Fertile possibility?

[JRies]

My best guess is not fertilized but you could give them a few more days. By the pictures. Air sacks will grow with conditions but dosnt mean theirs babies growing. First year can be so hard. Ganders can be a pain when it comes to finding the target and being fertile when they get there. I have raised production Africans who are Simulator to Chinese in growth rate and fertility. My boy back them managed to get about 1 out of 6 eggs fertile it was him and 6 girls. But he only preferred 2 girls even then it was a 50/50 on the 2 girls getting finalized. Now I have a bigger hit and miss. All my boys are Dewlap African who dont really hit sexual maturity till there 2-3 plus years. This spring they will be 2. Last spring 1 year and my fertility was about 1 out of 20 plus eggs. Late season I had 8 make hatch I have 4 very incredible girl.s but I must have gone through at least 100 plus eggs to get there between early quite and just not fertilized. But then these guys are heavy weight geese. My production African Girl and her buff boyfriend produced 22 babies. she was 2 years old and he was first year dewlap african who was devoted to her and didnt need a pond to show it... I guess what Im saying is you never know and its all hit and miss till you get a few under your belt.

 

[Excitednewbie]

Thanks for letting me pick your brain im still slightly happy if these are infertile because that means i have some understanding of what infertile goose eggs can look like! Any info is good info espicially when just starting out.

I was expecting a big hit and miss ratio but i will keep experimenting see what i can learn.

I will give those eggs a few more days in the incubator because i can in the mean time i will start collecting the excess eggs that i am not leaving with the broody goose and chuck them into the incubator when i ditch the infertile ones.

Because you have hatching experience - with the broody goose sitting on eggs, do i start counting the incubation days from the day the first egg was left with her or from the day that she started sitting on them full time ?

 

[JRies]

Sounds like you have a handle on this. I wish you the best luck... There is nothing like a baby gosling.. Fingers crossed for you. Im not sure where you live but my first production Africans hatched in the end of December and beginning of January the Parents were March Babies from the same year we had very unusual warm late winter...

 

[Excitednewbie]

Im in Australia so we are about midway into spring miss goosey looking nice and comfy on her eggs, hopefully some of them work out for her or i might have to try giving her some duck or chicken eggs to hatch

 

[JRies]

Im in Australia so we are about midway into spring miss goosey looking nice and comfy on her eggs, hopefully some of them work out for her or i might have to try giving her some duck or chicken eggs to hatch

My guess if anyone can do it she will...Look at what she has done to give her eggs the best chance. So cool! Mama hatched and raised her first ones and was just as dedicated. She is the only goose I have that becomes one with her nest... The only reason she didn't get to do it again was my ganders are to big and cant get the little girl fertile. They cant reach her to fertilize her. But she is maternal like yours all I have to do is give her babies... She raised allot more than 30 this year...You have a keeper bet you get babies let us know what happens.

 

[Excitednewbie]

The other girl looks like she is starting to go broody now too but she seems to be setting herself up in the duck nesting/sleeping quarters with a duck egg wondering if i should leave her there and let her sleep with the ducks? or if i should try and get her to go to the other goose nesting spot near the first miss goosey ?

 

[Excitednewbie]

The other girl looks like she is starting to go broody now too but she seems to be setting herself up in the duck nesting/sleeping quarters with a duck egg wondering if i should leave her there and let her sleep with the ducks? or if i should try and get her to go to the other goose nesting spot near the first miss goosey ?

Miss goosey number 2 has definitely nestled her self in to the duck house these ducks and the geese are very familiar and get along well with each other as they have grown up together from hatch, but im still unsure if id be better off leaving her with the ducks or trying to convince her to move

 

[JRies]

As long as she isnt being aggressive with the ducks Id let her just hunker down. See what happens.

 

[Excitednewbie]

Little bit of an update, i ended up ditching the infertile goose eggs in the incubator and chucked a couple more in - they have been in for about 9 days, not seeing much of anything going on inside them looking the same as the previous photos i posted. Thinking Mr goose may have gotten a bit lazy on the other hand the 2 duck eggs i have in the incubator are on day 5 and are developing nicely for the time being!! I still have both female geese sitting on eggs- miss goosey number 1 currently has 7 goose eggs (she is sitting full time but still laying every second day for now ) and miss goosey number 2 is sitting on 1 goose egg and 6 duck eggs and isnt laying anymore. Mr goose has also started getting protective of miss goosey number 1's eggs and he will go in and cover them up. I plan on candling the goose garded eggs in the next few days. I will probably end up ditching the incubator goose eggs again and put a few more ducks in

 

[JRies]

How old are your 3 geese?
Love the goose"e drama on the eggs had a bit last year myself with my first year ganders who couldnt find the target and first year geese who's eggs quite early because there shell was just to small. Did ok with late season eggs. But ended up chucking 2 months of early season eggs. My 2 year olds did great out of the 30 plus eggs they laid I only remember a few that didn't make hatch... I have heavy weight geese they take allot longer to develop.
If these are first year birds it can be a bit of drama.
Lets hope the girls know something you dont.
Not sure Im being helpful but its about this time of year I really miss hatching season...
Best way to look at it is Ducks and chickens live only a few years they have allot to get in in a short amount of time. Geese live longer than most dogs and almost as long as a horse. So adulthood comes much later in life.