Young adult goose not laying at all this season

[Tivona]

I have 2 geese, one male and one female. Both are Embdens. They both hatched around May of 2011 so I was thinking the female would lay this spring or summer. So far she has not laid a single egg. She seems to have all the instincts, as she loves sneaking in to the duck pen to sit on their eggs for a few minutes, play making a nest and whatnot. She and the gander had been mating up until recently (his mating season seems to be nearing an end for this year). But she has not laid a single egg. I have a good nest area in their pen and she had fun sitting on the fake egg for a few minutes but that is all shes ever done.

Any ideas on what might be the reason for no eggs from her? As I understand an Embden should be laying when a year old and in spring...

 

[CelticOaksFarm]

May 2011 geese

what breed?

are you sure you have a gander and a goose? (no breeding behavior doesnt mean the one on bottom is a girl)

if you do have a gander/goose pair are they on pasture?

could she have hidden eggs somewhere?

 

[Tivona]

May 2011 geese

what breed?

are you sure you have a gander and a goose? (no breeding behavior doesnt mean the one on bottom is a girl)

if you do have a gander/goose pair are they on pasture?

could she have hidden eggs somewhere?

Both are Embdens.

I am absolutely positive that one is a male and the other a female. Different sizes, different temperaments and I have seen the males boy parts after mating. She has to be a girl...sweet as anything, much smaller then the gander, wants to nest but only has duck eggs to play with, etc...

Yes I sort of have them on pasture. Big yard and garden but all fenced in and not many hiding places for eggs. I also feed waterfowl feed and layer pellets, and they have access to grit and oyster shell.

No hidden eggs anywhere. I have been checking all spring and summer. There are only a few locations that she could hid a nest and I know them all.

 

[CelticOaksFarm]

Have you dug down into the bedding? They don't always use the box you provide and they don't normally leave the eggs on top of the bedding.

 

[Tivona]

Because of the fact that I have been expecting her to lay for months I have been checking periodically in the nest box. I have even pulled out all of the straw to check when she wasn't there, then putting it all back. Other then the fake egg that she has moved around a bit, nothing. No eggs, bits of shell, nothing. I have seen her go in and play make a nest for a few minutes at a time. She is very sweet and usually tries play nesting when I collect the duck eggs. I think that my having the ducks eggs visible is what triggers her mommy instinct. I have checked right after she has come out of the box and no eggs... I have also checked all the spots in the yard/garden where she might have buried them a bit. There aren't many spots she could hide them, and nothings there.

 

[CelticOaksFarm]

crows, skunks, possum and dogs all eat eggs. You could have something taking her eggs on you.

 

[Tivona]

crows, skunks, possum and dogs all eat eggs. You could have something taking her eggs on you.

That could be. I doubt its skunks, possums or dogs but the crows or perhaps a small varmint that like eggs could be taking them. We do have a number of crows. Dogs can't get anywhere near the birds areas. No skunks or possums for the last couple of years. We do have raccoons (a few less now

) at night but the birds and nests are safely locked at night and I check the nests right after letting the birds at 9am.

The goose pen is right outside my window and the duck pen is next to that. The ducks never have missing eggs (9 girls and most of the time 9 eggs unless molting) but neither pen is rat proof. I stopped feeding them in the pens about 6 months ago due to a critter stealing the feed and upsetting the birds. They have safe pens as far as predators like raccoons or possums but anything as small or smaller then a rat could get into or burrow into either pen. I was checking the goose pen's nesting box all spring and summer every 2 or 3 days. No bits of shell or eggs all this time. She does bed in it and play with the fake egg burying it. There are no burrows into the gooses pen but there are a few spots where the bottom wire would allow small critters in.

I am still leaning towards her not laying at all, but I can't say with certainty that a critter couldn't have gotten them. It just doesn't seem likely that a critter would be getting them before I could check every time leaving no trace. Do you know if there internal things that could be going on stopping her form being able to lay?

 

[CelticOaksFarm]

She most likely isnt laying over night. She would be laying during the day (ours when laying are usually mid day/late morning). This would allow the eggs to be stolen, and no normally there is never shell traces left behind. The other egg eater could be a snake, they love eggs.