There are three hens sitting on two nests, sort of. Under the Buff goose on the right there are at least a dozen eggs and the two Embden geese on the left seem to have amalgamated their nests to one, which has about twenty eggs in total. I guess this is the way of the geese, to share nests. They all laid in the first nest, then, one goose built a second nest near the first. The third built her nest out in the open (the one on the right) and I put a piece of plywood over and a straw bale on the side to give her protection from the sun, wind and rain. There is an old storm door with a window on the left. The geese get plenty of light then, but northern exposure. The back wall is only a half wall of a piece of reinforced cement board, so the air circulation is very good. The ganders visit the geese several times a day and if there is an alarm call from the geese, they come rushing over and hissing. The goose flock is really quite advanced. The Toulouse gander and the other buff goose did mate and pal around together, but she did not nest or even attempt to, though she did lay in the original nest. The geese have one more week to go before hatching time. Every day they take turns getting up and walking around, taking a bath and eating a lot of grass, but they do not stay off the nest for more than about a half hour and always in mid day when it is the warmest. They cover their eggs with straw and feathers while they are gone to keep the eggs warm.
I am looking forward to the little goslings, though, if they do not sell as babies, most likely they will be destined for roast goose dinner. They grow extremely fast, basically feed themselves and are cared for by all the other geese. By the fall they will be at least 10 pounds if not much more, depending on the genes they carry from their parents. The Embden gander is huge, around 40 pounds, but the Buff geese and Toulouse are only about 20-35 pounds. The geese are quite content to while away their time doing what nature calls them to do, and that is to reproduce their species with the sacrifice that a mother makes. Because they only eat a limited amount once a day and get virtually no exercise and a small drink once a day, they lose weight and condition while nesting the 30 days that it takes to hatch their babies. That is what moms do, even goose moms.
I am looking forward to the little goslings, though, if they do not sell as babies, most likely they will be destined for roast goose dinner. They grow extremely fast, basically feed themselves and are cared for by all the other geese. By the fall they will be at least 10 pounds if not much more, depending on the genes they carry from their parents. The Embden gander is huge, around 40 pounds, but the Buff geese and Toulouse are only about 20-35 pounds. The geese are quite content to while away their time doing what nature calls them to do, and that is to reproduce their species with the sacrifice that a mother makes. Because they only eat a limited amount once a day and get virtually no exercise and a small drink once a day, they lose weight and condition while nesting the 30 days that it takes to hatch their babies. That is what moms do, even goose moms.
Two of the geese have amalgamated their nest to one, but it has about 20 eggs in it and they both sit there at the same time.
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