Lucy Goosey

Even though the chicks are done hatching I'm still not over my incubator addiction. I've been spying on Mama Goose and she's been laying an egg a day for a few days in her normal spot. You don't really have to be James Bond to spy on Mama laying, because her fearless mate tends to stand around and honk at the top of his lungs. I'm not sure if he's trying to keep people away or if he's smart-mouthing her since she's too busy to shut him up. I've dated guys like that.

Anyhoo - I stole her eggs and have put them in the incubator. Fear not, she's still laying eggs, it's just that she's never successful at hatching them so I thought I'd give it a go. So - six goose eggs in the 'bator today! She can hatch the rest.


Goose eggs are huge. And tasty. But I'm all about the goslings with these eggs, so omelets will have to wait. Check out the size of these eggs! That's a regular chicken egg next to it. Probably an "extra large" sized egg.



I suppose you're wondering what that "M" is on that egg in my hand. Well... my friend Becki has several "knacks", one of which is telling the sex of a goose egg with a wedding ring and a string. You suspend the ring and hold it still. The ring will eventually begin to swing over the egg. If it swings back and forth, it's a male. If it swings around in circles it's a female.


From our results it looks like there will be 4 males and 2 females. Mind you, I "ring sexed" two of these and I'm not knacky. Becki may need to come double check my findings. When we're nearer to hatching I'll put a piece of cardboard in the incubator to keep the hatchees separate, then I'll band the legs of those two we think are females. Should be an interesting experiment.


All six are in the incubator and being turned 3 times a day. Starting March 10th, I'll be taking them out of the incubator for 15 minutes each day and misting them with water. That'll be a good time to candle them to see how the embryos are developing. I'll try to get some photos of the candling, but I'm not sure that I can. Watch this space around April 5th and we'll see how the hatching goes!