My goose is sitting!

[Stichbury]

My 18 month Embden goose has gone broody. She’s been laying for about 6 weeks now and started sitting yesterday. I have been taking her eggs but I have a flock of ducks and they tend to lay alongside her, somehow the last few days she has hidden a bunch of eggs and now there’s a stash of about 10 duck and 3 goose eggs, with her butt on top of them.
I am in the UK and it’s November soon, so will get down to 5-10 degrees. She didn’t sit for a full term in the spring so had no babies earlier in the year. We also have foxes (who are hungry in the winter) but my flock is protected so she isn’t at risk while she sits.

Should I try to get her off and stop any further attempts at nesting? Or leave her to it? Has anyone seen a goose successfully hatch and raise in October?

 

[Angel07]

If you take the eggs will you incubate or just get rid of them/eat them? My Pilgrim geese are pretty good at sitting and looking after their bubbas. Not sure about yours though. Generally the whole flock will look after them though so they could be fine. Just my 2 cents.

 

[Stichbury]

Thanks! I have 8 other geese and one is an experienced mum so she would be ok when the babies arrive. Or rather if they arrive. My main concern is that she will find it hard to sit in cold weather and the eggs may not withstand the temperature if she gets up for a stretch and doesn’t cover them well. She’s never sat successfully before so I’d hate for her to wear herself down and then have them fail in week 4 because of the cold.
I would just dispose of the eggs — I don’t want to incubate at this time of year.
One option — let her sit for a week then sneak in a couple of babies (if I can get hold of a couple). I’ve had that work once before. What do you think?

 

[Angel07]

If you're just getting rid of the eggs anyway why not try to see if she'll hatch them? You never know, she might've learnt from last time. If you see her wearing herself out then you can rethink the plan and go from there. We usually leave our girls to it and if they hatch they hatch, if they don't they don't.

By the way, we have geese but I would never see myself as an expert. As I said, we leave them to their own devices but I have noticed we lose less geese or goslings than any other bird. They're pretty good at figuring out if somethings wrong and deciding for themselves what's good for them.

 

[Stichbury]

Thanks for the advice. I’ll leave her be for now, see how she manages in the coming weeks. And maybe order another goose house

 

[Angel07]

Hi, just wondering how your goose is going?

 

[Miss Lydia]

@Stichbury

 

[Stichbury]

Thanks for checking in! She is off the nest, and she abandoned the eggs herself so I know to trust her judgement in future and let her be

 

[Angel07]

Thanks for checking in! She is off the nest, and she abandoned the eggs herself so I know to trust her judgement in future and let her be

They always seem to know best. Good luck, maybe she’ll sit next year at a better time for you.