# How Broody are Embden Geese?



## moonwolf (Sep 20, 2004)

I am keeping over winter a pair of domestic large white Holland (very much like Embden's) geese. When they begin laying eggs I am wondering about tips to get some hatchlings from them incubating on their own. How many eggs would they normally incubate? Anyone have success with these geese 'a layin???


----------



## KSALguy (Feb 14, 2006)

give her a protected place with LOTS of bedding also put some kind of ring around where she decides to make her nest to help hold all the eggs in the middle of the nest, bricks put around in a circle with the bedding mounded in and over them works, mark the first few eggs if she starts to lay when the weather is too cold and leave them in the nest, take any new eggs and store inside untill she is ready to set, this may take a while, once she is ready put the freshest eggs back in the nest, 8-10 depending on her size is good, then let her do her thing, 

some geese are better than others, i have had Toulose and Chinas do a good job, embden do ok too normally, just make sure they have a nice secure undisturbed place to set up their nest,


----------



## mommagoose_99 (Jan 25, 2005)

My Toulouse geese are better than my Embdens at setting eggs. I agree with leaving the first couple of eggs and taking the rest and replacing them later. The eggs get very dirty after a few days . The geese slop around in the Spring mud here and the eggs get too dirty to hatch. I usually pull the first eggs for a couple of weeks and then after the ground is dryer and there is enough grass to keep their feet clean, I stop pulling eggs and let them hatch a clutch. The eggs I pull , I wash, and sell for a dollar a piece for eating, which is why it is important to mark the first eggs and only bring in the fresh eggs EVERY day. You can mark the first eggs to be left in the nest, with a Sharpie so the mark can be seen clearly. The eggs get wet and dirty and pencil and pen can wipe off. A goose can lay up to 45 eggs every year so you can remove over a dozen and she will still have enough for a clutch. They are very tasty and make very fluffy angel food cake.
It is normal for a goose to come off her nest at least once everyday. She will bathe and eat and drink . She will take the most enormous and smelliest poop you have ever seen. She may chat with her friends to get the latest barnyard gossip, then make a mad dash back to her nest. The time off the nest is neccesary to make the goslings strong and ranges from 10-30 minutes depending on the outside temperature. The warmer the ambient temperature the longer she will be absent.
Make sure the place the geese nest is protected from preditors. The geese really can not defend themselves all that well. I have lost geese and their nests to foxes and dogs. I let my geese nest near my goat , Matilda, but they have the best luck in a barn stall where not too many wild animals enter. I have also lost nests to rats. It is a good idea to bait a piece of poly pipe with rat poison and leave it 10 or 20 feet from the nesting area. The bait needs to be wired deep enough inside the pipe that nosey ganders can't reach it. Most of the time the gander will stay close by the goose while she is on the nest, but my gay Embden males won't . They run off leaving my geese crying for them. We shall see what happens this year since I now have a third gander. I have 8 total geese. 5 females and 3 males.
Linda


----------



## fishhead (Jul 19, 2006)

My Embdens did fine. About the only problem was when I let them double nest.

Here's one of my Buffs last spring. The 2 Buffs that tried a double nest hatched 5 and the only one that made it out of the nest alive was the one I stole. I think the goslings starved while waiting for the hens to leave the nest. The quickly adopted the goslings from this nest to the point it was hard to tell who the real momma was.


----------



## Curtis B (Aug 15, 2008)

I don't want to steal the tread, but since it is about geese and nesting I will ask. Will the ganders go to visit the goose, I think my goose is somewhere on my 20 acres with a nest. The ganders came back sleeping shed, but without her yesterday. I checked a couple of spots where I thought she would be, but I haven't found her yet. I am hoping to find her, she is my only one, I just need to find a way.


----------



## KSALguy (Feb 14, 2006)

a good gander should camp out near the nest all the time, keeping watch over his mate and their eggs, some ganders leave, she could be nesting or she could be lost, it could go eather way,


----------



## fishhead (Jul 19, 2006)

The hen will also leave the nest and come to food and to pick up water in her feathers for the eggs at least once every day.

Yes the gander should visit her.


----------



## Curtis B (Aug 15, 2008)

I am trying to watch the guys, and out for her. Most of my pasture isn't mowed, and I have a couple of places with standing water. It was in the afternoon, and I haven't noticed any preditors, so I am hoping for the best.


----------

