arrrroooooo
Hatching
- May 25, 2021
- 2
- 6
- 4
Hi - I know this is mostly a forum for human-incubated geese, but hoping to get some insight from geese experts here.
Background: We live on a property that has a dock on a lake. There is a Canada Goose male and female pair that have lived near our house for several years. Last year, she laid her eggs in someone's back yard but they were either non-viable or were eaten by a local predator.
This year, she chose the planter on our dock for incubation. She started nesting about 6 1/2 weeks ago. As it's early in spring, we've let her stay there without any discouragement. 2 weeks ago one of her eggs hatched and we watched father goose shepherd the little guy around. Then the gosling disappeared one night. Very sad! We are telling ourselves he was taken by another family.
Even after the first egg hatched, momma goose has stayed on the planter for the last TWO weeks. When she leaves the nest, we can see that there are still 5 eggs remaining. They are no longer buried (they were in the past). Based on everything we've read, it seems odd for a long gap between hatchings and we're beginning to wonder if the eggs are simply nonviable, even though 5 out of 6 seems like a high percentage!
Question: We are ready to start using our dock again... what should we do? If we're giving her more time before moving the planter/nest, how much longer? We're not adverse to examining the eggs more closely if that's the advice but wanted to wait as these are wild geese.
Thanks!
Jason
Background: We live on a property that has a dock on a lake. There is a Canada Goose male and female pair that have lived near our house for several years. Last year, she laid her eggs in someone's back yard but they were either non-viable or were eaten by a local predator.
This year, she chose the planter on our dock for incubation. She started nesting about 6 1/2 weeks ago. As it's early in spring, we've let her stay there without any discouragement. 2 weeks ago one of her eggs hatched and we watched father goose shepherd the little guy around. Then the gosling disappeared one night. Very sad! We are telling ourselves he was taken by another family.
Even after the first egg hatched, momma goose has stayed on the planter for the last TWO weeks. When she leaves the nest, we can see that there are still 5 eggs remaining. They are no longer buried (they were in the past). Based on everything we've read, it seems odd for a long gap between hatchings and we're beginning to wonder if the eggs are simply nonviable, even though 5 out of 6 seems like a high percentage!
Question: We are ready to start using our dock again... what should we do? If we're giving her more time before moving the planter/nest, how much longer? We're not adverse to examining the eggs more closely if that's the advice but wanted to wait as these are wild geese.
Thanks!
Jason
