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Found my first egg!!! HUGE! incubation questions....

Discussion in 'Geese' started by birdbrain5, Apr 5, 2012.

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  1. Apr 5, 2012 #1
    birdbrain5

    birdbrain5 Songster

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    so today i was looking out my window and saw a big white spot out in the field. i was kind of playing around when i said hey i wonder if thats a goose egg. well sure enough, it was! it is sooo big, way bigger than a turkey egg! i have been looking for a nest for a while now and havent seen one, so im not sure if this is her first egg or if she hid the others real well. it didnt have any blood on it which usually first time layers in chickens and guineas have a tiny bit on the eggs sometimes, so i thought that might be another clue she has been laying elsewhere?
    not sure what to do with it, should i make a nest area close by where she laid it and put the egg back so she will lay more and set them herself? or should i incubate it. i definetly want goslings this year, been looking forward to it for a while so i dont want the egg to go to waste! i have been told goose eggs are best to be set by the goose themselves rather than incubated, but i wanted everyone on here to chime in about that. what temp and humidty do they need to be? and how many days? i have hatched many chickens, turkeys, and recently emus! but never ducks or geese! these are toulouse/embden geese by the way..

    thanks!
     

  4. Apr 6, 2012 #2
    scratch'n'peck

    scratch'n'peck Crowing

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    Pete55 did a wonderfully detailed incubation guide that is now a "sticky" for the geese section of the forum: https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/491013/goose-incubation-hatching-guide-completed

    Incubation would be around 27 days I think.

    It sounds like your goose is a yearling? She may or may not be laying fertile eggs and she may not have fully developed her nesting instinct yet. It wouldn't hurt to put out some nesting materials like straw and see what she does. I'll be interested to read what other goose people have to add.
     
  6. Apr 7, 2012 #3
    barbara3711

    barbara3711 Hatching

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    I'm in the same situation! I've got five HUGE goose eggs and not sure what to do with them...
    I have a silkie hen setting...do you think she would accept these...assuming she could adequately cover them! LIke the poster...I don't want them to go to waste...the Mom is young so there is a possiblity these are not fertile but I still want to try!
     
  8. Apr 7, 2012 #4
    nurse_turtle

    nurse_turtle Songster

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  10. Apr 7, 2012 #5
    scratch'n'peck

    scratch'n'peck Crowing

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    I was just imagining a little silkie sitting on a big goose egg.
    that would be a funny sight. If she were already sitting on her own eggs, then I don't think she could even fit one goose egg under her. If you collect the goose eggs as your goose lays them she may decide to sit on them once she is done laying. They keep laying until they have a clutch and then start to incubate them all at once. My yearling geese brooded last year, but nothing hatched.
     
  12. Apr 7, 2012 #6
    larkflying

    larkflying Songster

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    You could incubate some, and let the goose sit on some! I've gotten 4 geese who are ether broody, or nesting, but they are all young, so I'm just going to let them try it this year. If I don't get any goslings, then next year I'll try incubating them, or experimenting with different nesting areas. I much prefer the parents hatching them, instead of messing about with humidity levels, and such. But since you have already hatched so much out, I'd think it would be fine. Look for all the threads with the incubation details!

    This is the time to try to guide her into a safe nesting spot. Move the egg / eggs into your favored location - ideally a dark corner with cover overhead so she can feel safe and concealed. Mine like under thick trees, and I was able to convince one of them to lay in a large dog house. I'm going to be looking for more dog houses for next year I can tell . . . I've heard of people using plastic barrels cut open, tires, very large dog crates . . . If you move the eggs that she lays to the spot, she'll hopefully just start laying there . . . or she'll pick her own spot and start making a nest . . .

    My broody silkie hatched out two chicks, and no other bantams have started brooding yet, but I'm sorely tempted to let one hatch out a goose, just to see . . . .
     

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