Broody Goose

Ayla

This is our second Spring with 2 geese & a gander which we got with the hope of raising goslings for xmas sales.

Last Spring the geese started laying the week of 19 Feb, and they laid fairly consistently (every day) for over 6 weeks. We were amazed about this quantity b/c we didn't think they'd lay that long (they were only first year birds). They never went properly broody so we just let them be hoping that this Spring they'd step up & go broody for us.

So, we just got them into their new run this weekend, and one of the geese has been sitting pretty tight in the shed ever since. Problem is that (as far as we can tell) she hasn't laid any eggs yet - or if she has it's only been 1-2 max. She's barely leaving the shed & is nesting quite strongly - great signs of broodiness, but it means that she's not really out with the gander much.

This (finally) leads me to the question at hand...if she's not getting out to the gander, do we try to "break" her broodiness with the hope that she'll lay for a a good week or so then beome broody again after laying a proper clutch of eggs? The problem with her being broody now is that she may ultimately be sitting on a bunch of unfertilized eggs, which gets us nowhere. But, of course, if we break the broodiness, whose to say she'll sit again this Spring?

We're used to hens, who generally lay a number of eggs then finally sit tight, but these geese have us confused. Any suggestions from those who've done this?

EastTyrone

just out of curiosity how many hen eggs could a goose it on?

Ayla

No idea. Hypothetically, if she decided to sit, and if she sat for the right amount of time, I would imagine she could cover a good number...a goose egg is approx 2-3 times the size of an average hen egg, and if she usually sits on 8+ goose eggs, she could have quite the clutch of hen eggs under her.

Hypothetically, of course.

dicky82

this is only a suggestion, but could you not take eggs from the other goose who is spending time with the gander and put them under your broody goose as people do with bantham hens that are broody ie use them to hatch out other hens eggs.