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

[RURU]

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.

Goose girl with the females lay that many eggs the oyster shell is great but I also believe that they need more calcium as I was talking on here about. I found my girls out picking up the nuts that fall from our trees and that is what gave me the idea of putting shelled nuts in their feed. Then found out it has calcium in the nuts which is good for the girls to replace what they lose from their bones from laying the eggs. So that is when I tried the mixed shelled nuts for them. It is a bird feed mixture of just the nuts not other bird seed in there. This also helps with the soft shell eggs.

 

[The goose girl]

Goose girl with the females lay that many eggs the oyster shell is great but I also believe that they need more calcium as I was talking on here about. I found my girls out picking up the nuts that fall from our trees and that is what gave me the idea of putting shelled nuts in their feed. Then found out it has calcium in the nuts which is good for the girls to replace what they lose from their bones from laying the eggs. So that is when I tried the mixed shelled nuts for them. It is a bird feed mixture of just the nuts not other bird seed in there. This also helps with the soft shell eggs.

I don't understand. Oyster shell is 98% calcium - then why the nuts?

 

[RURU]

I don't understand. Oyster shell is 98% calcium - then why the nuts?

Just to let people know that geese like nuts too as a treat and they have calcium in them. Mine love nuts....... Oyster shell I give as well but you should see them eat the nuts..

 

[Suzie]

This is becoming an extremely interesting thread....!

I gave Freddie some calcium this morning ( disguised in a small morsel of bread ) just a pinch....it is from my extensive Vitamin D supply....guess what...she did not lay an egg today! Typical but at least I am now more knowledgeable about the horrors of her losing calcium from her bones in order to lay her eggs.

I am so thankful for the information you are imparting...I will continue to give her a small amount of vitamin D every day while she is still laying eggs... she now has five eggs in her nest, I replaced them all today and I am hopeful that she will soon end her egg laying.

Thank you all for your advice...I cannot bear the thought that she could die from my ignorance!

As an aside...Freddie has a proprietary feed especially for geese and a small amount of corn, she forages every day ( free range ) and appears fit and healthy.




Freddie... a few days old...hobbles on legs..she had spraddle leg but was fine after a few days



Freddie a few weeks ago...

Thankfully to you all she will now live a long and healthy life with her vitamin supplement until she gets back to normal.

 

[Suzie]

RURU.. do you crush the nuts or give them whole?

I have a plentiful supply of nuts here....

 

[RURU]

RURU.. do you crush the nuts or give them whole?

I have a plentiful supply of nuts here....

Suzie they can eat them whole. Mine act like crazed nuts trying to get at the nuts in the feed mixture. Both male and female like the nuts. I just go up to Walmart and buy the 8 pound bags of it is either Porch, Patio and Deck mixture or Patio, Porch and Deck.. I love the shelled nuts ones and so do they. This way they get just the nuts not the shell.
It will be funny to watch your girl pick out and eat which one she likes. It is like goose candy only good for them. Do not give too much at a time to her just a like in the cup of your hand a little bit in there and then mix in her feed.. Also offer her oyster shell in a bowl to the side so she can pick what she wants from that as well.....

Glad to be of some help with your baby...

 

[Suzie]

Thanks RURU...

Wish I had a Walmart here....!

It is night time here and I am rummaging through cupboards to get nuts out for Freddie to eat tomorrow morning...she will eat from my hand so I can ensure she gets some...she will think it is Christmas! I had better give some to the other geese here too...

Freddie does not live in the goose house...she lives with the ducks and ignores the other geese...I am sure she thinks she is a huge duck! She comes up to the house asking for treats and is quite a character.

Thank you so much..

 

[RURU]

You are welcome and glad to be of some help to you and your goose(s).

 

[The goose girl]

Typical but at least I am now more knowledgeable about the horrors of her losing calcium from her bones in order to lay her eggs.

Geese are able to store excess calcium in their bones and later use that calcium for laying. That feature comes in really handy when wild geese select a breeding area where calcium is hard to find. They simply stock up on calcium in good time before laying.

If they run out of calcium, their bone structure will suffer. This is also the case for chickens and ducks. But as long as they have access to calcium like oyster grit (and are not deficient in other vitamins or minerals), their bone structure will not suffer.

Your goose is laying fine, shelled eggs, she's eating her grit, and she has no trouble walking, so obviously she doesn't suffer from a calcium deficiency. Which means her bones are fine.

Quote: Please be careful. Too much vitamin D is harmful. Mild cases of vitamin D overload is pimpling of egg shells.

Quote: Please remember that nuts are a snack, not a necessary dietary supplement. Probably a way better snack than chocolate - don't ever feed them chocolate - but the calcium levels are about the same for nuts and chocolate. Nuts are high in fat and contain about as many calories as an equivalent amount of chocolate. Think of nuts as goose chocolate and don't despair if she doesn't want them.

 

[RURU]

Geese are able to store excess calcium in their bones and later use that calcium for laying. That feature comes in really handy when wild geese select a breeding area where calcium is hard to find. They simply stock up on calcium in good time before laying.

If they run out of calcium, their bone structure will suffer. This is also the case for chickens and ducks. But as long as they have access to calcium like oyster grit (and are not deficient in other vitamins or minerals), their bone structure will not suffer.

Your goose is laying fine, shelled eggs, she's eating her grit, and she has no trouble walking, so obviously she doesn't suffer from a calcium deficiency. Which means her bones are fine.

Please be careful. Too much vitamin D is harmful. Mild cases of vitamin D overload is pimpling of egg shells.

Please remember that nuts are a snack, not a necessary dietary supplement. Probably a way better snack than chocolate - don't ever feed them chocolate - but the calcium levels are about the same for nuts and chocolate. Nuts are high in fat and contain about as many calories as an equivalent amount of chocolate. Think of nuts as goose chocolate and don't despair if she doesn't want them.

Goose Girl it is great when we all can give some advise on how to help someone to prevent a problem that can come up and hurt our females from loss of calcium. The reason I started this was not all my girl would eat the oyster shell. So them getting into the nuts on the ground gave me the idea.

Here is another reason because I had bought 2 beautiful show quality female Sebastopol's from Dave Holderred. They came right before breeding season started. I had a beautiful Buff saddleback goose and a beautiful Lavender female. We had Cinnamon for 2 months and she had been laying and one ay I went into the pen and Cinnamon had died in her sleep. She was walk and running with the flock the day before and I was shocked to find my beautiful Cinnamon dead.

Then the next breeding season Hollie the lavender did her laying of he eggs and I had just come home from the hospital after a major surgery and the next day Ron found her dead in a sleeping position. Both died in egg laying season. This is why I not only give oyster grit and the nuts for them and no losses last you on my girls.