Re: geese laying

On Nov 25, 10:03 am, "Amy Blankenship"
<Amy_nos...@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
"Jill" <n...@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message

news:13kir8l2l0acfc8@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Amy Blankenship wrote:
I know nothing about Arizona effect on geese but would not expect
your breeds to lay until maybe February at least.
Maybe the warmth means they lay more through the winter? anyone
local?

Geese in Mississippi don't even lay through all the warm months. Only
until June or so...

When do they start?

I'm not sure. I don't have any geese, and I didn't start milking for my
friend with geese until they had started laying in the spring last year.

-Amy

Hi!
Here in Kentucky, our geese always begin laying on or about
Valentine's Day, February 14. Some years I find the first egg that
day, some years I find two or three on that day that they've hidden,
so they have been laying for a couple of days by then.
The Embdens and Pilgrims I've had lay every other day until they have
@ 12 to 15 eggs, then will begin sitting on the nest. I steal all but
one egg on the first nest as they are laid, keeping them coming back
to the same nest to lay. The birds will rest for two weeks to a month
and begin laying again. By then it's April and I may do the same
thing again on the second nest, depending on if I want to raise a lot
of young that year.
Bear in mind that this is how to have plenty of eggs to eat or
decorate. If you let them keep the first nest, they will sit on it
and hatch out young and be finished for the year.
Some of my birds will lay a third nest, which I may let them keep an
egg or three to raise during the summer. But that is generally all
the eggs they will lay. Some times, depending on the weather and
their fitness, the Pilgrims may begin laying again in the fall and
continue until the next June. That's happened twice in 20 years.
Geese live for 20 or more years, being productive for about 7 to 12 of
those years, depending on the breed.
The birds you have should follow this seasonal laying, perhaps
starting their lay in January if it's been warm and they've had a good
diet. The Canadians are also seasonal layers. My neighbor's follow
the same breeding schedule as my domestic geese, though they seem to
begin later. It's a totally wild flock. They are getting ready to
fly south any day.
Canadian Geese that may be overwintering in the south will not lay
eggs there or build nests. Only the few that have become a permanent
population will make nests in the spring. Most of them will just
overwinter, building reserves for the flight back to their nesting
areas in the north once the daylight gets longer.
Short answer: geese generally begin laying when they are a year old -
the late winter/early spring after they were hatched.
Sorry so long!

Kathleen
Straw Barry Fields Farm
Beefalo
Kentucky, USA
.

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