Broody Goose

[SundownWaterfowl]

I have a broody toulouse goose. She is sitting on 5 eggs. Started sitting this past saturday.

I have a question.

Should I leave all of the babies with her, or leave her 1 or 2 and take the rest away to hand raise? She is in a pen with 2 other hens, and a gander.

 

[ccscott24]

I would leave the babies w/there mom and separate her from the other geese. The babies would be better since she knows if they get cold and she can teach them what to eat and not. BUT of course, if the other geese don't hurt the babies then they all can stay 2gether becuz the other geese would also protect the babies like a big family. I found out the hard way about trying 2 catch the babies and the whole gang tried to fight me. Usually a family would protect any babies like ducks also. My ducks got out and my gander watch out for the little ones like big daddy. Just watch and c how the others treat the babies.

 

[2dancingrats]

I had two one year old Toulouse geese when I bought two babies. The originals were a goose and gander pair. The babies were probably about 6-8 weeks old. My geese fell instantly in love and started protecting the younger birds. My two runner-duck drakes made it their job to try to run the youngsters out of the flock. Unfortunately, even though the original geese had been pretty friendly to us, they decided to teach the babies to stay away from us. The younger birds aren't nearly as docile as the first two. The first two were 2 days old when we got them.
One of the younger geese is now sitting on about 6 eggs. She's been there for three weeks now. I'm sure she isn't going to let me anywhere near them. I'm not worried about the other geese, but my two drakes might be a real problem.
If she gets her hatch, I'll post some pictures.