Goose egg hatched under duck. (Pic Included)

[kuntrygirl]

My geese have been laying eggs all over the place and refuse to set on them. So, I decided to experiment by placing some of the goose eggs under my broody muscovy ducks. Well the goose eggs are now hatching. I had my first goose egg to hatch last night. I placed 3 eggs under each muscovy hen (5 ducks are setting on eggs), so if all goes well, they will hatch 15 goslings. My question is, will the duck know that the baby is a gosling and not a duck? Will the duck still care for the gosling or not? Should I be worried that this experiment may not work?

You can see the baby gosling's head sticking out from under the duck.

 

[fagusabello]

I can attest to the egg switch-a-roo working but from the other way around. My sweet darling goose Phoebe (who passed on this winter after many months of being sick) had seen the Ducks in the flock brooding and so decided to brood herself.

At that point there was no Gander, so I started switching out her eggs with the ever growing pile of duck eggs (another issue was that ALL of the ducks were laying in a single nest, they would shove the brooder off the nest, then lay - leaving their eggs, at one point I had a single duck (Breakfast) sitting on a big pile of thirty six eggs). Phoebe eventually incubated to full term the eggs, only one survived - two others were crushed just as they were coming out of their shells.

The surviving hatchling I named Drew, he imprinted on the geese, totally thinks he is a goose, hangs with the geese rather than the ducks, does the aggressive/threat goose gestures (while the other ducks run & hide)... here's a shot of Drew with the Gander (Blinkie):

Anyway, she really never rejected him, so I think the imprinting eventually might work both ways. Though she did at times become aggressive / pecking him if wandered off then attempted to come back BUT he was determined to be with Mommy - eventually sneaking back under her... once there she accepted him as her own. Just keep an eye on them during the first couple of weeks.

Drew did start mating with another Duck (named Lunch) but a Bald Eagle took her. After a while of him being alone (except for hanging with Blinkie) I was stunned to see him push Blinkie off my Goose (Pooh in front)... then he tried to actually mount her... (if some genetic accident ever occurred what would one call it... a Guck or Doose?

). It was very stunning to see that happen.

Anyway, the only main problem that you might had would have been during incubation - egg rejection (but that doesn't seem to have happened), maybe also whether the duck will be actually able to turn the egg. You are lucky since ideally a goose egg incubating should have a cool down of 15 min a day, which I don't think ducks do.

Cheers,
Jonathan

 

[kuntrygirl]

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Awwwwww, what a nice story. Sorry to hear about the tragedies of sickness and predators. That's always sad. Your geese and duck are beautiful.

Thanks for educating me on the 15 minute cool down with the goose egg. I never knew that. The ducks have no idea that they are sitting on 3 goose eggs in addition to their duck eggs, so no eggs have been rejected. And I really don't think that the ducks could roll the goose eggs out for rejection. Those eggs are HUGE!!!

Thanks again for your input. I appreciate that.

 

[fagusabello]

Here is a thread on incubating Goose eggs...
https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?pid=5754663

Cheers,
Jonathan

 

[kuntrygirl]

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Thanks for the link. How does it work if the Mama goose is hatching her own eggs? How do they do a cooling down period? I have never incubated any type of egg. I do it the old fashion way, so I have no idea on how to incubate.

 

[desertdarlene]

I'm not an expert, but I think it will work. I mean, they both swim in water and, from what I've heard, muscovies are genetically more closer to geese than ducks. Mama muscovy may eat more bugs, though, than geese do. I'm not sure if the gosling will take after that habit.

Anyway, I hope to see more photos of the baby soon!

 

[shelleyd2008]

The 'cooling down' period happens every time mama duck, goose, chicken, or whathaveyou gets off the nest to go potty. We don't do it with other eggs but goose eggs seem to do better that way.

I haven't tricked a duck into hatching goose eggs but I did have a game hen hatch duck eggs. Even with them looking and sounding nothing like a chick, I still about lost my arm when I took them away!

I would think, given the size of a muscovy, that they wouldn't have any problems turning a goose egg. And since she hatched them, she shouldn't have any problems accepting them as her own. After all, she's been 'talking' to them for at least 2 days.

 

[Sunny Side Up]

Last year I had a few hens that successfully incubated goose eggs. There was a standard-sized hen who hatched two, and a bantam and a Mottled Houdan who each hatched one. The Houdan rejected the gosling soon after it hatched, pecking it hard when it tried to go back in the nest. Fortunately the bantam adopted that second gosling. The photo in my avatar right now is Gertrude, the layer of all those eggs. She did go broody at the end of her laying season, but due to an accident her eggs broke and never hatched for her. Now Gertrude and her husband Elmer live with 4 of their children in my yard.

 

[AilsVonHelson]

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[Miss Lydia]

My Muscovy hen hatched an Emden goose, now they are inseparable, so cute to watch!