[themagicaltoad1]

I just know this is going to be a big headache for me.......

My wife brought home a goose egg today intending it to be for an omlette for my young daughter. My daughter had other ideas and stuck it under a broody hen. I know NOTHING about geese so have a few questions.
1. if/ when it hatches will it need special feed or can I give it chick crumbs?
2. will it mix ok with the chooks or will it need other geese?
3. will it need water like ducks do?
4. what do I do if it gets too big for the chicken coop, would it be ok in a kennel in the run on its own at night?

Any advice would be very much appreciated.

[Sassy]

I don't know anything about geese other than that they like to live with at least one member of their own kind.

Is the egg fertile and if so how old is it as this will effect development?

I don't know if a hen will manage an egg so big to successfully hatch.

Whatever, I'm sure you'll sort it

[agapanthus]

Goose eggs are quite hard to hatch....even by geese!! They do need quite a bit of water, they like to duck their heads and neck into it to wash. We fed our gosling on crumbs and she fared well. They obviously like being with their own kind but will integrate with chickens and ducks.

[themagicaltoad1]

Thanks for the replies, it is a fertile egg, so I guess this is one of those occasions when I shall keep my fingers crossed that it DOESN'T hatch. I had to laugh today though when my tiny, smallest bantam tried sitting on it, she isn't much bigger than the egg, needless to say she fell off!

[agapanthus]

Broodies are funny!!! 

[themagicaltoad1]

Just an update on this thread. I have been totally convinced this egg was a non starter, especially as "mum" had left it to go stone cold a couple of times, and she's only a bantam- not big enough to cover the whole egg. But this morning I put it to my ear and could hear tap, tap, tap from inside! Hastily dragged the broody coop out of storage and put them in it but what do I do now? I've been told geese eggs are very hard shelled and the young often need a hand to break out. I don't want to disturb "mum" as the last time she sat on eggs she attacked the chicks when they emerged, possibly because we had disturbed her to see what was happening.
Is there a diferrent gosling crumb to hen chick crumbs, and does it matter if "mum" eats them?
I've got a small tin bath I can put in the garden for it but how do I stop the chickens from falling in (they're very nosey)?
When the other hens have got used to it will it be ok in the hen coop/ run with them?
This is all turning into a bit of a nightmare. Sometimes I could cheerfully strangle my daughter as it was her insistance that we put it under the broody in the first place lol.

[kegs]

I found this which hopefully will answer one or two questions until someone knowledgeable comes along.

http://www.thepoultrysite.com/articles/227/brooding-and-rearing-ducklings-and-goslings


Bet you wish you'd eaten that omelette! 

[Diddy Gardener]

Oh, this is brilliant... sorry, can't help but please keep us posted! 

[Mickle]

They imprint on the first moving thing they see, I had a Toulouse goose do the same thing after I'd hatched it, my Daughter also had a Canada that followed her everywhere she was even running up and down flapping her arms to get it to mimic with great success.

Unfortunately one of my Terriers attacked it and it ended up on the Dinner menu, I blamed a Fox for taking it but I confessed when she had reached 25 that we had eaten it,

[themagicaltoad1]

Thanks for the link, it was very informative especially the bit about medicated chick crumbs.
It's still tapping away, maybe tomorrow will be its hatch day?

[kegs]

Any signs of life yet?  Most sites seem to say 28-35 days for a goose egg so you may have a few more days to wait.

[themagicaltoad1]

I listened to it with my stethascope today and it's cheeping away and still tapping. I've been told to spray it with water to help soften the shell so I gave it a good squirt. What's the betting it hatches on Sunday when I'm out all day. I'll have to tell the wife she's not to keep looking every 5 minutes, (she's worse than me!)

[themagicaltoad1]

This morning when I had coaxed "mum" off so I could wet the egg, it had a hole the size of a 5 pence piece in it. "mum" heard it cheeping and hurried back to it. This afternoon the hole is now about a 50p piece, but when "mum"  went back in I watched her through the window and she attacked the chick for about 10 seconds then sat back on it. I'm really concerned that she will kill the baby when it finally emerges. She was pretty savage to her chicks last year when they hatched and we had to rescue them from her. It's as though she doesn't understand that the chicks have come from the eggs she's been sitting on, and she sees them as intruders. I had hoped last years agression was a one off but it's looking like there's going to be a repeat of her behaviour.

[kegs]

Fingers crossed she hasn't already damaged it. 

Keep us up-to-date with events and good luck.

[themagicaltoad1]

It's hatched! and so far "mum" seems to be looking after it. It's cheeping away and she's cooing back to it, and everytime it pokes its head out she tries to tuck it back under. Phew, what a relief at last.