Trying to raise geese.

[Sparrowgurl]

This is my 1st attempt to raise geese. I have one female and one male. My female, Ethel, laid 17 eggs last season. She did not have a mate last season. I bought fertile eggs and she hatched 1 out of 3. The chick ended up being a male, Fred, and is now mating with Ethel. We have taken 6 eggs from her now and are leaving the rest with her. How many eggs will she lay before being broody and sit on the eggs.. and how long can the eggs lay in the nest before she decides to sit on them? Any help for me on this?

 

[jtn42248]

This is my 1st attempt to raise geese. I have one female and one male. My female, Ethel, laid 17 eggs last season. She did not have a mate last season. I bought fertile eggs and she hatched 1 out of 3. The chick ended up being a male, Fred, and is now mating with Ethel. We have taken 6 eggs from her now and are leaving the rest with her. How many eggs will she lay before being broody and sit on the eggs.. and how long can the eggs lay in the nest before she decides to sit on them? Any help for me on this?

I am sort of in the same boat. I have one male and two females that have been mating and have built a really nice nest. I have been taking the eggs due to the weather and the fact that neither of the females have indicated any interest in being broody. Broody is one of the great mysteries of life. You can not really predict when, or even if, it is going to happen. What you can do and what I am going to do (now that the weather is improving here) is mark the eggs and leave them hoping they will build a clutch of eggs and broody will kick in. Then just back off and let nature take its course. As I understand it the fertilized eggs are viable for about 10 days after being laid. So, what I am going to do is number the eggs 1, 2, 3 etc. Then when we get to 10 take out number 1 and so on. The other option is to put the eggs in an incubator but from what I have read incubating goose eggs is a little tricky.

Good luck and hope you have bunches of goslings.

 

[Sparrowgurl]

Thanks Chicken Obsessed person,
Last year I took all the eggs from Ethel as she laid them, knowing they were not fertile. After the 17th egg.. she became broody and was covering up imaginary eggs with her down. I blocked her from the empty nest and she became very upset and "flew" for the 1st time into a neighbors property. I quickly retrieved her and unblocked her nest, bought 3 eggs from a breeder and she was a "happy goose". 28 days later we had a gosling ! Only one of the three eggs hatched. I am marking her eggs with the date and will watch her nest every day to see if she starts pulling her feathers and covering her eggs. Thanks for the idea of taking the earlier eggs that would be over 10 days. I am so excited to see if we actually get goslings this year. I hope "Fred" does his job ! I see him mount her but it is so "quick" I have no idea if it will work??

I hope you also have success. !

Sparrowgurl