Geese Help

[ZapDreamAcres]

Hello! In August, our family became the proud owners of a hobby farm. It was complete with animals. We are really a hot mess. we have learned and laughed a lot over the last 6 months. we live in ND, and its freezing cold. Okay, so the place came with 15 chickens, a goose, and a peacock. We found out in December the goose was female, as she started laying. She has laid 10-12, which she lays roughly every 36 hours & then she will take roughly 10 days off from laying and start back at it again.
Currently, I wash the eggs with warm water & dry. They are always completely dirty. She lives in the coop with the chickens & always lays them in the same corner. With the extreme cold they are inside A LOT! so the coop, is not the cleaniest most freshest place.
I then, put the eggs in the fridge pointy side down. We use them up pretty quickly, but they are starting to add up.
My question is: Is that an okay method to clean/store them & how long are they good for if in fridge?
Also, we just have a chicken water in there because anything else either freezes or makes a huge mess in the coop. On days where its sunny or over freezing (which hasnt happened lately) i put water out for a bath. Is this okay? I feel bad for her but there really isnt much options.

 

[Skipper81]

I would assume geese need to clean out there nostril holes like ducks which means the water needs to be as deep as the length of her beak you can get a warmer to put under her water dish for 40 bucks at same place you buy your feed
I have one I never use because I bring my flock into a heated building in the winter Montana gets pretty cold too
Baths are good as long as she gets dried out before dark
Maybe do them on warmer days early in the day
Eggs stay fresh for a month sitting on your counter
Once you wash the bloom off the eggs they need to be put in the fridge
I don't eat eggs after they sit in fridge after a few weeks but that's just me
I try to make a batch of scrambled eggs for my hens once a week as a snack to get rid of extras

 

[Percheron chick]

Any time you wash eggs, the water should just be slightly warmer than the egg. What you are doing is fine. Commercial eggs can easily be 3 months old. I try to turn my egg inventory by 2 weeks but I don't worry if they are hitting a month. Find a customer to sell or give a dozen to every week.
Dump the water bath and put it away until it warms up. All she needs is access to water at least 4" deep and that's it. Put down fresh straw in the corner where she lays to help keep her feet dry and clean and that will help keep the eggs cleaner.

 

[ZapDreamAcres]

With the bath, she does not necessarily bathe. She puts her face in it, and cleans her body. It is about 7 in high. Anything open, gets straw/poop/etc. in it. I am guessing she isnt like a duck or she would be dead by now (that would have been horrible) We do not have a heated building but the few "farmers" i spoke with said not to use a heated building. That they would adapt with the weather. We stack up hay pretty high.
We put fresh straw in the corner, but they quickly move the straw around. We are planning to build a "nesting box" for her for that corner which should help contain the straw better.
We use the eggs quickly but have sold some. I just wanted to make sure I gave them a good time line to use them in. As for the chicken eggs, we do not wash until we use.

 

[Miss Lydia]

I use heated buckets I got from TSC ducks and geese need to be able to keep their nares and eyes clean and need a lot of water just for eating purposes or they can choke.

Goose eggs are so delicious they make awesome omelets. Left over eggs not used go to the flock or dogs cooked up of course.

 

[donkeydew2farms]

the same here as miss Lydia said I use stock tank heaters and put it in a cement mixing tub and slide it under the fence between duck pen and geese pen put that white wire shelving over part of it so only there heads can get wet worked well .

 

[ZapDreamAcres]

Thanks everyone! I guess we have not been giving her enough access to deep water.

 

[Miss Lydia]

Water fowl can get eye infections and nares clogged from not being able to wash their entire heads. Plus they need to be able to have plenty of water while eating dry feed.