My goose laid an egg, now what?

[BirdLeaf]

I was feeling really bad for one of my chickens today when I found this massive egg, but then I remembered my geese lay eggs too!
Now, it’s going to be very cold overnight, am I better to collect these eggs and keep them inside until there are enough eggs for a clutch? Or should I just leave the eggs outside? My geese are African geese and they’ve never actually hatched an egg before, usually they just sit on rotten eggs and violently defend them until they give up and leave us with a nasty cleanup.
Any advice? Thanks!

 

[Percheron chick]

Crack that egg open and see if it's fertile. You obviously have a boy but that doesn't guarantee you have fertile eggs. If it's good, I would collect eggs. If it's below freezing, bring them in and set them on the counter in a cool room until you have enough to start an incubator or until one goose decides she wants to set. Check an egg or two when you catch her off the nest. If they are clear or quitters, toss them so they don't get nasty.

 

[BirdLeaf]

Crack that egg open and see if it's fertile. You obviously have a boy but that doesn't guarantee you have fertile eggs. If it's good, I would collect eggs. If it's below freezing, bring them in and set them on the counter in a cool room until you have enough to start an incubator or until one goose decides she wants to set. Check an egg or two when you catch her off the nest. If they are clear or quitters, toss them so they don't get nasty.

If I was a betting woman, I would bet it’s not fertile. I’ve seen my geese attempt to mate and I have to wonder what would happen to this flock in the wild. I’ll give that a try! I’m nervous about trying to hatch them in an incubator, I haven’t had much luck with chicken hatching, and goose hatching seems waaaay more complicated. How often will they lay an egg? I’ve got a gander and three hens, he only appears to mate two of them.
Thank you!

 

[Percheron chick]

If your birds were yearlings last year, you can attribute the poor hatching to that partly. 3 girls is more than he can keep up with. Try to save the eggs from on the 2 he covers . You are lucky to get an egg every other day per goose. Freshen up the swimming hole to set the mood. I'd give them about 2 weeks to sort things out then get serious about collecting eggs .
Mine aren't breeding or laying yet and it's driving me crazy.

 

[BirdLeaf]

If your birds were yearlings last year, you can attribute the poor hatching to that partly. 3 girls is more than he can keep up with. Try to save the eggs from on the 2 he covers . You are lucky to get an egg every other day per goose. Freshen up the swimming hole to set the mood. I'd give them about 2 weeks to sort things out then get serious about collecting eggs .
Mine aren't breeding or laying yet and it's driving me crazy.

The geese are 3 years old this year. Today I found a black egg out where she laid yesterday, smaller than a duck or goose egg but larger than a chicken egg. I wonder if she laid a “bad egg” today?
I hope yours start laying soon! What kind do you have?

 

[Percheron chick]

You can try removing #3 for a week or two so he can concentrate on #1&2.
I hope the black egg is a one time occurrence otherwise you might have something serious going on. Do not open it (or so I've heard).
I have Sebastopol. Now that the 2 pairs are divided up, the ganders pine over each other and ignore the girls. I might have to get another gander and put the 2 back together.
Sebastopol are notoriously poor layers so I don't want to waste any eggs.