Goslings of 2014 Hatch-a-long

[ChickDancer]

I had a cockerel try to mate with the African goslings when they were 5 weeks old. Same cockerel also blinded one of my BR pullets, so into the stew pot he went. He was tasty too! My current head rooster tries to garb the ladies behind the head (they are NOT impressed with his dancing yet), but he don't injure them and most times the ladies get away. At least he is only interested in chickens, he hasn't tried ducks or geese, thank goodness, lol.
I agree. I think I will wait.

I actually hatch out eggs year-round here in Georgia. Once the babies are dry, they are moved to an indoor brooder for about a week or so, until they have learned to RUN on those tiny little legs. Then they are moved to an outdoor brooder. It's essentially an old rabbit hutch with plywood on top and... a heat lamp in the corner that is covered with wood and shielded from wind. Of course, you don't want to have too many so the heat lamp can't warm them all. But if you have between 5 and 10 in there, they are fine.

The bottom of my "outdoor brooder" is welded wire with 1/2" spacing both ways, so poop can just drop down to the ground. However, I do tend to toss a piece of plywood in there to help give them something to stand on that isn't going to freeze (i.e. the metal wire).

As long as the heat lamp is 6 inches or more from the bottom, it won't actually start a fire. And the metal sides of the heat lamp rest against the wooden sides of the hutch without causing problems there, either.

 

[Starfire669]

Serv, I enjoyed all of the pics!!!  Your babies look great.  I'm with Miss Lydia.  Your buff Africans are my favorites.  But of course, I'm partial to buff.

My African is the 3/4 African, 1/4 Toulouse baby that you already knew about (the solo baby hatched by my favorite African goose).  He/she is getting big and is spoiled rotten by the parents. I will try to get a decent pic in a little bit to post.

Starfire, it is not uncommon for drakes to go after geese.  My hubby's drake is like that and it drives me nuts sometimes.  I love it when he picks on the wrong gander's girl and gets his butt kicked, but the drake never learns.  On the whole, my muscovy girls prefer to be with the geese than the domestic ducks.  I also have a female Muscovy that I named Weirdo because she refuses to hang out with the muscovies and seems to have a thing for one of my buff dewlap ganders.   However, she must have found one of my drakes (I'm guessing my Ancona) to fertilize her eggs as she is the one that hatched out a trio of hinny ducklings last month.

I get that ducks sex drive is over the top. Ducks practice rape as part of their normal behavior, so it's not too far a stretch that they would got for a goose or other animal they thought was breed able. I think I was more surprised at my goose mounting my female duck. I don't know yet if Cream is goose or gander, so that makes it more confusing for me, lol.

My hope is that my ducks and geese stick to their own species when mature. I will have 1 drake, and 6 hens, and hopefully 2 ganders with 5/6 females. All depends on if Cream is goose or gander if I end up with trios, lol. Maybe, once the hormone surge calms down, they figure put who/what they should be breeding with. I don't want some weird mutant gucks or deese or whatever you would call them hatching.

 

[Starfire669]

I actually hatch out eggs year-round here in Georgia. Once the babies are dry, they are moved to an indoor brooder for about a week or so, until they have learned to RUN on those tiny little legs. Then they are moved to an outdoor brooder. It's essentially an old rabbit hutch with plywood on top and... a heat lamp in the corner that is covered with wood and shielded from wind. Of course, you don't want to have too many so the heat lamp can't warm them all. But if you have between 5 and 10 in there, they are fine.


The bottom of my "outdoor brooder" is welded wire with 1/2" spacing both ways, so poop can just drop down to the ground. However, I do tend to toss a piece of plywood in there to help give them something to stand on that isn't going to freeze (i.e. the metal wire).


As long as the heat lamp is 6 inches or more from the bottom, it won't actually start a fire. And the metal sides of the heat lamp rest against the wooden sides of the hutch without causing problems there, either.

That's a nice set up. I could brood mine in the garage, they way I brooded my first batch. But that was a lot of work, not sure I want to repeat that. Lol. I will think about it, I don't need more chickens right now, but do need to play with the Bator and learn how to properly incubate before the goose and ducks eggs arrive.

 

[8GeeseALaying]

Here are some pics i took of my lavender Tufted Toulouse. 15 taken and only 3 were good s/he wont stand still, hyper

 

[Starfire669]

Here are some pics i took of my lavender Tufted Toulouse. 15 taken and only 3 were good s/he wont stand still, hyper

 

[RURU]

Here are some pics i took of my lavender Tufted Toulouse. 15 taken and only 3 were good s/he wont stand still, hyper

8 that is such a different looking tufted gosling. Very lovely....

 

[8GeeseALaying]

[COLOR=FF3333]8 that is such a different looking tufted gosling. Very lovely....[/COLOR]

Thank you Ruru. It is like nothing ive ever hatched. The more i look at it the more i think its a lavender version of my Stormy, tufted x chinese and not a toulouse. Time will tell though. If it is a chinese X then its Stormy's full sibling. I have to wait to see if the neck stripe comes in. Either way its staying. I do have a lavender tufted toulouse in the younger bunch and a regular gray colored tufted toulouse.

 

[Pyxis]

Here are some pics i took of my lavender Tufted Toulouse. 15 taken and only 3 were good s/he wont stand still, hyper

So gorgeous!

 

[RURU]

Thank you Ruru. It is like nothing ive ever hatched. The more i look at it the more i think its a lavender version of my Stormy, tufted x chinese and not a toulouse. Time will tell though. If it is a chinese X then its Stormy's full sibling. I have to wait to see if the neck stripe comes in. Either way its staying. I do have a lavender tufted toulouse in the younger bunch and a regular gray colored tufted toulouse.

You are welcome 8. I know when I see a gosling I like I will tell you. That is a different and unique one.

 

[8GeeseALaying]

It is sure unique. Im not sure what its color will be exactly so thats why im calling it a lavender for now. Wing feathers are coming in and one wing is light gray the other is light gray tipped with black. S/he is 5 wks old another couple weeks and it should be fully feathered.