2017 Gosling Hatch a long!!

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Nice looking group. Has mama goose decided she likes her ducklings?

I gave Missy some Runner eggs back in the spring because she was acting like she was wanting to sit but she changed her mind I don't think she had the hormones for brooding since she didn't lay any eggs this year. Have you ever had a goose this young stop laying? She was 5 this past April.
 
So far our goose is being a wonderful mom to the ducklings. :)

While I've had chickens and ducks stop laying completely, I've not had any geese completely stop before. My 5yo geese have not tapered off laying, but my oldest geese who are 7-8yo only lay a handful of eggs now.
 
I am completely baffled by her. She is healthy and they breed just like normal she just didn't lay any eggs. She even acted like she wanted to sit but it didn't last.

That is great mama goose loves her ducklings. Sam my gander use to love Muscovy ducklings before Missy came on the scene. lol
 
It does seem strange for Missy to stop laying so early. I have a friend with a 20yo goose that still lays a few eggs each season. But I wouldn't worry about it if she is otherwise healthy, especially since laying season is over. Last year/this year was very weird for our geese in terms of laying patterns, so it could just be a weird year for her. Really hope next year will resume to normal. I have buff dewlap breeding plans to rebuild my otherwise aging flock.
 
How many do you have left from your original rescue?

I am very relieved breeding season is over boy my gander is such a sweet boy when breeding season isn't going on but boy when it is.
 
From that one big rescue mission, we have 2 white africans, BW, the mother goose, and 10 dewlaps left, including Blind Girl. Sadly the dewlaps have been passing over the last year, and many of the remaining are in senior status. Luckily I have a nice unrelated trio in 2nd generation that I will hatch from next year.

Agree that it is much nicer around here, too, with breeding season over.
 
While this is a duck story, it is also a continuation of 2017 hatching season at my place. Two weeks ago, one of our domestic ducks hatched a pair of adorable babies. Another one of our ducks was expecting to hatch a few days later, but sadly a predator wiped out her nest at hatch time. Meanwhile, momma duck not the most attentive mom so the other duck decided to adopt the babies. Now both ducks are raising the babies together (with actual momma more part-time), and the ducklings clearly view the other duck as momma now, which makes that duck very happy.

That is how this season has gone. We've had domestic geese raising an orphaned wild gosling, a domestic goose hatching and raising a muscovy duckling, goslings getting trampled and rejected by goose momma only to be adopted by another goose pair, and now baby ducklings bonding with another duck even with their momma right there. :confused:
 

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