Will a goose hide her goslings?

[LisabethBrooke]

One of my geese is sitting on a nest full of eggs. I'm a little worried about her because she never gets off of it, or I never see her get off of it. She has pushed two eggs out of the nest and so I left them (I was worried they may have just rolled out) for a few days and when she never put them back I disposed of them. I read that they push them out when the eggs aren't any good.

But in the nest are one or two broken egg shells. I don't know if she has had one or two hatch and is hiding them and honking at me to keep them safe or is she is breaking the eggs and eating them.

Comments? Suggestions?

 

[paws4440]

That's unusuall

 

[Miss Lydia]

One of my geese is sitting on a nest full of eggs. I'm a little worried about her because she never gets off of it, or I never see her get off of it. She has pushed two eggs out of the nest and so I left them (I was worried they may have just rolled out) for a few days and when she never put them back I disposed of them. I read that they push them out when the eggs aren't any good.

But in the nest are one or two broken egg shells. I don't know if she has had one or two hatch and is hiding them and honking at me to keep them safe or is she is breaking the eggs and eating them.

Comments? Suggestions?

They are probably up under mama. she will keep them warm and safe under her wings. You'll probably get to see 2 faces peak out at you tomorrow. Or how long has she been sitting I haven't ever heard of many water fowl eating their own eggs.

 

[LisabethBrooke]

Shes been sitting for close to a month now. They should be starting to hatch if the first , or oldest ones are going to hatch at all. I've been itching to candle the eggs under her but I'd hate to distress her so she abandons her nest or smashes the eggs trying to get at me. So I've just been giving her her space. I started to get worried about her not eating and drinking and moved her food and water closer. I hope she gets up and moves around, I don't watch her all day every day. But I have had a goose get week setting on her nest of eggs before and then a coon took advantage of it, and no more momma goose. I really didn't want that to happen to her. So I moved food and water closer, which is about as close as she will tolerate me around her precious eggs.

If she does get some babies, how mean would it be if I took the babies and put them in my brooder and raised them instead of leaving them with her? Would that distress her too much?

 

[paws4440]

I think it would be ok that's why I incubat my eggs but I'm lucky with ducks because they went as aggressive

 

[Miss Lydia]

Shes been sitting for close to a month now. They should be starting to hatch if the first , or oldest ones are going to hatch at all. I've been itching to candle the eggs under her but I'd hate to distress her so she abandons her nest or smashes the eggs trying to get at me. So I've just been giving her her space. I started to get worried about her not eating and drinking and moved her food and water closer. I hope she gets up and moves around, I don't watch her all day every day. But I have had a goose get week setting on her nest of eggs before and then a coon took advantage of it, and no more momma goose. I really didn't want that to happen to her. So I moved food and water closer, which is about as close as she will tolerate me around her precious eggs.

If she does get some babies, how mean would it be if I took the babies and put them in my brooder and raised them instead of leaving them with her? Would that distress her too much?

It would dif distress her, it will distress the goslings too. are you planning to sell the goslings is that why you want to take them? If you want a friendly to people goslings then if you can do it take them for 2-3 weeks raise them inside then give them back to the parents to finish raising, We bought 2 goslings[2 days old] last year for our adult pair [they lost their only gosling during hatch]. I kept them inside in the brooder till they were 3 weeks old and from day 1 they got to go outside and see the other members of the flock including the adult geese, by 3 weeks they were ready to go out and live with the adults but are still friendly to us. But I would have a very hard time taking gosling away from parents they have such a strong bond. Once hatch is complete she'll give the gosling a few days to get their legs under them then off the nest she'll come and bring them out then you can go in and clean the nest remove any unhatched eggs and put down new bedding. You do keep your geese locked up at night don't you?

 

[LisabethBrooke]

All but one of the nests are in a pen. One of them is in the pen where I usually brood goslings, but I started incubating the eggs under the lights in there and then the momma took over the nest and won't let me have it back. The other two are in two separate cages. I have one nest that is outside of the pens because the goose and gander keep flying out, so I stopped fighting with them and left them to free range. Usually after the cold weather passes I leave them free range all summer. The nest that I started and had taken from me by my broody momma goose does smell. I think it's because its inside a little house and she hasn't been leaving it, so there's more than likely all sorts of poop in there. And she may have eaten the egg, it looks like there is something all over her face. That could be because she hasn't been bathing since she's not leaving the nest, and she's an embden so they're all white and can look dirty easily.

I don't know I'm just worried about the eggs. I can't hear or see any of the goslings, but I don't stick around much because it distresses the goose. So that's not to say that they're not there, but I'm losing hope. I don't know if any of the eggs are any good because now the first ones are a we are now a week past the day that the first few eggs should have hatched. And 3 days past the other bunch that I added to it afterwards.

I may just have to dig in there and face the mean momma.

 

[Miss Lydia]

Put on gloves and a long sleeved shirt and get her out of there, sounds like she needs help too. she'll be upset but that's too bad.

 

[LisabethBrooke]

You think she's eating the eggs too then? Or just make her get off the nest for a bit. I feel so bad.

 

[Miss Lydia]

You think she's eating the eggs too then? Or just make her get off the nest for a bit. I feel so bad.

Not sure on egg eating but if your seeing yolk on her face maybe. I would get her off the nest as carefully as you can so you can see what's going on, if there are goslings remeove them into something safe long enough to evaluate whats going on and making sure no other eggs are ready to hatch or explode and if need be clean out and put in new shaving then put goslings back in and let mom take over again. But if their are dead goslings or eggs exploding you need to deal with that. She maybe sick too from not eating and taking care of herself this way you can check her out too. Probably should have someone help you. Where will the gander be? he needs to be put somewhere while all of this is going on too.