How about a Thread for Embdens?

[Miss Lydia]

I know most folks think of Embdens as just a good goose for



meat since its solid white and of good flesh but those of us that keep them for pets see something different. My Embden gander is 51/2 yrs old hatched here by a Muscovy duck he is just such a good all round member of this flock, this past summer did an awesome job of helping raise the Scovie ducklings that hatched here, we called him Papa Goose. he actually was more loving and caring than the mothers of the duckling. If you have Embdens and want to talk about them and of course pics well heres your chance. This is my guy.
His name is Samson, but we call him Sammy

 

[horsekeeper]

I candle goose eggs often... and mine normally take 30 days in the homemade incubator I have. Upon candling you will see the gosling in the air cell area once it has internally piped.. lock down doesn't have to happen until then.

I got one of those magicfly egg candlers and it is great. Very bright (reviewers say you can candle a marans egg with it) and stays cool. It has two different size rubbery ends that seal against the egg. I can put it against a goose egg without moving the egg out of the incubator and see everything I want to. The first batch of eggs was very active about a week ago, but now it's total blackout with a decent sized air cell and I can't see what they are doing. The air cell lights up nicely so I think I will be able to see internal pip when it happens.



They are in a Farm Innovator incubator that is styrofoam with a hard plastic shell. I ended up with one clear and 10 that look good. Have been using those for a couple of years now and they hold temp and humidity well. The second batch of 6 is in the Brinsea and all are developing veins. I will be using the FI as a hatcher because the Brinsea is all over the place when I try to raise the humidity.

Because it's so easy I candle every couple of days when I let them cool down for 10 minutes every night. They get misted every time they are turned because the fan and hot air heat in the house sucks the moisture right out. I did that last year with muscovy eggs and had a nice hatch. When researching embden incubation there were so many conflicting time frames and advice for incubation I was confused. Then when they started to wiggle a bit a whole week early I got concerned. The eggs are sitting on the little wire holders that go in the brinsea so they don't roll around after I turn them and they were rocking end to end after turning. I usually put as many sponges as needed inside at lockdown to get the humidity for that type of fowl.

 

[Miss Lydia]

Cant get any plain Niacin unless they are in B-Complex. Got some brewer's yeast though and have added it to a shallow dish of water for them. The breech birth gosling seems to have difficulty standing up and often rest with the legs splayed out at it's side (left gosling).

Yo8u need to fix this asap before it can't be fixed. Here is alot of reading but it will explain various was to hobble. This is for all poultry. B Complex would be fine but since you have brewers yeast and they will drink it use it. This is food grade brewers yeast right? Looks like you got a boy and a girl


Leg Hobbles to treat Splayed Leg

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** Splayed Leg needs to be treated ASAP and consistently!

CAUTIONS for treatment: A young chick wearing Leg Hobbles can't get up easily or stand easily. It can fall & drown if it stumbles near a water container. See "Prevent Drowning in Water Dish" section.
KEEP IN MIND: You need to help a chick daily by gently scratching itchy spots that the Leg Hobbles prevent it from reaching with its feet. If you don't scratch places for the chick like the back of its neck where it cannot scratch itself, it will be pretty miserable and can develop a terribly itchy, swollen welt from lack of normal skin stimulation.

Splayed Leg (also called "Splay Leg", "Spraddle Leg", and "Straddle Leg") occurs when a newborn chick younger than a week old is having trouble learning to stand and walking. While experimenting, the chick starts rotating one or both legs outwards at an incorrect angle. The chick rotates the leg so that foot points mostly to the side instead of forwards, and the chick often becomes sort of "knock-kneed" because the hock on the rotated leg almost touches the other hock. This leg problem may look like a birth defect or deformity, but often it is not to begin with.
Photos of a chick with one form of Splayed Leg
The rotated foot slips a lot when the chick tries to use it that way, so the chick will shift most of its weight onto the other straighter leg & mostly use that to support itself while standing, hopping along, or pushing itself along the ground. The chick may also push a wing out against the ground to help balance itself.
The chick usually shows problems in only one leg at first (the most rotated leg), but the straighter leg will also become deformed over time.

• VERY, VERY IMPORTANT: Check your bird to see if it also is suffering from Perosis (which can relate to nutritional deficiencies) and a Slipped Achilles Tendon.

Spraddle Leg is usually started by slippery flooring such as newspaper, but can be caused by hatching problems, high incubation temperatures, a painful leg or foot injury, a Slipped Achilles Tendon, or too many baby chicks being crowded in the brooder while learning to walk.
In a large number of cases, Spraddle Leg develops because of incorrect mental processing, rather than physical abnormalities. Even chicks that are born perfectly normal physically can develop Splay Leg in a non-optimal situation.

• THE BRAIN MUST LEARN ONLY CORRECT MOVEMENTS. You MUST prevent the chick from getting much experience at moving wrong or it will cement that movement in its brain and you won't be able to fix it.
  • When a chick is first figuring out how to move & walk, if normal movement efforts are unsuccessful or painful, the chick will experiment with alternate ways of moving. If it finds movements that are temporarily less painful or more effective, the chick will program its brain to move in the alternate ways, which quickly become habits which then cause muscles, ligaments and bones to become deformed by the unnatural positioning & pressures.

Leg Hobbles (also called "Hobble Braces") help keep a young chick from trying to incorrectly twist a hip and leg out sideways, by keeping a chicks' legs from spreading too far apart. These leg braces are made of material wrapped comfortably around each leg & connecting across the gap between the legs.

• Hobbles should be put on lower legs (below hocks) and allow enough room for the chick to stand with its legs just a little farther apart than normal standing position so chick can balance and practice walking.
• Hobbles can be made from a variety of materials:
  • White cloth-type sports tape is probably the most ideal, but you can use Band-Aids, Scotch tape, masking tape that has strong stickiness, etc. Be sure to see Special Note on Removing Tape from Legs.
    • For sensitive or feathered legs, put a little piece of paper towel (to cover the tape's stickiness) on just the section of the tape that wraps around the chick's legs. Yarn might be another good material to try--It helps minimize catching on fluff. Watch out for hobbles slipping too much
  • You can also use tiny plastic zip ties, leaving them a little bit loose for growth. You can tie the zip ties together with string & adjust length over time. This method may particularly be helpful for feather-legged birds.
  • You can make adjustable hobbles from Velcro. Make sure only soft side of material touches legs.
  • If you use a small elastic or hair-band in figure-8 around legs with tape wrapped around section between legs, there is greater chance of the hobbles slipping up on the legs, plus the band might stretch too much to be helpful enough.
• Make sure wraps around the legs are secure enough that they won't come untaped on their own nor slip up above the hock joint. Make sure that circulation isn't restricted, which you can sometimes detect if feet start looking reddish.
• Be sure to check & change Hobbles as needed at least every 2 days since a chick is growing fast and tape will quickly become too tight to allow growth & circulation.

Once the chick has Hobbles on, it will usually experiment with turning its legs forwards (like it should) instead of twisting one leg or both legs out to the side. The little chick will gradually wobble less and not use its wing for support as much, and will try stepping ahead. Once the chick learns that correct walking is the most effective motion and the chick reprograms its brain, you can begin leaving the Hobbles off.

• Leg Hobbles have the best chance of being effective if put on within 1 to 3 days of hatch, and usually correct Splayed Leg within 4 to 6 days of treatment in a newly hatched chick. If the chick is 4 days old or older when you start treatment, the chances for reprogramming the chick's brain are slim and the problem likely can't be cured.
• Do not leave hobbles off AT ANY TIME before the problem is cured (unless you want to sometimes take hobbles off while doing Physical Therapy).
• Continue to keep the Hobbles on most of the time for a minimum of 1/2 day after chick seems to be walking pretty correctly. Watch closely for a few days after & put Hobbles back on if chick needs help again.
• If you want to really help ensure continued recovery when chick seems better, instead of completely removing hobbles, at first just cut across the middle connecting section so legs can move freely for 2-5 hours. Then tape the middle section back together for 1-4 hours. Then completely remove hobbles (See Special Note on Removing Tape from Legs) if chick walks correctly, or repeat this process another time or two if needed.
• If you remove Hobbles too soon, the chick may revert to previous problem within a couple days. The older a chick is and the more time a chick spends using its legs wrong, the more difficult it is to fix this problem.

​

• If the chick wriggles out of Hobbles, use a single vertical wrap of sports tape (or masking tape or sticky section of band-aids) around the section between the two legs to more firmly tape the center section together.
• If chick keeps standing with its hocks too close together, you can experiment on added solutions. This may be especially needed for chicks 4 days old or older.
  • Physical Therapy can be a very helpful added treatment.
  • A technique that's proven some success: Add a second hobble on upper legs above hocks.
    • See "For feathered legs" below to deal with fluff on thighs.
  • A technique you may test out: Reinforce center section of brace to add extra stiffness to help keep legs apart. Use extra sports tape wrapped vertically, pipe cleaners, thin piece of taped-on cardboard, etc.
  • • You need to be extra careful on tightness for these. Keep watch that it isn't so loose that it slips where it isn't supposed to be (such as slipping over hocks) nor so tight that it cuts into muscle.
  • You SHOULD NOT try to correct long-time twisted legs or severely twisted feet in ADULT BIRDS. (Although, kinks in toes can sometimes be gradually corrected if the foot hasn't become too twisted.) Adults' bones have finished developing & hardened--it would be unsuccessful & very painful to try making any significant changes. Changes would also throw off balance, and adults are extremely likely to persist in trying to walk in habitual distorted way which will re-create and worsen the deformities.

Fix Slipped Achilles Tendon in Hock Joint

 

[Miss Lydia]

I just saw another thread where someone was sharing their Embden, i hope they will post pics here so we can keep them all together, Here is my boy at the back door


He is always looking for a hand out.

 

[JulieNKC]

They are all so pretty, They remind me so much of young children always getting into something and then looking around like they haven't done anything wrong when you catch them at it. LOL I think most geese are that way, it's so endearing of them too. And those blue eyes.

Love the blue eyes too, and the geese do remind me of toddlers. Maybe that's why mine get along with my kids so well.

Why Miss Lydia, I think this is an awesome idea!

Unfortunately, right now this is the only current picture I have. Guess I'm going to have to get the camera out and get to work, lol.

What a pretty flock!

I remember when Squishy was born. It was a special occasion! Love the pics.
Haunted, you have a very pretty flock. Love the mix.

Yes, I remember too. I've loved seeing him grow up, can't wait for the next generation of Squishys.

I love sharing pictures of my girls. Greta is molting right now and has been quite grumpy about it, Marina is still laying the occasional egg. I write about them quite a bit on my blog, they have to be my most favorite of the animals we have. I was hoping that Greta would grow in white feathers after her molt, but it looks like they are going to stay grey.






I literally have hundreds of pictures of these two and they are only a year old.

Pretty pictures. I like the gray wings, kind of striking having that flash of color there.

 

[Miss Lydia]

Jerry asked "Does she put chocolate on their pillows?"

MIght have to check into that next year... I dont have the electrical ability to add anything else to their pens right now and water is more important then hot food

I would put chocolate on their pillows but it causes cavities if you eat too much plus they'd be going around saying does my butt look big.

 

[Miss Lydia]

I have 4 ducks and just one goose. They get along famously and the goose seems happy. I am not sure if the goose thinks she's a duck, if she thinks the ducks are just funny looking geese or if all of them just think they are weird looking cats. I say cats because they will actively seek out my one outdoor cat, sit in the sun with her and preen! They won't sit in the sun unless it's with the cat. Otherwise, it's shade all the way. They don't give a fig about the dogs unless they get too near food or treats or the almighty pool... then they will run the dogs off!

I have a drake who we raised in the house because his mama didn't want him when he hatched, He was with our dogs for his first 3 months of his life inside, He got to be with the ducks outside when we were with him, but I swear he thought he was a dog.

 

[Miss Lydia]

They´re doing great.
We went out today, and when we got home I found that 2 of the goslings had managed to find a gap under the fence of their pen and were happily swanning around with dad, while the mom was inside with the other two looking rather concerned, wanting her babies back. So I popped them back in with her, fed them and fixed the gap. I expect the cat pushed under it, pest. But the gander was there, looking so very proud of himself! He looked decidedly put out when I put them back with mom! I´ll try to get a big pic on the other thread tomorrow when the internet is working faster.

Look forward to seeing them. I would love for Sam to be a daddy again, he was so sweet to the ducklings he raised.

 

[psue]

So Miss Lydia -- I am thinking of adding a heat lamp for my shed for the really cold months of Jan-March here. Do they just use a regular outlet? (There is an old lightbulb and fixture there already but of course it does not work.... this is a house over 100 years old! LOL!)

I'm in Missouri and winter night temps all below freezing and often below 0*F no heat needed just a place without drafts and a thick layer of dry bedding to let them warm up. Be aware that heat lights can be a fire hazard. Wonderful friends on here lost their barn last winter and all of their animals. I would hate to see it happen to someone else.

 

[livininbrazil]

Maybe put a large doghouse outside for them? I am new to raising a goose-- but don't like the thought of them shivering cold..... Here is one I just added for Joey, and she is going inside it to get to her dry food now (I shoved it back a ways so she has to go inside it!) What do the experts on this site think?
Good luck~

Spot on, Kalsti (not claiming to be expert, by the way..)