My goose is sitting on eggs do I need to isolate her from the flock?

[almostalwayshome]

I have four geese, well, three geese and a gander. One of the geese is sitting on several eggs in the little house that I shut them all up in at night. Do I need to separate the goose with the eggs from the others as hatching time approaches? Will the other geese hurt the goslings? I've never done this before. I'd love some experienced advice.

 

[Oregon Blues]

I don't separate mine. All geese and ganders seem to be genetically programed to be super parents and will protect and nurture all goslings, even those that aren't their own.

Naturally, you must observe carefully to make sure you don't have the rare rogue who behaves badly.

 

[Miss Lydia]

I have a gander who thinks he is the daddy of our ducklings. lol

 

[Goose and Fig]

Don't seperate them, but make sure you mark the eggs she's been setting and check every day for new ones in case the other girls are still laying. They will ALL raise any goslings that hatch as a flock. Its really a beautiful thing- congrats on the broody!

 

[larkflying]

Well, I have two geese that hatched goslings on the same days, and one of the geese definately feels like she should have all of the goslings -- I put up a wire dog fence between them, so they could stay seperate and not trample the babies fussing over who had which. I think that will calm down when the babies get older and stronger . . .

 

[Miss Lydia]

Well, I have two geese that hatched goslings on the same days, and one of the geese definately feels like she should have all of the goslings -- I put up a wire dog fence between them, so they could stay seperate and not trample the babies fussing over who had which. I think that will calm down when the babies get older and stronger . . .

I can't image trying to sort goslings out. I had 3 chicken hens hatch their chicks within a day of each other and one morning they all wanted to leave at the same time out of the coop, well a fight started which ended up the mommie that didn't fight got all the kids and went to promptly sat on them well as soon as the 2 hens realized their chicks weren't with them anymore I had to go out and try to get chicks back with right mamas, I'll never do that again next time it's all up to them to figure it out. LOL

 

[froggie71]

We did have our girl separate from the other 2 geese as she decided to nest behind our A/C unit and the other 2 went to bed at night with the ducks. During the day they guarded the area where she nested. Once they hatched we let them stay together and they are raising the babies as 1 big family. It's really neat to watch. The only problem is the nest had eggs from both females so some are pure bred and some are mixed and I don't know which is which.

 

[Miss Lydia]

We did have our girl separate from the other 2 geese as she decided to nest behind our A/C unit and the other 2 went to bed at night with the ducks. During the day they guarded the area where she nested. Once they hatched we let them stay together and they are raising the babies as 1 big family. It's really neat to watch. The only problem is the nest had eggs from both females so some are pure bred and some are mixed and I don't know which is which.

Does it matter?

 

[froggie71]

Does it matter?

Not really except if I'm selling them and someone only wants a purebred goose.

 

[larkflying]

Well, my two geese were both from American Buff purebred pairs, so I didn't have to worry about that. And I just randomly gave them goslings . . . didn't worry about trying to figure out which goose actually hatched which babies. That would have driven me crazy!