2017 Gosling Hatch a long!!

[Miss Lydia]

Hello everyone! I have a pair of Sebastopol - a two year old white female (Lucy) and a one year old grey and white female (Ziggy) that was sold to me as a gander. Our 2 year old female went broody on a nest of infertile eggs, so today I purchased 7 pilgrim / buff mixed eggs for a dollar a piece for her to sit on. Lucy exhibits very strong maternal instincts and is the dominant bird of our flock. Ziggy has been helping maintain the nest, bringing Lucy straw and grass and even down feathers, and otherwise has been keeping Lucy company. I look forward to hopefully having goslings in a month!
My question is this - will Lucy be able to raise her babies without a gander? Will I need to keep the goslings separated from Ziggy and our mixed flock of ducks and chickens? I plan on keeping them separate during their newborn, delicate stage no matter what, but I wasn't sure if I would need to continue separating them until they are large. Thanks everybody!

I think Ziggy would really be hurt if you didn't let her help Lucy raise those goslings.. They will do a great job together. But I do agree with you to keep the mamas and goslings separate from the rest of the flock till at least 2-3 weeks. Then they will be sturdy and Mama Lucy and aunt Ziggy will keep them protected from everyone else.
{Only thing I see that could go wrong is if Lucy and Ziggy started fighting over the eggs or goslings when they hatch, but sounds like they a very close so hopefully that won't happen.}
Keep us updated.

 

[sryglet]

I think Ziggy would really be hurt if you didn't let her help Lucy raise those goslings.. They will do a great job together.  But I do agree with you to keep the mamas and goslings separate from the rest of the flock till at least 2-3 weeks. Then they will be sturdy and Mama Lucy and aunt Ziggy will keep them protected from everyone else.
{Only thing I see that could go wrong is if Lucy and Ziggy started fighting over the eggs or goslings when they hatch, but sounds like they a very close so hopefully that won't happen.} 
Keep us updated.

Thank you for the info! I can't wait to update everyone with (hopefully) fertile eggs! When they hatch, I'll keep a close eye on Ziggy and make sure she's a good goose mom just to be safe.. But the ladies are great friends so I hope they'll do wonderfully together

 

[GeeGi]

Hello everyone! I have a pair of Sebastopol - a two year old white female (Lucy) and a one year old grey and white female (Ziggy) that was sold to me as a gander. Our 2 year old female went broody on a nest of infertile eggs, so today I purchased 7 pilgrim / buff mixed eggs for a dollar a piece for her to sit on. Lucy exhibits very strong maternal instincts and is the dominant bird of our flock. Ziggy has been helping maintain the nest, bringing Lucy straw and grass and even down feathers, and otherwise has been keeping Lucy company. I look forward to hopefully having goslings in a month!
My question is this - will Lucy be able to raise her babies without a gander? Will I need to keep the goslings separated from Ziggy and our mixed flock of ducks and chickens? I plan on keeping them separate during their newborn, delicate stage no matter what, but I wasn't sure if I would need to continue separating them until they are large. Thanks everybody!

I would be careful with the male, mine attacked a new gosling and hurt the little thing. He couldn't walk and I thought his leg was broken. As far as I can tell from feeling both legs there's no break. I cut a Q-tip in half wrapped it with cotton and taped up his leg and foot. He is doing much better today!

 

[Miss Lydia]

I would be careful with the male, mine attacked a new gosling and hurt the little thing. He couldn't walk and I thought his leg was broken. As far as I can tell from feeling both legs there's no break. I cut a Q-tip in half wrapped it with cotton and taped up his leg and foot. He is doing much better today!

I am so sorry this happened was this a gosling you gave to your pair or was this one they hatched?

 

[GeeGi]

I am so sorry this happened was this a gosling you gave to your pair or was this one they hatched? 

I bought them and they're over 2 weeks old now and love the outdoors so I always take them out when it's warm. Leonardo is being extremely aggressive the last 3 days, he wouldn't give up when I was changing water in the pool. He came at me 4 times and after the 3rd time I was done throwing him in the pool and turned off the water so it still isn't filled...well it could be with the rain we had last night. He is actually trying to attack me through my door today, it seems the more I take him down the more determined he is to get me. I think next time I'm dragging his butt inside, putting a sock over his mouth and sticking him in dog cage. He needs to be grounded a bit. LOL Seriously though I have no idea what is happening with him but if he even gets close to these little ones again I'm going to smack him with a newspaper or something that makes loud noise. Any suggestions?

 

[Pyxis]

I bought them and they're over 2 weeks old now and love the outdoors so I always take them out when it's warm. Leonardo is being extremely aggressive the last 3 days, he wouldn't give up when I was changing water in the pool. He came at me 4 times and after the 3rd time I was done throwing him in the pool and turned off the water so it still isn't filled...well it could be with the rain we had last night. He is actually trying to attack me through my door today, it seems the more I take him down the more determined he is to get me. I think next time I'm dragging his butt inside, putting a sock over his mouth and sticking him in dog cage. He needs to be grounded a bit. LOL Seriously though I have no idea what is happening with him but if he even gets close to these little ones again I'm going to smack him with a newspaper or something that makes loud noise. Any suggestions?

Have you read the dealing with aggressive ganders thread? Because it sounds like you need to put him in his place using goose language to get the point across. I can link it for you if you need it

 

[GeeGi]

Have you read the dealing with aggressive ganders thread? Because it sounds like you need to put him in his place using goose language to get the point across. I can link it for you if you need it

I think I need to put him in obedience school! I love this place, they have a thread for everything it sounds like!!! I will check it out, didn't even think to look. Thank you so much!!!

 

[Pyxis]

I think I need to put him in obedience school! I love this place, they have a thread for everything it sounds like!!! I will check it out, didn't even think to look. Thank you so much!!!

You're welcome! It's in the stickies section of the goose forum here. Let me know if you need a link

 

[Miss Lydia]

I bought them and they're over 2 weeks old now and love the outdoors so I always take them out when it's warm. Leonardo is being extremely aggressive the last 3 days, he wouldn't give up when I was changing water in the pool. He came at me 4 times and after the 3rd time I was done throwing him in the pool and turned off the water so it still isn't filled...well it could be with the rain we had last night. He is actually trying to attack me through my door today, it seems the more I take him down the more determined he is to get me. I think next time I'm dragging his butt inside, putting a sock over his mouth and sticking him in dog cage. He needs to be grounded a bit. LOL Seriously though I have no idea what is happening with him but if he even gets close to these little ones again I'm going to smack him with a newspaper or something that makes loud noise. Any suggestions?

I have never had to deal with this type of aggression towards a gosling. My gander was pretty passive with the goslings I bought he took his que from Missy his mate once she got over losing her gosling she took right to the 2 I brought home. And he was always tender to the Muscovy ducklings before he had a mate of his own. Maybe Leonardo doesn't quite know what to do with these lil ones since he doesn't have his mate to guide him. Maybe @Pyxis has some ideas?Isn't his mate brooding?

@GeeGi

 

[GeeGi]

I have never had to deal with this type of aggression towards a gosling.  My gander was pretty passive with the goslings I bought he took his que from Missy his mate once she got over losing her gosling she took right to the 2 I brought home. And he was always tender to the Muscovy ducklings before he had a mate of his own. Maybe Leonardo doesn't quite know what to do with these lil ones since he doesn't have his mate to guide him. Maybe @Pyxis
   has some ideas?Isn't his mate brooding? 

@GeeGi

Lucy goes in her house, lays the egg and out she goes. Laverne stays in at least 2 hours and one day was in more than out and I thought she was finally going to sit but i guess she couldn't handle Leonardo and Lucy mating so it ended. They started laying eggs the first week of February and still will not try to hatch. I gave up and bought an incubator.