[NorthWestPoultry.co.uk]

hi like i have said before i have a pair of white embem geese and the goose has started laying i have took around 9 eggs away from her but now i have started leaving theam i want her to sit around 10 if i keep taking theam away will she never sit am i doing right leaving her with the eggs and when she fills her nest she will sit ??
cheers
mark           

[Hermit]

You can only take away so many,they will lay up to fifty but you need to get the youngsters growing on good grass so you are doing right in letting her sit now. The cold weather , hopefully has gone, the cold frosts kill the eggs as they are left without protection until they sit.Also they are less likely to be fertile. When she decides she has a nest full she will sit, like a hen if you take them away they keep laying ,if you leave them they go broody. Some nests we are leaving now having taken 1/2 dozen from each , some others are just finding a place to nest.

[trefnantbach]

I have exactly the same dilemma.
I'm new to geese and kept them indoors since when I got them about 6 wks ago until last week end when we clipped their wings and put them in a new goose house by the lake. Whilst clearing out the barn after them I found 8 eggs which appeared to be unfertililised when examined with a torch (and later when made into a massive omlette and cherry cake) Anyway, a few days after moving them into their new home on the lake side one of the geese in the trio laid another egg and their behaviour turned agressive and defensive again. They dont seem to spend much time inside the goose house but graze / swim outside and we round them up into the house at dusk for protrection from foxes. This last egg was cold and I  removed it too. However the last posting gives me confidence now to leave any future eggs and hope that one of the girls will sit on them. How long do they sit on the eggs at a time?  So far Mine seem to spend very little time sitting  and are more interested in grazing and swimming - at least they are getting opportunities to mate now they have access to water. Someone told me that they do not make good mothers in their first few years and not to expect them to sit properly and get chicks until  the girls are at least 3 years old. It this true - by the way mine are ebden x tolouse geese.

[Hermit]

Geese do not sit like a broody hen they do tend to have a stretch and go back to the nests.Young geese are not guaranteed to be good mothers, they do get confused and may let one hatch and walk off with it leaving the others to die, see another nest hatch and go look after that lot etc, but they have to learn. A gander may not be up to much till a few years old either. On the other hand they may be fantastic parents from young, time will tell.Till a goose is ready to incubate her eggs she will leave the nest for a long time, even till she lays the next egg or turning time, then she will sit.
When I bought my first goose the lady said geese live for up to fifty years and the best parents at twenty five!!  Good Luck, your lake and goose house sound fantastic.

[trefnantbach]

Guess I need to be patient and see what happens. Next year I'll try putting the eggs in an incubator - any suggestions or recommendations as to which type is best for incubating say up to 8 goose eggs?

By the way I made the goose house out of pallets which I picked up for a pound each. I made one side higher than the other so that the pallet on the roof sloped and felted it after extending it a bit so that it overhang the sides. I covered the gaps in the floor pallet with timber from another dismantled pallet, cut a door on one side and hinged it back on and clad the whole thing with about £40 worth of feather-edged board. The whole thing cost me not more than about £50 and looks tidy, foxproof and weather proof. The trio of geese have happily adopted it as their home. Can't see the point of spending 100s of pounds on one. handy things pallets!

[Hermit]

I made my duck huts out of pallets, they are raised off the floor about a foot with a ramp up. I have just chickened wired the floor though so most of the poop falls through,have put straw in the sleeping half.A tin sheet on the roof and bobs your uncle.