Goose laying eggs for almost 6 months now....

[Suzie]

OK so I am aware that geese only normally lay eggs during the Spring months here..but I did post about "Freddie" laying eggs until August of this year... she is still laying eggs...almost every day and it is absolutely freezing here. Should I be worried?

In France a Vet would have me certified as insane if I took her there...

Freddie is in great health ( apart from the fact that her dearest love Elvis...a muscovy duck... died a few days ago ) and appears perfectly normal... is the fact that she never seems to stop laying a factor that she may be in ill health?

Any insight would be appreciated... she is very precious to me and I would hate to lose her to what appears to be a potential dysfunction in her.

 

[RURU]

Hi Suzie. Now I am no expert here but are you giving her a calcium supplement for the calcium she is using from her bones? Because she can look normal and all of a sudden just pass away because there is not enough calcium in her system. They use up the calcium from the bones and then die from a lack of calcium.

At least she is laying the eggs and not getting egg bound. But it might be a good idea to ask a veterinary about her laying so much. Hopefully someone from on here will see this and be able to answer your question about her laying so much and so long.

Have you destroyed her nest? This is what you need to do is destroy her nest and take the eggs away..

 

[Suzie]

Thanks RURU... I have not so far given her calcium supplements... I do have Vitamin D in powder form that I can give her..I will start this tomorrow..that is scary to know that she may succumb to such an awful outcome.

I take her eggs every time she lays...I destroy her nest(s) but she will always find somewhere else to lay the eggs....I observe her movements during the day so I get a good idea of where she is hiding... she is just over a year old and this is her first year of laying.

Thanks so much .... Freddie gets her supplement first thing in the morning...I will dose her every day with a small amount of Vitamin D...any idea of how much she should be given? I have 500mg power packs.

 

[RURU]

Thanks RURU... I have not so far given her calcium supplements... I do have Vitamin D in powder form that I can give her..I will start this tomorrow..that is scary to know that she may succumb to such an awful outcome.

I take her eggs every time she lays...I destroy her nest(s) but she will always find somewhere else to lay the eggs....I observe her movements during the day so I get a good idea of where she is hiding... she is just over a year old and this is her first year of laying.

Thanks so much .... Freddie gets her supplement first thing in the morning...I will dose her every day with a small amount of Vitamin D...any idea of how much she should be given? I have 500mg power packs.

I do something different on the calcium I buy these packages of Patio, Porch and deck shelled nuts. They have calcium in them because there are peanuts, sunflower seeds, pumpkin seeds and pasticcio seeds all mixed together. Walmart has them back in the garden area.
The nuts are ease to give because my sebs go crazy when I put them mixed in with the feed. I have never used the Vitamin D powder before so can not tell you the dose to sprinkle on the food. But I would say just a small sprinkle on the feed. Maybe a good pinch of the powder so at least she gets it daily or twice daily.
I have used the mixture of nuts to give. I just put some in the mixture of fed for 20 geese so each gets a few to eat. The females will get in them and eat the nuts before the ganders can.

This is a treat they love getting at breeding season and egg laying season. I also give some through hatching season so they have free choice if they want them or not while sitting. When breeding, laying and hatching season is over it is back to just regular feed mixed with oats...

I have trouble keeping Vitamin D in my system due to being on dialysis so am on a vitamin D pill. I lose calcium from the bones because of the parathyroid glands in the human neck. I had mine removed and they have to put pieces from the 4 glands they take out in your arm. Mine went bananas that they put in the arm and had to have it operated on again to remove a lot of it.
If the female goose feels as bad as I have in the bones and body I can understand what happens!!! It hurts so badly you can hardly walk and hurt awful....
I am not suppose to eat nuts because of the potassium in them but do eat a small handful of cashews the night before dialysis so it take the potassium off and I get the calcium for the bone.

Do not go over the time of egg laying season because you do not want to over due her and put too much potassium in her system. That is why I say just a pinch better to be safe than sorry...
Sorry I went on about it....

 

[Iain Utah]

Stop taking her eggs. She will lay 7-12 eggs then hopefully go broody. That should stop her cycle. Also, I agree calcium is necessary. I offer my girls crushed oyster shell and crushed eggshells free choice. They will usually instinctively eat what they need.

 

[RURU]

Thanks J, I was thinking about telling her to leave the eggs for her, but I kept thinking about how much it would take out of the goose sitting on them eggs and losing condition because they do not eat well when they go broody. That is the only reason I did not mention this...

 

[Suzie]

Thanks for the additional information...I will put her eggs back on the last nest I destroyed (after I have reconstructed it..) and give her calcium... I will do that before she comes out of her house this morning.

Hopefully she will go broody and stop laying...

Thanks again all!

 

[The goose girl]

Stop taking her eggs. She will lay 7-12 eggs then hopefully go broody. That should stop her cycle. Also, I agree calcium is necessary. I offer my girls crushed oyster shell and crushed eggshells free choice. They will usually instinctively eat what they need.

IF you want her to stop laying, I agree the way to go is to let her keep the eggs (or gradually substitute her eggs with fake eggs or golf balls), then let her go broody, and finally break up her nest. There's no point in breaking up the nest if she hasn't stopped laying - it may just confuse her and gives her extra work.

But if she's healthy and happy and she has no problems with her laying, then why would you stop her? I'm concerned that nudging her into broodiness may get her to start molting, and losing her down and feathers at this time of the year seems like a very bad idea.

I must stress that I don't know for a fact whether broodiness and molting are connected. I just know that they usually start molting in late spring after they've gone broody.

My own goose is laying now, too. She's eight months old and started laying two months ago. Almost regular as clockwork she'll lay an egg every 40-42 hours, 36 eggs so far. I'm weighing her regularly, and she's still at 6,3 kilos; exactly as she was two months ago. She did lay two shellless eggs during the first two weeks, but all her other eggs have been perfectly covered in hard shell.

Laying usually means her spending 2-3 hours on the nest, and she doesn't seem to experience any discomfort during that time. She talks and "purrs" quietly and moves the straw around a bit, perfecting her nest. She sometimes even dozes off if I pet her, and she enjoys a little snack of her favorite rye bread. She'll change positions every five or ten minutes, rotating on the nest - for some reason always clockwise. Only for the last few minutes before actually laying does she strain, she stands up with her eyes half closed, making a deep, short humming sound with each breath. When the egg is out, she'll stand up for a few more minutes, catching her breath. And then she spends some time turning the egg; finding the best location for it. Finally she covers it in straw and leaves the nest.

Well, I obviously haven't tried laying myself, but it seems to take no more effort than a case of slight constipation in us humans. A bit of strain, maybe even a little painful, but we're no worse for wear when we're done

.

As long as my goose doesn't seem to suffer in any way, I'll let her keep on laying. Again, I'm no goose expert, but she's happy and doing all her regular goose things, so I can't imagine she's anything but just a good layer.

 

[Miss Lydia]

IF you want her to stop laying, I agree the way to go is to let her keep the eggs (or gradually substitute her eggs with fake eggs or golf balls), then let her go broody, and finally break up her nest. There's no point in breaking up the nest if she hasn't stopped laying - it may just confuse her and gives her extra work.

But if she's healthy and happy and she has no problems with her laying, then why would you stop her? I'm concerned that nudging her into broodiness may get her to start molting, and losing her down and feathers at this time of the year seems like a very bad idea.

I must stress that I don't know for a fact whether broodiness and molting are connected. I just know that they usually start molting in late spring after they've gone broody.

My own goose is laying now, too. She's eight months old and started laying two months ago. Almost regular as clockwork she'll lay an egg every 40-42 hours, 36 eggs so far. I'm weighing her regularly, and she's still at 6,3 kilos; exactly as she was two months ago. She did lay two shellless eggs during the first two weeks, but all her other eggs have been perfectly covered in hard shell.

Laying usually means her spending 2-3 hours on the nest, and she doesn't seem to experience any discomfort during that time. She talks and "purrs" quietly and moves the straw around a bit, perfecting her nest. She sometimes even dozes off if I pet her, and she enjoys a little snack of her favorite rye bread. She'll change positions every five or ten minutes, rotating on the nest - for some reason always clockwise. Only for the last few minutes before actually laying does she strain, she stands up with her eyes half closed, making a deep, short humming sound with each breath. When the egg is out, she'll stand up for a few more minutes, catching her breath. And then she spends some time turning the egg; finding the best location for it. Finally she covers it in straw and leaves the nest.

Well, I obviously haven't tried laying myself, but it seems to take no more effort than a case of slight constipation in us humans. A bit of strain, maybe even a little painful, but we're no worse for wear when we're done

.

As long as my goose doesn't seem to suffer in any way, I'll let her keep on laying. Again, I'm no goose expert, but she's happy and doing all her regular goose things, so I can't imagine she's anything but just a good layer.

She hasn't wanted to brood at all during those 36 eggs? and thanks for the description, I have never actually seen my goose lay so didn't really know how they acted during.

 

[The goose girl]

She hasn't wanted to brood at all during those 36 eggs? and thanks for the description, I have never actually seen my goose lay so didn't really know how they acted during.

I keep taking her eggs (so yummy!), leaving only a golf ball in her nest, so that's probably why she doesn't go broody. It's wet, cold, and windy here, so I don't want to risk her starting to molt.

If she's still laying after the holidays, I'm going to call my vets and ask if they know whether it's harmful in any way for a goose to keep laying. They're great with birds of all kinds.

I give her crushed oyster shell and she eats a lot of it.