I agree with kathiQuacks, her health will deteriorate and she shouldn’t waste her time and life on some nest that will never provide her with goslings, she should be frolicking with her goose friends!

 

[Tennessee Great Granny]

Hello all! I have a darling female Toulouse goose, Bella, Bella has been broody for a very long time, I think about a month and a half or more, unfortunately our gander died of old age so her eggs are infertile, I’m worried she might start getting depressed if her eggs don’t hatch, but after a bunch of work I’m getting some eggs for her tomorrow but I was just wondering how much longer she’ll stay broody? I’d hate for her to incubate them halfway and then give up because she’s been sitting in her nest so long.
Any advice or thoughts appreciated! No mean comments please,
A photo of the sweetie in picture, she decided to nest in our hay storage

whenever they give up just gather what you have and incubate yourself. I have plenty of females trying to hatch infertile eggs. If I let them all become fertile eggs we'd be over populated. You can break birds of being broody by emptying the nest and getting the undersides of their bodies cooled. (we cage them away from the nest) The entire time they are broody they do not eat. It's not good to let them remain broody for extended periods especially if there are no babies coming. Some will stay broody until either the eggs explode (lots of really harmful bacteria) or they waste away to poor health. I'd love to hear how your attempt at goose surrogacy worked out for your Bella. Sometimes my chickens take to it easy and other times they simply quit. Turkeys are the same as chickens in our pens. But I'm still learning about geese mommas raising their own.