Goose eggs are particularly difficult to hatch artificially in an incubator, so leaving this difficult job to the goose is popular if she goes broody and is a good sitter.

Once a goose goes broody, you can’t move her nest so start off by encouraging her to sit in the right place by providing nesting material in a shed or covered area.

If you leave goose eggs in the nest, a goose will usually sit once she has laid a suitable size clutch of eggs. To prevent breakages whilst she is laying, it is usually best to leave a couple of eggs in the nest but to remove and store the others until there are enough for her to sit on. Geese can usually sit on 7 to 10 eggs comfortably.

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Those last few days were so exciting: would we get goslings? I was driving my Belgian friend mad with my phone calls and questions, he said "You're in joyful anticipation" and he was right.

It was so wonderful to see how our Carmen took care of her eggs, how she covered them with straw and down when she went off for ten minutes to eat, drink or to take a bath. It seemed like Carmen had a clock inside of her body because she knew exactly how long she could stay off her nest for. After those ten minutes she walked in a special way back to her nest and I could tell if she was going back to her nest or not.

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