Domestic backyard geese lay eggs just like chickens and ducks do. But goose eggs are larger, and more seasonal, which just makes them all that much more precious.
Goose eggs taste very similar to duck eggs - a bit more rich and eggy than a chicken egg - and can be used pretty much the same ways as any other type of egg in cooking and baking.
Cooking Goose Eggs
Goose eggs can be scrambled or fried or used in baking recipes that call for chicken eggs. The difference is that a goose egg equals three chicken eggs.
So either substitute one goose egg for every 3 chicken eggs your recipe calls for, you can whisk the goose egg and then measure out as much as you need - remembering that a medium chicken egg is equivalent to about 3 Tablespoons in volume.
This photo below shows the size different between a goose egg (top left) and a duck egg (top right) compared to a chicken egg (bottom).
Geese are Seasonal Layers
Unlike chickens and ducks that have been bred to lay nearly year round, geese are a bit different.
Chickens and ducks require at least 16 hours of daylight to lay an egg, which means that they will lay in natural light for much of the spring, summer and fall. The sunlight stimulates their ovary to release a yolk which then is encased in the egg white and finally a shell.
Conversely, geese lay best with only about 10 hours of daylight. So that means there's just a short window during the spring when they lay. A female goose will lay an average of between 20-40 white eggs each spring, depending on the breed and age.
A Dozen Fascinating Facts about Goose Eggs
- A female goose starts laying when she's about 9 months old
- Geese lay white eggs
- Goose eggs typically weigh between 4 1/4 and 6 1/2 ounces
- One goose egg is equivalent to two duck eggs or three chicken eggs
- A goose egg has about 266 calories, compared to the 72 calories in the average chicken egg
- A goose egg contains 19g of fat and 20g of protein
- A goose egg has 1227mg of cholesterol which is >400% of the RDA
- The shell of a goose egg makes up 12% of the total weight of the egg, with the egg white making up 57% and the yolk the other 31%
- Geese lay their eggs in a straw nest on the floor and then cover them up with the straw to hide them
- Goose eggs hatch best under a mother goose versus in an incubator
- A goose egg takes 28-35 days to hatch, depending on the breed
- It can take up to three days for a gosling to emerge from the egg after making the first pip
Although goose eggs are more seasonal than chicken eggs, and it's nice when our female geese are laying, but a flock of backyard geese provide some nice benefits beyond their eggs including weed control, free manure and a bit of protection against predators.
