1 baby goose, what should I do?

[shelleyd2008]

I was going to get some more babies from holderreads in a week or so. The money I was expecting won't be here until at least July, so that means I won't be able to get the babies as planned.

I have the baby in with some ducks right now, but it looks like 1 gosling is all I'll have. A friend of mine has some baby geese, but not the same breed, and I don't want mixes. I'm afraid that if I get another baby goose as a buddy, they will 'pair-up' and stay that way.

So should I just keep this one baby with the ducks, until I am able to get some more of the same breed? Will it 'pair up' with a duck? Like, once I do get some more geese of the same breed, will it still stay with the ducks, or go with the geese? Not really sure what to do here!

 

[goosedragon]

Your choice, but I would try to get a goose buddy of the same age. If it happens to be of the opposite sex, well birth control in birds is fairly easy. How would you like to spend your life with a bunch of noisy, dirty, pygmys? The only thing worse is to be a lone goose with no companions!
(duck people I hope I didn't offend you too much with my discription of ducks but many have posted the equivalent about ducks here)

 

[achapra]

How much are the baby geese? Just wondering!

 

[shelleyd2008]

$5 a piece, but they are all mixes. She has brown and white chinese, embdens, and canadians. The babies are from the chinese and embdens, but they all run together. The canadians she has stick together, so there aren't any canadian mixed ones.

But I think that's what I'll do, get a chinese baby. I don't want embdens, they are too big!

 

[cici_p]

Oh no, Shelley I hope your baby is ok!! (the goose I mean, well, of course your son too!)
Kids definately need some help to develop empathy-- esp boys! I remember my brother taught me to pull the heads off grasshoppers when I was a kid. . .now he is a perfectly nice guy!

Really hope your goose does okay. . . I have one with the ducks, and it is perfectly happy. Only a problem I hear if they turn out to be male--then they can harm the ducks trying to mate with them. . .

 

[adrian]

On another note, I am glad to hear the little one is doing alright. Consider the experience an opportunity for your son to learn that baby birds are delicate and shouldn't be squeezed, and do not mean to harm him. While I do understand why children do that (especially boys, it would seem

), it sure is unfortunate when it comes out badly...

I hope you figure out whether / when to get your gosling a friend.

 

[shelleyd2008]

Quote:
Thanks adrian

I was going to get one off my friend the other day, but finances got real bad, real fast. I did, however, get my May egg swap eggs today....6 goose eggs.....

So if I don't manage to get a baby before she sells them all, I should have some in a month or so! But the baby goose's duck buddies are probably here to stay, they, and the goose for that matter, peep like crazy if they get seperated! And the ducks also seem to 'protect' the goose, if anyone goes into the 'brooder room' the ducks will surround the goose. It's very cute.

The ducks are growing like weeds, but the gosling isn't all that big? It's smaller than the ducks are, and the ducks are only 1 week older than the goose is.

 

[adrian]

Well, one week is quite a leap for ducklings. They get quite huge in one week. Geese do grow more slowly than ducklings, and take about three months to reach full size rather than just one. If the gosling is only a few days old, he will likely be smaller than week-old ducklings. If the gosling is eating and pooping well, all is well.

Congratulations on getting goose eggs! I'm incubating 9 of them myself and they are very healthy 11 day-olds. I'm going to be extremely careful with them, particularly during the hatch, and hope to secure all nine of them if at all possible. I have a few theories to test out that may result in a better hatch... We shall see...

Now, you have me longing for pictures of your babies.

 

[shelleyd2008]

The gosling is about 2 weeks old?? I think!

I can't remember for sure when 'she' hatched! There are a few pics of 'her' on here somewhere, I'll see if I can find them.

I hatched this one from eggs I got off vicki2x2. She sent 2 eggs, and both of them made it all the way to the end. The other gosling pipped the air sac and died, not sure what happened there.

I think it had to do with it pipping early? Or at least earlier than I expected. I believe it had pipped internally on day 26, cause it was already pipped inside when I went to move them to the hatcher. So with these eggs, I plan to stop turning them on day 26, just to be safe

Give them an extra couple days to get straightened out

Now if I could only figure out what kind of goose eggs I got!!

ETA: Pics!! And 'she' did hatch on the 7th, so I was just about right

Isn't it just the cutest?

 

[adrian]

You don't remember the breed?

Well, that amounts for a pretty good surprise, at least! A two-week old gosling should probably be bigger than ducklings a week older... But like I said, ducks are almost fully grown around a month or so of age... If you are feeding a low-protein feed (as is very advisable, as geese are primarily vegetarian and won't get a lot of protein as babies), growth will be slower, obviously. What breed is your little gosling?

As for pipping the air sac and dying... If there wasn't enough moisture loss, (humidity too high during incubation) it may have aspirated water from the air cell. It may have been disoriented by turning, or it may have been genetically weak or weakened by temperatures that (by the sound of it) were too high.

I'm going to stop turning on day 26, too.

Except, my snow geese will hatch on about day 25 (yes, they hatch so early!), so I guess that means I'll have to stop turning three or four days before that expected due date... Just to be safe... Keep me updated on all of your eggs and babies... Geese are a bit of a passion for me, and I want to see if I can perfect incubating and hatching them. A pretty daunting task.

Edit: just saw the pictures!
Oh my God, she is adorable!

I have such a weakness for goslings...