Pullet Egg

[Country Parson]

My 2nd Pilgrim goose has just started laying eggs---or so I think. My other girl has been laying for some time now, always neatly in her little nest.

This morning I noticed a small white egg in the middle of the goose hut. All my chickens are brown-layers. This egg was slightly bigger than my chicken eggs, but considerably smaller than the goose eggs.

Two questions:

1. Do geese, like chickens, often lay a smaller 'pullet egg' (e.g. the first egg laid)?
2. What are the chances that this one is fertile? (Yes, I do have a gander).

 

[Olive Hill]

I don't know about just a first small egg, being a one and only pullet egg, but just like with chickens geese will lay smaller eggs (plural) for a bit when they first start laying. Size also tends to vary from goose to goose IME, though not as much as you are describing here.

It could very well be fertile, but even if it is I wouldn't try hatching it. The gosling needs room to develop inside the egg. One grown inside that egg would be stunted and likely to be a poor doer if it survived at all.