After more than 40 days on the nest we decided that “enough was enough”. I called a friend in Moggerhanger to ask advice and she suggested that we get the goose off the nest to ensure that her leg muscles were still strong enough to bear her weight. All that I read in books and on the Internet told me that beyond 35 days the eggs would no longer be viable, probably rotten and possibly could explode. With heavy heart and some trepidation we lifted goosey off the nest and lo and behold she could walk. She looked thin and her feathers looked greyish in colour but she was moving and ate some corn from Jeremy’s outstretched hand. I removed the eggs, which did smell bad, and placed them on the compost heap,alongside the three eggs that the duck had pushed out of her nest yesterday. Mrs Duck is still sitting but on fewer eggs and we are not getting excited.
The goose walked over to the bucket of fresh water and repeated dipped her head into the cooling liquid and started to clean and preen her feathers. It’s all over for now and I am so relieved that we didn’t lose the goose. There will be plenty of opportunities for her to sit in the future or maybe her sister will nest next time.