Goose plucking out breast feathers?

[Willowfield]

I have 2 gorgeous geese left Bella & Betsy, having recently lost Lancelot the gander. Betsy has recently developed a bare patch on her chest and I assume she has been plucking out her feathers. I know some birds do that to line their nests etc but is this normal for geese? I don't know if either have laid before but without a gander will they still display nesting behaviour in Spring? Or maybe it's part of a moult?

 

[TheTwoRoos]

I think when waterfowl get stressed they do this,cause mine use to.

 

[Willowfield]

I think when waterfowl get stressed they do this,cause mine use to.

Thank you, she doesn't seemed stressed but having lost her mate maybe she is. However, WOW, guess what I found today - an egg! Her first egg laid here! It may even be her first egg ever! So, now I'm thinking it was nesting behaviour - either way I'll keep a good eye on her.

 

[Gray Farms]

I was getting ready to say that she is getting ready to lay. Its that time of year. Females will still lay without a male. And will sometimes even set the eggs even though they won't hatch.

 

[The goose girl]

My goose also plucks out a patch of her chest feathers every year around this time - mating season.

I was puzzled at first, because the plucking starts weeks before she even begins to lay eggs, and she doesn't use the feathers for her nest. But now I'm convinced it's mating behavior.

When she "assumes the position", she'll start pulling at her chest. If I pet her, she'll flatten out and pull at my sleeves or my pants. I think it's her way of showing serious interest.

Also, I remembered I had a couple of ganders once who also did it during mating season. Back then I just figured they'd been fighting, but I never saw them grab each other's chest; only their own.

 

[Gray Farms]

Its typically a sign of nesting. They pull the feathers to "sometimes" line the nest and so that the eggs are closer to the skin for incubation.

 

[Willowfield]

Thanks all for the info, yes she hasn't used her feathers in her nest. She just scraped out a kind of nest on the gravel and laid on the ground, ignoring a lovely sheltered, wood-shaving filled kennel that Guinevere used to nest in. Each to their own