dummy eggs -- are these okay as is?

[johnskoi]

my sebbie hen laid her 2nd egg this morning (i believe her first was on the 7th) ... i'm swapping the eggs out with old (over a year and they're VERY lightweight) peafowl eggs as she's laying ... i thought the first might spook her and i don't want to screw her up as she's laying EXACTLY where i hoped she would

... when i went let everyone out this morning she was fussing with the nest big time so i let her be -- an hour or so later, she was out and about and laid egg #2 right next to the lightweight pea egg and covered them up -- i swapped egg #2 with another dud pea egg,,

went to the craft store and picked up some unfinished wooden dummy eggs -- they seem to be a LOT closer in both size and weight, but they're WOOD ..... would i (hah--wood eye

) be better off painting them white or do you think she'll be okay with them as is?

can't leave the original eggs in the nest for 2 reasons:

-- my silkies will most likely start to incubate them

and

-- night's are so cold, they WILL freeze and crack

....my plan is to slip them back under her once she starts to sit on them --- how many can a goose safely cover with good results? if she goes over 8, i plan to slip the oldest ones under some broody silkies...

tia, john

(and a thank you once again to miss lydia -- this is the same girl who had an eye issue this summer that is undetectable now)

 

[foreverlearning]

I have had bright green easter eggs in the nest boxes at times. It doesn't seem to bother them for laying but a broody will kick them out of the nest. I suggest if you do paint them to paint them something other then the normal color of her eggs so you don't try to cook it. I had a brown wood egg that was the same size, weight, and color as my my layers and I have been known to try to crack it open a time or two. (I don't wash unless necessary.)

 

[livininbrazil]

My geese get their eggs very dirty in the bare soil, so I reckon the wooden eggs would be fine as colour goes. Besides that. my geese will rake in stones, bits of concrete, rocks three times the size of their eggs!