Incubate or let Mom do it?

[Country Parson]

I've already started incubating the first 10 eggs, but my pilgrim girl has 8 more in her nest. I'm really not sure how long the eggs will stay good, or if she will even go broody. I have a few questions for the more experienced:

1. Do geese (esp Pilgrims) generally go broody? Is it rare that they don't?

2. How many eggs do they lay (generally) before they go broody?

3. How long will these eggs still be good (if she lays one every 2-3 days, getting to 20+ eggs would take several weeks).

4. Would you let her hatch her own or keep incubating them?

 

[Alas]

My Embden will lay about 12 eggs before she sits. Last year she hatched them all out. This year something kept getting to her eggs while she was "stockpiling" them, so I'm going to incubate this year.

 

[Shiloh Acres]

For what it's worth ... My LAST goose is FINALLY going broody. (Edit - not yet BROODY but at least building her own nest) I had all but given up on her. She's laid in poorly made nests and abandoned them. She's laid in every other goose's nest. She FINALLY yesterday built her OWN nest.

LOL it was kinda funny. She apparently dug around and found what looks like a white plastic lid from a gallon mayonnaise jar (I'm constantly finding junk buried on this property) and decided to build a nest around it. So she has a nice stick nest with a HUGE flat white plastic disc in the center. Maybe she thought that "egg" was too big to waste. Who knows what their goosey minds come up with?

But she has been laying since early Feb. Two months now. So she's probably laid upward of 30 eggs.

I hope she lays plenty more and sets well. She's the favorite and has bred the most. So far this goose season has NOT gone well, but I'm still holding out hope for some.

She's an Emden hatched beginning of May 2010.

 

[Shiloh Acres]

Quote:
I guess I didn't exactly answer your questions. I think pretty much all geese usually go broody, and pilgrims certainly should. If she is very old or very young that could make a difference. My younger geese would often only lay 7-10 before brooding but the older ones tended to lay more (maybe 9-20). These were not Pilgrims though. Several weeks should be fine ... She should be visiting them to turn them in the meantime and I've had mine set on them briefly. From what I've read, the periodic warming may increase the hatch rate. And if it were me, I'd just make sure she's turning them, not leave them exposed to the air on VERY cold nights if you still have those, and wait and let her do it. IMO geese make much better incubators than mechanical ones!

Having said that, I have always just let my geese handle it. It always worked fine until this year when they can't seem to sort out the nests. I gave one batch of 12 eggs to be incubated and apparently the guy didn't hatch any. I still have lots of eggs under geese that I HOPE will hatch and my newly nesting goose. And this is a new flock -- all just now 11 months old.