Keep Calm and Raise (Hell-)Geese

The geese finally started laying their eggs about the same time I posted "Resistance is Futile for Us Beginners". It was a huge relief to know the egg-laying season was kicking into gear, for the sooner the season starts, the sooner it ends.

Raise "Hell-Geese" Would Be
More Appropriate For Our Flock.
[pic/shop: MilleLacsImpressions] 

Miraculously, I found each and every nesting site as they were created, and have deduced the laying cycle as well. We're retrieving an average of 10 eggs a week from six females. The opportunity for egg poaching by the dogs is at an all-time low. Maggie is miffed.

About a week before egg-laying started in earnest, Spouse fenced off the side and front garden beds, for in past years there were unholy 4:00 AM squabbles/shrieks over nesting spots under two of the rosemary bushes - one of those bushes being under our bedroom window. A third creeping rosemary bush on the far corner of the house was left out of the fencing equation, logic being:

1. it had never been used as a nest before, and 
2. it appeared to be too small for them to scoot under and lay eggs. 

There is no appealing to logic when it comes geese.

They have chewed an opening into/underneath the rosemary canopy and created a cozy little nesting spot. At this point, it is too late to fence it off, as the geese will find ways to dislodge or even literally climb the fence in order to get into an established site. Since it's just one nest close to the house - most of the girls have created nests elsewhere - the 4:00 AM squabbles are happening "only" every other night or so.

I'm counting out the sleeping pills. If I time it right, I may have enough to last the season.