Goose plucking breast feathers? Should I be excited?!

[littledear]

You are so welcome. I hope you find their nest. My geese like to sit on the nest and coo quietly for a period of time and that is how I found theri nest. They also share the same nest.

 

[larkflying]

Maybe I will sneak out at first light tomorrow and see where they are hanging out . . . Thanks!

 

[littledear]

When I posted the measurements of the goose eggs yeterday I put the circumference of the eggs down and called it the diameter. I guess I have been out of school too long. My geese lay at all different times of the day. Sometimes in the morning and sometimes in the evening. Also when the first one very first started to lay some of her shells were not solid and she just laid them out in the open. We solved that with oyster shell.
My daughter has named our geese and the one she calls Orangie was sitting on the nest at 6:00 P.M. last night laying. Blackie laid earlier in the day around 10:00, but was on the nest from 8:00 A.M. until 10:00 A.M. It seems to me that chickens take care of buisness much faster but the geese like to sit and talk to their eggs and move them around. This may help you to locate where they are laying. Of course my daughter watches them all the time and I get updates constantly on what the geese are up to.
I haven't been around ducks since I was a child growing up on a small Iowa farm so I can't remember how much different duck eggs are. I just remember going out and hunting for their nests for my mom in the spring and my mom using the eggs to bake wonderful cakes from scratch. She baked the best angle food cakes and said that the duck eggs was what made them so very heavenly. I have heard that goose eggs are the best tasting eggs of all the different poultry but I don't know that for a personal fact as my daughter grabs every egg for the incubator; she calls them her babies. That is why once the geese stop laying I am incubating some chicken eggs so we have eggs we can eat, lol

 

[larkflying]

Littledear, your daughter sounds just like mine.

And my son is fond of the literal names -- he's named one of the geese Big Foot, to the disgust of my daughter, who prefers creative names like Wiffle, Bumble, and Velvet. My son wanted to name one of our Boer goats "Brown Head" but was voted down.

The duck eggs are great for baking - we eat them plain for breakfast even. They don't taste different from the chicken eggs if you are used to fresh eggs. If I kept all the duck eggs that the ducks laid, we'd be awash in duck eggs . . . they haven't started sitting yet, but they love laying!

No goose eggs yet, but I haven't waded through the brushy trees yet searching. That is really interesting that they lay at all times of the day. I can see how my geese would want to talk to the eggs -- they have such personalities. The I'm really hoping I get at least a few to share with my farming class -- it would be fun to dye goose eggs with them. I'm trying not to get too excited though, since my geese are all young and sometimes they don't lay till they are at least 2. It is going to be a long wait! I'm also wondering if the geese haven't quite started yet -- but we've had gorgeous sunny weather the last few days, so maybe I'll see something in the next few days / weeks. I thought it was bad last year waiting for the ducklings and goslings to arrive at the end of April, but at least I knew they were coming.

 

[littledear]

Well both Blackie and Orangie laid this morning and neither of them stayed on the nest for long. From what I have read Chinese geese are one of the best breeds for laying eggs and the Troulouse for meat production. Blackie is Chinese and Orangie is Troulouse. It is funny how children differ in their approach to naming animals. The dairy cows all have sweet names like buttercup, honey, chocolate chip etc. My grandson named one of the dairy steers Mac after one of the iorn clad ships Merimac I think. We have a jersey hiefer that is named Taffy as she is almost the color of taffy. She is a yearling and will be bred this spring. Our gander is called the old jerk cause he is aggressive and not old but oh well kids will be kids, lol. Your geese will start laying soon. Just watch for the gander to breed with them and then they will lay.

 

[Goose and Fig]

Mine have been showing breeding behaviors for a couple months, but I only have 2 that are laying so far. My toulouse started when they were 9 months old and raised several young last year. If you have the chance to spend the day keeping an eye on them- just pay attention for a missing female or pair, and when you find her you will find the nest. Its usually someplace they feel safe, with good bedding.

I had a broody goose last year, and the other girls were laying in the nest as well. I actually saw the broody coax the egg out of another goose and immediately add it to her collection. Crazy!

 

[larkflying]

Happy Mtn - That is hilarious about the goose . . . I can see the picture in my minds eye of the unfortunate goose looking around after she laid her egg, only to realize that it was . . . GONE . . . and the broody goose sitting on her nest in the background looking very innocent . . . Thanks for sharing! I have what is supposed to be a toulouse pair, and then 7 American Buff geese. The Toulouse pair will be two this summer, so I'm hoping at least they will be able to raise a family. The Buff geese will be one at the end of April, so I'm resigned to not seeing anything, but they are certainly exhibiting breeding behaviors.

My one worry is that the Toulouse gander will decide that one of his Buff "daughters" is also his . . . not something I want . . . but I've seen no signs of it so far.

 

[mythkat]

Hi all,

I tried tires for nests last year and lost a lot of eggs because they roll inside the tire walls then get covered with nesting material. The geese don't get them back out. I went to Home Depot to the scrap lumber bin. They had 2 x 6's for $.51 each. For under $5 I got enough wood to build four 21 inch square nesting boxes. They cut the wood for me too. I dug down into the sand, set the box down, and filled it with straw. The ducks and geese (and the occasional chicken) love them.

 

[larkflying]

That is a great idea . . . I'm going to have to figure out the nest thing this year - except for the ducks. They don't seem inclined to worry about where they lay their eggs. Sigh. But I was considering tires, since we have a lot, so it is nice to know about the lost egg problem.