Well Frick and Frack usually give me a none fertile set of eggs each January.....
Having non-fertile eggs in Janaury isn't uncommon. In our flock (about 40 adults) we will have several that start laying that early. Their cycle is based on the amount of light and on the individual birds body. Eggs laid too early may be fertile but die as they chill too much before the hen starts setting. They may be infertile because the male hasn't come into his full mating bloom as early as the female.
Why I do not know? But I am an egg artist now and have begun taking advantage of this egg surplus.
But why do I get these non-fertile eggs?
Secondly, Frick lays about 14 eggs with the help from Frack each Spring (Late). I allow them there privacy to lay and mind them on there own as my early intervention proved fruitless. However in 3 years I yet to see a baby goose come from there eggs..why is this.
How may I help them without interfereing?
By Admin on Thursday, December 20, 2001 - 01:18 pm:
Since they don't have a succesful clutch they may try again. However, geese are on a much stricter natural schedule than most other domestic fowl. They mate and lay in the spring and end in late spring (again depending on the bird and conditions)
As for why the eggs didn't hatch in the later clutch, again there are several possibilities. Maybe one or the other of the pair is infertile. It happens with geese just as it can with people. Maybe they are too fat. Embdens have a penchant for putting on weight and too much weight can stop them from succesfully performing their procreative duties.
Alternately, we have found from expereince that while they are devoted parents and are excellent at raising goslings, ours tend to have problems in setting the eggs to a succesful hatch. We use artificial incubation to good success and sometimes rear the goslings in seperate groups and sometimes place them back with their parents or foster them with another broody pair.
To solve your problem, you have to get to the actual problem. If you can candle the eggs in the later batch at some point (try 2 weeks after you are confident she is setting) you may be able to determine whether they are fertile and failing to develop to hatch, or whether they are infertile. If they are fertile, you probably can't help without interfearing. If they are not fertile, you can look at reducing your birds fat and calorie intake for several months prior to breeding. They should have all the grass they can eat and good oats each day, but a limited amount of processed feed each day (and no corn). They should seem spry & upright with good musculature but not an overly lot of loose flesh and fat (except for "lobes" and the females abdomen which will "drop" when she moves into laying mode.
By collecting eggs and artificially incubating, we are able to produce up to 20 ofspring from a pair. We can then slip them a set of newborns and they have a family to raise for the year.
Hope this helps a little.