Every day we take a walk around the boundary of our land.
When I say "we", I mean myself, and whoever cares to join me.
Today it was all four of them, and today we had a spot of adventure.
Whilst stomping round the lake - actually, we don't stomp, because stomping could easily lead to falling - we came upon two goose eggs sitting in the water. Od was distressed, but the geese were no where to be seen, and as these had been left on the narrowest part of the walkway, I assumed that they were unwanted ones.
We ran home and googled and found a link to a forum discussing this very thing. Reading through (and trying not too feel too icky about the fact the original poster decided to eat an egg) it would appear that Mother Goose started laying before the nest was built and so discarded them into the water.
We know that she is now snuggled down in a nest further up the hill. I saw her this tea time when I went to feed the horses.
There is very little chance, zero in fact, that these eggs will hatch but this hasn't stopped Od swaddling them in hay and putting them next to the boiler to keep them cosy. She had read up and thinks they should hatch in 24-28 days but if they start to smell then she knows they are duffers.
She is upstairs now in her bed, reading my book and making notes.
Her theory is that even if these eggs don't hatch, she'll know what to do in the future.
2 comments:
When we were kids we did the same with pheasant eggs that had been abandoned. Popped them in the airing cupboard and sure enough some of them hatched. As I remember my dad sent the fledglings over to a local estate where they could be reared. Along with all the others they probably then had to take their chances during pheasant shooting season (such is country life!). It was a great experience.
Hope you get some hatchlings :)
What a wonderful way to get stuck into nature study. It sounds like you live in a lovely place!
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