Community Nest?

[RuralMama]

My geese free range and decided to make a nest outside my bedroom window. There is one that seems to stay on the nest 24/7 but the others will take turns sitiing on the nest with her. Has anyone ever had geese share a nest? I bet there is at least a dozen and a half, maybe more, eggs under them right now. They are all very protective of the nest and when she is alone, if I go out tofeed her if she makes the slightest noise the rest coming running. I find it really interesting, except for the fact that now they are fighting with each other about who gets to sit on the nest with her in the early early morning and making a lot of noise. Is this normal behavior? I had two africans but they never really wanted to sit, the ones I have now are Tulouse and Embden.

 

[RURU]

Yes, I have geese that like to lay their eggs in one nest and then all try to sit at one time which is NOT a good idea. Because the weight of all the girls on one nest cracks the eggs. Then they fight over them and knock them out of the nest. So it is a good idea to have several nest that each can sit on. Two on a nest not too bad but more than that it just does not work so well.

 

[Miss Lydia]

I would also be worried about them nesting outside of a secure building with preds on the prowl especially at night, geese really can't fight off a pack of coyotes or dogs, even a fox could pick them off one by one. and thats not even including raccoons and other preds out there.

 

[RuralMama]

For the most part they are under the devoted goose, the others lay next to her and arent really on the eggs I dont think. I am curious to see what actually hatches and by my best guess they shoukd start around the 28th of April. I have a pekin and a rouen duck that try to breed the geese as well, so I may just get a nest of hybrids, who knows, lol.

 

[Miss Lydia]

For the most part they are under the devoted goose, the others lay next to her and arent really on the eggs I dont think. I am curious to see what actually hatches and by my best guess they shoukd start around the 28th of April. I have a pekin and a rouen duck that try to breed the geese as well, so I may just get a nest of hybrids, who knows, lol.

Or a nest of nothing, my Embden gander mated with Our Muscovy ducks for 5 yrs before we got him a goose mate, and we had very poor hatches even with 2 drakes mating too.

 

[BunkyB]

Oh yes, every year my 2 female Pilgrims share a nest and I can't seem to get them to nest separately half the time. Baby will build her nest beside Dixies nest and as soon as one got off the nest the other would steal the eggs and pile them into her nest. If a divider went up between the nests then one nest became abandoned and the two shared one nest. Talk about confusing.

I blame my dilema on having too many males around and it is making my girls uncomfortable while setting. Baby and Dixie are mother daughter as well. I kind of shrug the shoulders and let mother nature take its course until I grab a few more females and hopefully things get straightened away. As we speak they are sharing a nest with 17 eggs in it. If only my incubator wasn't full of chicken eggs right now.

I even tried to make other nests for them to keep them separated . Same thing ...one nest gets used and the others not... They are giving me a run for my money.. Steve

 

[bluejeans]

my female pilgrim is sitting on a community nest also ..
i have another pilgrim goose and a a buff goose that join her during the night and also have two pilgrim ganders ..
all free range during the day .. the nest is in goose barn .

im not holding out much hope as its been, way below freezing several times and humity is very very low as well..

The clutch so large she covers them with down as she cant sit on them all..

she is very nasty with any humans that get near ..

if they are going to hatch it will be in five to seven days .. from now .

 

[RuralMama]

Well, I figured I should give an update! My girls hatched out 5 goslings but only 3 made it, the 2 that died had dried and were fluffy when I found them. The first one that died I believe was their first hatch, it appeared as if it was attacked by another goose or one of my ducks. The second was squished, it looked like maybe it was under the goose when either the gander or my duck tried to breed the female, it was also fluffy. I separated the 3 as soon as I could from the mothers and have raised them in a tub with a heat lamp. They are a month old now and getting little feathers. I have been leaving them out with the adult geese during the day and putting them in their tub a night minus the lamp. The Gander is very protective of them and keeps an eye out.

If the photo shows up, it is the first survivor that hatched April 29th, with my daughter.

 

[Miss Lydia]

Well, I figured I should give an update! My girls hatched out 5 goslings but only 3 made it, the 2 that died had dried and were fluffy when I found them. The first one that died I believe was their first hatch, it appeared as if it was attacked by another goose or one of my ducks. The second was squished, it looked like maybe it was under the goose when either the gander or my duck tried to breed the female, it was also fluffy. I separated the 3 as soon as I could from the mothers and have raised them in a tub with a heat lamp. They are a month old now and getting little feathers. I have been leaving them out with the adult geese during the day and putting them in their tub a night minus the lamp. The Gander is very protective of them and keeps an eye out.

If the photo shows up, it is the first survivor that hatched April 29th, with my daughter.

Precious, Congrats!!