How long until baby goslings start forming inside the egg?

[tofupup]

Okay, so I have 2 geese, and I don't want any more.

However, last night I noticed one of my big game hens was sitting on a pile of goose eggs behind a hay bale in the corner of the barn. I don't know how old the eggs are, but they are at least 4 days old, since there are four of them.

I want to take the eggs away, but I am petrified that I will crack an egg open and find a half-formed baby goose. How do I tell how far along these eggs are? When is it still safe to take the eggs away and not be killing a little gosling? I seriously will lose my **** if I have to deal with any more geese.

p.s.
The reason I didn't notice this before is that I gave the goose 4 fake eggs to sit on, so I just assumed, when I didn't see any more eggs being added to the nest, that she was done laying. But apparently she just moved her laying location.

 

[Iain Utah]

Tofu, you should be just fine to take away the eggs. It takes 3-4 days for veining to begin and between 7-10 days to form a discernible embryo.

 

[tofupup]

So even if the egg is 8 days old, there will be nothing looking like a baby bird in there when I crack it open? It will just be a regular-looking yolk and white?

 

[Iain Utah]

At day 8, there will be expansive blood veining and the beginnings of a recognizable embryo. May I suggest before worrying too much, to take your flashlight out (in the dark) and candle the eggs (hold egg vertically pointy end down and place flashlight on top of fat end). If clear, then they are not fertile in the first place. If fertile, you should see spider web of veins.

 

[tofupup]

Okay, I didn't see anything that looks like blood veins with the flashlight. Are you saying there would just be veins all over inside the shell, or just in the spot where the embryo would be? I guess I should google this.

I'm sorry; I've never hatched an egg or thought about hatching an egg, so I really have no idea.

 

[Iain Utah]

No worries. By day 8, when you candle the egg, you should see what appears to be a large red spider on the side of the egg. If you didn't see anything, then you should be fine to toss without fear of early termination of a life to be. Search for Pete55 on this site.... his avatar picture is a perfect example of what you should see if your eggs were developing.

I could not eat or kill a goose (or any poultry for that matter) any more than I could eat or kill my dogs or my horses. But I can toss a developing egg up to around day 14 without much guilt.

Hope this helps to ease your mind.

 

[tofupup]

Can someone look at these photos and tell me if they are baby goslings forming? I don't see a network of veins, but there is a blob in the incubated eggs that is not in the freshly laid egg. Is the blob the yolk, or is it the baby???

 

[RURU]

In all the eggs you have here I do not see one with spider veins or the little blob which would be if the were growing.

 

[tofupup]

Oh thank goodness; I'm not a murderer. Thank you!!

 

[tofupup]

But what is that blob at the top? It moves when I roll the egg around. Is it the yolk?