Is my 2019 goose broody?

[Stichbury]

My Embden goose was an early 2019 baby and is paired with an unrelated gander. They’re definitely mating and she’s laying pretty much an egg a day at the moment, covering the clutch over with bedding. We are up to 5 now. She will occasionally sit on the eggs, uncovered, for an hour or so, then she covers them again and wanders off. Should I intervene? Is she old enough to be having babies? She’s new (to me) as I’ve only had the pair for a few weeks, so I’m not sure if this is standard goose laying behaviour at all times, or the start of a brood. She only started the daily pace of laying last week but I have no idea if hiding eggs is typical or only happens when the goose is preparing to sit.

I’m ok to leave her to sit if that’s the plan, but wondering if I should retrieve the eggs and incubate them or if they’re even likely to be fertilised this early ?

Thanks for any guidance!

 

[nchls school]

It has been a long time since I had geese, but I do remember mine pulling out a lot of feathers to line their nest when they started brooding. If she is old enough to lay eggs then she is old enough to brood and raise goslings. Covering the eggs is typical, but mine did so more when leaving the nest after brooding started. Five eggs is not a large clutch; I'd wait a few more eggs worth. I do not remember the clutch size of the ones I had-I think 7 or 8.