[Carey boy]

Hi

I bought a trio of geese in September 2014, and all three get on very well, they are always together.  At the moment all three are living in a Medium sized horse trailer (5x8 foot).

I am wondering what preparations I need to make to encourage/help the breeding of gosling's.  Will all three of them be able to carry on living in the Trailer? do I need to participation the trailer off? and how long will the gosling's stay with the geese after hatching.

Talk about counting your chickens before they hatch, this is called counting the gosling's before they have laid.

Seriously, any advice would be very welcome.



Happy new year to all

David

[Possum]

Any idea what sex they are???

[devonlady]

I am assuming that as you call them a trio you have two geese and a gander? Yes make partitions in your trailer, good sized nest boxes, otherwise you will get egg stealing with one goose wanting all the eggs and the other wanting them back and you will have a poor hatch. They will need access to water, a baby bath or toddlers plastic paddling pool will do, so they can carry water back on their feathers to make sure the eggs have enough humidity.
Geese are careful mothers as a rule (unlike ducks ) and can stay with the flock until "it's time"
Good luck and enjoy your geese, I love mine!!

[Carey boy]

Hi,

Yes two geese and a gander. Re the water, apart from having drinking water inside the pen the bathing water is outside, is that O.K?. What do I need to do with the gander (if anything) when the birds are sitting?


David

[Womble]

Yes, that's fine.

The key is to encourage them to nest where *you* want them to, as once they've started laying it's quite hard to move them.

As for the gander, it's more what he'll do with you once they're sitting that I'd be concerned about, rather than the other way round! 

[Carey boy]

Hi,

Don't understand  "what he'll do with you"  please tell more.

David

[Womble]

Hi David,  What I mean is how much the gander will tolerate of you once his girls start laying. Our boy Gandalf is quite gentle at this time of year, but put your hand under one of his nesting girls and you're asking for a peck on the bum!  Hopefully yours will be all mouth and no trousers, but there's no real knowing until Springtime!

I've never actually let mine sit on eggs, so I can't advise on what to do once they have goslings. Actually I'll be reading this thread with interest, as I'd like to hatch some naturally this year if possible.

What I do know is that wherever you plan for them to lay, they will usually choose somewhere else. If you're going to let them sit, ensuring that that place is fox and magpie proof is a top priority.

[HesterF]

Also how old are your geese? Best not to let them sit in their first year, I believe - the breeders I got mine from had lost a goose who was too young to sit because she didn't have the weight they need to survive those five weeks. I hatched nine last year but none were hatched by a goose - the most success was from a broody hen who hatched five from five. I have two breeding groups so I separate them out into two sheds but this year will have extra so not quite worked out what to do with them. Just be careful with the goslings too - they can be taken by predators and drown quite easily. I sold a pair to somebody who'd hatched successfully but then lost all the goslings one by one to some mysterious predator. That's another advantage to a broody hen - you can keep them under cover much more easily - as well as not needing as much water and being generally more careful with the eggs and young goslings. Meantime, you can go on collecting goose eggs and selling them - otherwise your geese will stop laying as soon as they have enough eggs to sit on.

H

[shygirl]

If they are living in the trailer, do they still have access to grazing?
Ours were free range with access to a barn and started laying in Feb.
Some were natural hatchings, others in the incy.

[Carey boy]

Hi,

What is  " will stop laying as soon as they have enough eggs to sit on" should I buy an incubator? How many eggs do gees lay?.

David

[Carey boy]

Hi,

Yes fully free range, just shut up a night (Mr Fox is about).

David.

[Carey boy]

Hi,

2-3 years old.


David

[devonlady]

Hi,

What is  " will stop laying as soon as they have enough eggs to sit on" should I buy an incubator? How many eggs do gees lay?.

David

12-20 if you leave them to sit. A few more if you take them away to incubate. If I could only keep one species for food I would probably choose geese

[HesterF]

Max per year depends on which breed - mine are West of England and lay 30-40 so not huge numbers but if they stop with a full clutch, it'd be only half that.

[Carey boy]

Hi,

Large embden geese.

Thanks all for the help.

David