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[Edramon]

Hi all, having some issues in my current fort with food production. Quite a few years in.

I've not played for a couple of years and it's my first time in a Terrifying biome so there's probably tons wrong but I had a quick play before I started the current game and nest boxes were ok there.

Main problem is my geese haven't reproduced (or even layed regularly) since embarking. Brought two geese and a gander, none are gay or asexual according to Dwarf Therapist.
In the temporary starting fort I made, one laid eggs once that I saw and they weren't fertilized.
When I moved them to a new pasture in the proper fortress, there was one more batch of unfertilized eggs.
I had them spend a year or so with the door locked to no effect. No eggs at all, no miasma from unfert ones rotting - I just might as well not have geese. There's a blue peahen that's someone's pet occasionally producing eggs, but I have no male.

We're sealed inside. Last few caravans all got slaughtered by an undead swamp titan.
The biome is re-animating, so almost everything outside or in the caverns is undead.

Currently trying to learn farming workflows to get flour and sugar - nothing is being cooked, presumably because I have no solid ingredients.

[delphonso]

Hmm. So, it's possible the geese laid some unfertilized eggs immediately, and if you haven't let dwarves collect those, the geese will not move or lay more eggs.

Nest boxes are claimed by a bird until either the eggs hatch or someone collects them. If they're unfertilized, they'll never hatch, so the bird just stays there forever. Let the dwarves run in and collect the eggs, cook 'em up, why not. You geese should nest again quickly. If you're paying attention to it, you can simply forbid the eggs in the nest box and then dwarves will collect the rest as a steady food source while you wait for the hatchlings.

If I misunderstood, let me know.

[Edramon]

Don't think it's that - about 4 years into the game and there's no eggs on any of the nest boxes.
Only ever seen two batches of goose eggs in total in that time.

If they were being laid but not fertilized I'd get it, but currently just feels like my geese are broken.
As mentioned went a decent time with the door locked, and at the end there were still no eggs and no baby geese.

Would having multiple species in the same pasture affect it? The blue peahen seems to be laying alright.

I might try separating them out and rebuilding the room.

[delphonso]

Is there a gander present?

Aye, deconstruct the nest boxes and try again. Mixed pastures aren't an issue, as I've experienced, as long as enough nest boxes are accessible in the pasture.

[Steedat]

This is minor, but it might help:

When I just want eggs for cooking, I designate a 1x1 pasture over each constructed nestbox and assign one egg-layer to each. The bird stays there producing and doesn't have to search for a nest.

For breeding I designate a larger pasture that covers all the nestboxes and assign both males and females to it. May be a bug, but this is the only way I can get eggs to be fertilized.

[Edramon]

Yes, there's a gander.
I'm posting from work, so I'll try re-arranging the pastures and nest boxes when I get home.

Something needs to change in my fort before everyone starves - might just need to charge out and try to clear the undead at any cost so a caravan can get in soon.

[anewaname]

It wouldn't hurt to check your Stocks, as you may have a barrel of eggs somewhere.

[Eric Blank]

Have you tried deleting the pasture designation and locking them behind the door? Make the room smaller, like a 2x2 so they have no choice but the be in contact with one-another?

Your best bet might even be to try to cage trap some undead and throw them in a upright spike trap chamber to mince them to death and butcher them.

Do you have a soil layer you can dig a big empty space in and designate it for plant gathering? If you've breached the caverns mushrooms will grow in it, and you can grow some plump helmets