I found a "rogue" nest yesterday, and today decided to check it out when the goose was gone .... nope no luck that goose was brooding. So, I got a (plastic) trash can lid and used it kind of like a shield, this is the funny part: I found that if the goose couldn't see me, I could crouch really close and reach under her(!) and get the eggs out. It's really soft under there! Wouldn't you think that maybe a HAND reaching under you and taking your eggs out from under you one by one, and in general squirming around, would be a cause to maybe Oh, I dunno, FREAK OUT? The goose got a look at me and I got a small bite on my finger, and she got more suspicious as went for the eggs under her front part, when she got antsy I just stopped moving my hand then she'd relax and it was back to business. We don't want to raise up goslings this year, because we plan to sell the geese. In fact it's time to put them on Craig's List any time now.
I counted the eggs and there are 18 of 'em! Sheesh! They all show a dark enlongated blob on one side, not Baby Huey waving "Hi" inside but not something you'd want to cook - and I thought of the best thing to do with them - I'm building a cyclone fence enclosure around the sunny side of my trailer, the idea being to put chicken wire on the outside of it to goose height anyway, and start grape vines, which will grow up onto the trellis that will go from the top of the cyclone fencing to the roof, and keep this place cool in the summer. I have to shelter plants like Ft. Knox because the geese WILL kill any plant I fuss over, they've actually killed an elm tree I planted close, and they've poked their heads through fencing around a little enclosure I have bamboo in and plucked out my new basil sprouts and anise. The bamboo's safe because it's in the middle, but they pull anything else in. I had a leek in there that was developing a good top, then I heard a nibbling sound, oops goodbye leek. I need to put chicken wire around THAT too. But let's just say, there are people who like geese, and I have discovered I'm not one of them. So .... my grape vines will lots of nice fertilizer... buried down deep where it lasts and lasts..... rottsy goose eggs work fine.
