It's a girl!

[cat]

We bought 4straight run pomeranian goslings that were supposed to be for the table. Long story short, we got attached to them and decided to keep them as our alarm system today, we got an egg, so at least one is female. The problem is we have no idea who laid it or who her mate might be. Because these could very well be related, will the eggs be infertile, or if not, would we risk having badly deformed goslings? I'm not sure how old the gander is before he is fertile, or whether we need to separate them etc. any advice welcome

 

[8GeeseALaying]

If they are from a hatchery chances are they are not closely related, if any relation at all. If they are from an individual breeder, they might be related but that depends on the breeder and how well they maintain the quality of their birds. That being said even if they are related it will not hurt them to breed together and have goslings and the goose's eggs will not be infertile due to the goose and gander possibly being related.
Goslings produced from related geese wont nessecarily be deformed. Deformities can happen in non related pairings also. When raising anything related or not there is always that chance. However, If many generations were produced without the addition of new blood here and there those odds would be more likely to increase. If you decide to raise goslings they should be just fine!
Fertility wise your gander should have pretty good fertility his first year. Young ganders do pretty well once they figure out the basics and finally get it right lol.
As for figuring out who laid the egg you can use liquid food coloring and swab their vents with it. Each goose a different color. Deny them bathing water though just allow them a container deep enough to drink and dip their heads in. Geese lay every other day so its best to put the food coloring on the night before you expect the next egg. When the egg is laid it will be coated in a color, just like an easter egg and just match the egg to the goose with that color bottom(coloring will stay on the feathers for a couple days) it really does work i have done it many times with mine.