Sneaking some duck eggs into goose clutch - what do you think?

[etruscan]

Hi again,

My geese have got themselves a nice little clutch of 8 eggs as of yesterday and I just came into some Khaki Campbell eggs a friend gave us. Since they're very likely fertile and my wife and I would really, really like some ducks again this year, we thought we might try and slip them in under the geese when they finally get broody. So im looking for a little advice yet again.

Not knowing what triggers a goose to brood, im wondering how i should go about introducing the duck eggs. Should I set them in now amongst the 8(and counting) goose eggs, or wait until she starts sitting and slip them in then?

Is this even a good idea ? Will the sudden appearance of more eggs cause my geese to brood, or will they only brood when they are ready? And if I introduce foreign eggs, will it possibly lessen the chances of my goslings hatching ?

This all seems like a good idea as we dont have an incubator or the use of one, but then im loath to mess with the natural order of things without really having any clue as to what im doing. We'd reeeeally like to hatch these duck eggs which are likely good, but i'd like my goose to hatch her own goslings more. Any advice anyone could give would be appreciated.

(also, thanks to those who replied in my last thread!)

As a thanks-in-advance here's a link to a youtube video of my girly goose Scarlett laying egg #8. 'scuse the dorky narration, i was pretty surprised!

 

[thekid]

she might be too heavy for the duck eggs im not sure though if she would be that is just my thought...

 

[goosedragon]

Quote:
HOW MANY duck eggs? Scarlett looked like 8 eggs were enough for her to cover. If you insist on doing it, wait untill she has been broody for 2 days because ducks hatch in ~28 days geese usually 30. And If you are going to try to slip them under her, pre-warm them to increase the chance that she will accept them. (how would you react to cold egg(s) stuck under your butt?)

 

[D'Angelo N Va.]

(how would you react to cold egg(s) stuck under your butt?)

 

[etruscan]

Well, we were given 9 duck eggs... So any portion of those incubated via goose would suit me fine.

Im not insistent on having the goose hatch them, I just thought it might be a win-win kinda thing, since the ducks, should we have any, would very likely end up living with the geese anyhow. So the geese hatching them solves a number of things in one fell swoop. Im just scared to do it, as i have no idea how it will affect the brooding/hatching of the existing eggs whichshould have priority imo. We can always buy ducklings i guess.

Thanks for the replies btw. Here's a picture of the nest ( total of 10 now! )

ps - Any ideas what one active laying goose +1 older, sporadically laying goose would consider a big enough clutch to start sitting on? Curious to know when we can start counting the days till they hatch!

 

[goosedragon]

Quote:
What?! Scarlett is shareing her nest with another goose? THAT COMPLICATES things a lot. I would buy ducklings and forget about the goose hatching them (I'll bet the geese would still tend to pick on the ducks)
Is Scarlett dominate over the other goose or is she junior to the older goose? Because that nest will be managed by a 2 goose panel and usually the dominate goose rules. I have talked a lot about about the problems with a shared nest this season (Happy 1st of Spring BTW) and don't want to repeat it all AGAIN. I started none of these posts so you would have to look by subject. Shiloh Acres was one I discussed this with. Again I just want to tell you that you MAY have a big problem around hatch time as the mothers fight who is going to sit the nest and who is going to be mother to the ones that do hatch, GOOD LUCK!

 

[etruscan]

Quote:
Well, its kindof a weird situation, dominance-wise.. I have 4 geese, an original pair of males ( Two pilgrims, i was told ) who were raised to be very cuddly ( when i had just the two they would sit with me, let me pet them, and one of them, Klaus, would put his head/neck in my lap and sleep there for short periods ). We then introduced two females, embdens i suppose, who came from a flock of 40 and were quite standoffish, the older being very hissy and not friendly although not horrible. The two males seemed quite 'bonded' to eachother, and paid the girls no mind for the longest time, until mating season. Come mating season, my 'alpha gander' Goosetav began mating with everyone else. And i mean EVERYONE.. The three other geese all have the tell-tale missing feathers from the back of the head, and ive seen them all mounted by our alpha gander ( Who is also physically the largest ) I have seen the two females in the nest, both sitting and building it, although it is Scarlett the younger female that spends the most time there and im sure is the one who has laid the most number of eggs. But im really starting to wonder if one of the original pair, Klaus is actually a girl! If hes not, he's certainly completely submissive to the other, larger male. I keep them penned at night in a fairly small enclosure, and i have never, ever seen them fight. During mating season, you'd expect that right? But no, nothing. So i wonder if perhaps he could be female!

Anyways - Thats just a bit of background for the sake of explaining that in this little flock i sure dont see alot of competition/dominating/fighting/whathaveyou. ive never seen the two females push eachother around or compete for nest time ( that said, they havent begun to 'sit', even though there are ten eggs as of yesterday )

Ill search through the messages to glean more info, although i've been lurking here for 6 months and have read on the subject before, including some of said posts. I suppose we'll see what happens when they begin to brood, eh? I just have this feeling although i see no obvious signs of it, that the main layer 'Scarlett' is the 'alpha' female who is doing most of the work and the older female goose is just sortof helping out out of genetic/instinctual imperative.. ie she's still got some egg laying left in her, and just has to do what a goose has to do. But hell, im new to all this, im just taking what ive learnt here on BYC and am trying to apply it to what i see in my yard.

Thanks again for the advice and info - will keep reading and updating if thats ok!


Steve

 

[goosedragon]

Quote:
Well, its kindof a weird situation, dominance-wise.. I have 4 geese, an original pair of males ( Two pilgrims, i was told ) who were raised to be very cuddly ( when i had just the two they would sit with me, let me pet them, and one of them, Klaus, would put his head/neck in my lap and sleep there for short periods ). We then introduced two females, embdens i suppose, who came from a flock of 40 and were quite standoffish, the older being very hissy and not friendly although not horrible. The two males seemed quite 'bonded' to eachother, and paid the girls no mind for the longest time, until mating season. Come mating season, my 'alpha gander' Goosetav began mating with everyone else. And i mean EVERYONE.. The three other geese all have the tell-tale missing feathers from the back of the head, and ive seen them all mounted by our alpha gander ( Who is also physically the largest ) I have seen the two females in the nest, both sitting and building it, although it is Scarlett the younger female that spends the most time there and im sure is the one who has laid the most number of eggs. But im really starting to wonder if one of the original pair, Klaus is actually a girl! If hes not, he's certainly completely submissive to the other, larger male. I keep them penned at night in a fairly small enclosure, and i have never, ever seen them fight. During mating season, you'd expect that right? But no, nothing. So i wonder if perhaps he could be female!Well is Klaus White or mainly white? If he is, and he is indeed a Pilgrim he is a gander. Often I have been able to tell who was going be the dominate gander the day after hatch and if there is a day's difference in hatch the older one is usually dominate. It isn't set in stone but the older one tends to lead and the younger brother follows. 10 months later when sex raises it's head the roles are so firmly established that the younger never starts a fight and auto-defers to the older. If fact most of the time when I had pilgrims the BOSS was a goose not a gander. She selects her gander to rule and she may beat him if he looks at another goose. I HATE TO TALK ABOUT GEESE LIKE THEY ARE HUMANS, but in many respects they are. We all know of "hen-pecked" husbands or Bossy older sisters(or brothers) You are more likely to have fights in larger flocks or the New Boy situation, no one is sure about the newby and he may end up fighting each of the old boys until his place in the pecking order is established

Anyways - Thats just a bit of background for the sake of explaining that in this little flock i sure dont see alot of competition/dominating/fighting/whathaveyou. ive never seen the two females push eachother around or compete for nest time ( that said, they havent begun to 'sit', even though there are ten eggs as of yesterday )That is part of the shared nest problem, often too many eggs get laid for one goose to cover properly. unless they go broody at the same and truly share a nest some of the eggs will be out in the cold so to speak and are wasted. The worst case is where the dominate goose doesn't go broody or goes broody later. She will force the lower goose off the nest so she can lay and then you have fresh and developed eggs in the same nest (usually over crowded) 30 days later you have the main hatch but there may be 'fresh' eggs that are 2,4,6,8 etc days behind. Mother knows that usually at least two of those eggs are still viable, she can hear the goslings in there, but her own brood needs to leave the nest to eat and drink. Sometimes the gander will take charge of main hatch and see that they get to food and water. If the other goose never did go broody sometimes she will foster the main hatch. If the main hatch is covered sometimes the original broody will try to hatch the 'fresh' eggs but when 1 hatches an even fresher egg will start to pip.... Now do you see why I say it COMPLICATES things?

Ill search through the messages to glean more info, although i've been lurking here for 6 months and have read on the subject before, including some of said posts. I suppose we'll see what happens when they begin to brood, eh? I just have this feeling although i see no obvious signs of it, that the main layer 'Scarlett' is the 'alpha' female who is doing most of the work and the older female goose is just sortof helping out out of genetic/instinctual imperative.. ie she's still got some egg laying left in her, and just has to do what a goose has to do. But hell, im new to all this, im just taking what ive learnt here on BYC and am trying to apply it to what i see in my yard. I am just trying to pass my experiences to you for your use~gd

Thanks again for the advice and info - will keep reading and updating if thats ok!


Steve

 

[chickensducks&agoose]

Geese LOVE ducks! My geese fight over who gets to 'adopt' when we get new ducklings. Sort of like a sharks and jets situation...

 

[goosedragon]

chickensducks&agoose :

Geese LOVE ducks! My geese fight over who gets to 'adopt' when we get new ducklings. Sort of like a sharks and jets situation...

I LOVE ducks best when roasted with nice crispy skin! LOL but geese like to adopt ducklings and tend to bully adults.​