1 baby goose, what should I do?

[shelleyd2008]

The gosling that I have is an American Blue. 'She' is being fed 20% flock raiser right now, as per instructions I got from metzer farms last month. I and some others went in on a gosling order, but I had to back out. The goslings were still shipped to me, so I studied the instructions pretty good. It said to lower the feed to 15% at 3 weeks, so that's the plan. I think the gosling is about the same size as the ducklings, they aren't super huge comparatively, but it is smaller.

As for the eggs I got? The monthly swaps are always a big secret. If you are lucky, your swap buddy will send you the info on them. I don't even know who sent them, as they didn't put their screen name in there anywhere. Maybe, if I beg enough, they'll have mercy on me and let me know, but as for now, it's a toss up!

Very nerve racking!!

 

[adrian]

Quote:
Well, you can at least narrow it down to light, medium, or heavy breed by the size. My pilgrim eggs are small compared to my african eggs. I could probably run around and show you how they measure up to a large, store-bought chicken egg.

American blue, I assume, is like an American buff only grey... Or "blue" as they say.

American buffs are big geese. Unless your ducks are huge, that's a bit weird.

 

[shelleyd2008]

Yeah, I guess the blues are a derivitive (big word, sorry

) of the buffs, but I thought buffs were considered mediums? The eggs I got today are about as big as the eggs that this baby hatched from.

The gosling was about the same size as the ducklings when it hatched, and they were a week old. It was a little smaller, but not much. Judging by that, I guess it is probably right on track, I just thought they got bigger faster.

The eggs I got today, and the buff/blue eggs I had before, would fit 4 across, end-to-end, in my hovabator, if that says anything. I had them in with a whole bunch of other eggs, mostly duck eggs, and had taken one of the turner racks out of the turner in order to lay the goose eggs in there. They fit one rack's width across, and 4 eggs, end-to-end.

These look just like the others I have had, all blues and buffs (before).

 

[adrian]

Quote:
Yes, buffs are considered medium geese, but they can still reach 18 pounds. The only truly heavy weight geese are dewlap toulouse, africans, and embdens, so... Yes, they are still large geese, just not huge.

I'm curious to see how many eggs I can fit across my hovabator, end to end... I think I'll have to go do that...

If the gosling was smaller than the ducklings upon hatching, it does sound about right.

 

[shelleyd2008]

Yeah, basically like it was when it hatched, it's a little smaller, but not too awfully much. I just expected the gosling to outgrow the ducklings fairly quickly, but if that sounds right, then I guess it should be all right.

I really didn't want geese that were huge, so I guess these will do. The smallest that I know of (that I would be able to get fairly easily) are chinese, and I have heard that those are pretty aggressive. I chose the americans because they are supposed to be pretty docile, and they aren't white. I'm pretty skittish of white geese, those darned embdens can be mean!!

Seems like everyone I knew growing up had them, I was never bitten, but I was charged quite a few times! My oldest son just about lost an eye from one when he was two. I think the goose missed biting him directly in the eye by 1/2 an inch

 

[adrian]

Oh, wow. That must have been terrifying. I raised an embden, myself, and he was the most vicious animal I have ever owned. However, you should look into pilgrims. Everyone I know adores the pilgrims they own, they are sexually dimorphic, smaller than Americans, (12-14 pounds) and are known to be personable and docile. Only the males are white.

I will likely smother you with pictures when my babies do hatch. Africans are pretty loud and huge, but I know so many people who say they are gentle giants, so I'm going to see what becomes of them.

I've heard good things about Americans, though, so you'll probably get a pretty sweet goose. Especially if your gosling is female.

 

[Cottage Rose]

Quote:
Geese do not necessarily "pair up" when they are young (that comes later during the breeding season next spring) and they don't bond for life like wild geese do.
This is a misconception about domestic geese, that they have to be in pairs and bond for life. Domestic geese are not monogamous. I have 3 geese to one gander in my breeding pens and while they may have favorites the ganders breed them all.
Your gosling will be fine with the ducks until you get more geese.
I wouldn't bother getting a breed you don't want.

 

[adrian]

It's rather strange that monogamy was bred out of domestic geese... It surely does seem more convenient to have three or four geese to each gander, but it's rarely seen in the wild. Although, as I am quite the snow goose fanatic, I will say snow geese often breed in trios. They nest in huge colonies and are thus some of the most social geese I have come across. Do you think selective breeding eliminated this trait, or does the greylag goose mate with a few different partners?

I just had a thought - do you think if one kept an even number of ganders and geese, all together, they would naturally pair up with a chosen mate and be monogamous? Is monogamy not seen in domestic geese simply because survival instincts kick in when there is only one gander, and the geese would be otherwise alone?

 

[shelleyd2008]

I have heard of geese being paired, so I think it's just due to the fact that most people don't keep pairs. Like with guinea fowl, if you have more than 1:1 ratio, the males will take more females, but if you have even numbers male and female, they will choose one mate and that's that. I am planning on keeping pairs, cause I thought all geese did pair up. I more or less have 'pairs' of ducks, though they aren't together as such. But I have 1 more female than I do males, so technically there are pairs out there. One male has 4 females, one female has 2 males, then there are 3 females and 4 males in the other group. Eventually I'll get them straightened out, but not yet

 

[adrian]

Quote:
That's what I assumed – that the birds will breed with more than one other bird if necessary but would not do so if the gender ratios were even. It's a survival mechanism, most likely. If the species was dwindling, males would have to mate with as many females as possible so as to rear as many offspring as possible. In that situation, it would be illogical to do anything else. But in the wild, birds of all species are generally happier to pair off with one other bird.