2 days to go to hatch and goose broke egg.

[livininbrazil]

Hi, just in case anyone is following the story, I decided to put the goslings in the pen with the goose and gander during the day, which was good. In the evening, though, the goose flew out and went back to her empty nest, so I got the goslings and put them in their crate indoors. This happened 3 nights, then the 4th night she settled with them. She´s had them with her for 2 days and nights now, about to start the 3rd night, all is quiet. The tiny gosling gets right up into her feathers, the bigger one stays under the wing, is looking good. The pen is about 15sq metres on grass, they have a little pool as they´re with the parents, and I put Brewers yeast in their water, though not every day, and avian vit drops, some crushed corn, the chick crumb, though they don´t eat much of either of these, they love the grass. The gander is so great, I sit in there with them, pick them up and he stands really close, watching, but doesn´t get at all aggressive, which is quite amazing since he came from free-ranging on a big farm. It´s so enjoyable. And my neighbour loves me as I buy all her lettuce! So far they are strong and doing well. I have a feeling that they´re both girls, though, due to their colouring. My trio are auto-sexing birds, my 3 other geese seem to have some saddle-back connection, blue eyes, interesting thing is that the goslings are from another auto-sexing gander and the saddle-back type geese, and the 2 goslings look just like pilgrim or solid cotton patch female goslings, no saddle-back pattern at all, I´m wondering if the 3 geese are also from auto-sexing saddle-back breed origins due to the look of the goslings. Intriguing stuff, and the under-goose is sitting on 6 eggs, so when the hatch time comes, I shall pen her in with her youngsters and keep a close eye. Maybe I´ll get some males that I can put in the mix. 2 of the goslings that died were males, such a shame. Out of the saddle-backs I need a male to put with the under-goose, and out of the under-goose i need 2 males to put with the 2 extra saddle-back females and 2 more to put with the goslings that have hatched now....will probably hatch out more females! Well, whatever, I hope I have more success with the next ones..... We´re about to enter spring, the warmer night-time weather may help! Hoping things will go smoother now....

 

[RURU]

Glad to hear the mother finally is taking care of the goslings. Hope the weather is warming up there because baby goslings need to be in warm conditions to not get chilled and die.

 

[chooks4life]

Quote: In my experience it is far more often the animals raised under intensive or continually caged conditions that become aggressive, not the free ranged ones.

Thanks for the update, it's good to hear it's going well. Best wishes.

 

[livininbrazil]

Thanks for your help and experience everyone, much valued. I imagined that birds not used to people would be more wary, but what you say makes sense, there´s that respect thing, and I think they´ve learned to trust me as they´re very different to when they first arrived. Very nice feeling. My 3 I raised form tiny goslings have always been good-tempered, but then they´ve never been shut up in a small space, since they were 3 months they´ve been free-range, and now it´s delightful as I can sit in with the goslings and they´ll be used to me too. I´ve learned a lot from this rough ride of losing goslings and hope I can avoid it happening again. I have so many muscovy ducklings, not one problem, they wander over the fields of three farms! And they all come back at night, not lost one. Chicks, no problem....even managed to raise turkeys, but this year the geese......! That´s it, I´m off to play with my birds!

 

[livininbrazil]

Well, the rain has started, and I´m really pleased that mother goose is being very attentive to the tiddler, which was out in the rain eating, and although he now has some oil protection from the goose, I was a bit concerned that he could get chilled. so then there she was, called him into the shelter with her and the other gosling and the dad. The older gosling is 6 weeks or so, and has just started to grow its feathers,so has a tiny bit of protection now, (interesting that the goslings take ages to feather up here compared to some, maybe because of the climate?) but tiddler at 2 and half weeks is still all fluff, so seems the mum is doing well with them. I can see their pen from my window, and no sign of geese. Well, not that family anyway, I can see the others having a great time, as it´s coming to the end of the dry season and they´re having a party out there! The gooseberry is sitting tight on the 6 eggs, I´ll pen her in and keep na eye on how she does with any goslings that hatch, and one of the 3 sisters has started laying again, so I´ll do the same with her to avoid any interference from the others. I don´t know yet if it´s gander No. 2´s favourite goose or the second favourite. I have a feeling it´s the second favourite, so she can stay in there on her own, or I can imagine the problem starting all over again....I´ll have fences popping up all over the place!

 

[chooks4life]

lol I hope it goes well. Always the unexpected occurs.

Do you keep an animal journal? I have found it's invaluable. I record everything pertinent and some things I think aren't but later usually turn out to be important. It's amazing how much more you notice in hindsight with more knowledge and experience under your belt. It helps me guide my breed plan, keep track of bad traits both genetic and behavioral, and so forth. If you're not keeping a written record, and better yet one that's accompanied by a photographic record, then I highly recommend you do.

Best wishes to you and your flock.

 

[livininbrazil]

What a good idea, thanks for all your input, Chooks...it´s very useful to me. For instance, I remember so much about the first 3 goslings that I bought, hand-reared them with absolutely no problems. I can still remember what I did with them, plenty of chick-crumb and lettuce. Then last year I left it up to the geese, no probs,plenty of grass..... but I have to think hard..what has been different this year...I already know some things that have changed, what a good idea to write it all down, because for sure I´ll not remember THIS year with all that´s happened. Thanks

 

[chooks4life]

You're welcome and I hope it's as handy to you as it has been to me. In retrospect, with the help of my animal journal, I can trace back issues that I had no early knowledge of throughout the generations. It's been invaluable. You could even start a thread on this forum recording your experiences. I'm sure many would find it useful.

Best wishes.

 

[livininbrazil]

I´ve started a journal. Not on BYC, I´ll have to think about that one.
I´m so intrigued with my geese, as 4 appear to be an auto-sexing breed or mix of auto-sexing breeds, (there doesn´t seem to be a Brazilian Settlers Goose yet!) but auto-sexing for sure, going by the results last year. But my 3 blue-eyed saddle-back-type geese that are unknown breed/mixed breed are breeding with the son of the auto-sexing ones. As it´s their first year of serious breeding, so I popped some of their eggs under the auto-sexings. I did post a question on here about them, as I´m sure the older gosling that I have now came from a saddle-back egg, and yet she looks just like an auto-sexing pilgrim or cotton-, (my geese aren´t quite either) she´s grey with white feathers coming through on her face, so my question was; would that make my saddle-backs possible offspring of auto-sexing stock, too.....well, Idon´t think I put my question very well in the thread, going by the anser (funny, as we´re talking geese, I mean "answer") I got,...I know what I mean!! So, if I keep a journal I´ll be able to reference back to what begat what, and work it out for myself. Intriguing stuff.

 

[Miss Lydia]

I´ve started a journal. Not on BYC, I´ll have to think about that one.
I´m so intrigued with my geese, as 4 appear to be an auto-sexing breed or mix of auto-sexing breeds, (there doesn´t seem to be a Brazilian Settlers Goose yet!) but auto-sexing for sure, going by the results last year. But my 3 blue-eyed saddle-back-type geese that are unknown breed/mixed breed are breeding with the son of the auto-sexing ones. As it´s their first year of serious breeding, so I popped some of their eggs under the auto-sexings. I did post a question on here about them, as I´m sure the older gosling that I have now came from a saddle-back egg, and yet she looks just like an auto-sexing pilgrim or cotton-, (my geese aren´t quite either) she´s grey with white feathers coming through on her face, so my question was; would that make my saddle-backs possible offspring of auto-sexing stock, too.....well, Idon´t think I put my question very well in the thread, going by the anser (funny, as we´re talking geese, I mean "answer") I got,...I know what I mean!! So, if I keep a journal I´ll be able to reference back to what begat what, and work it out for myself. Intriguing stuff.

livin do you mind me asking are you a native Brazilian? If so are geese popular there as pets or more for food? or both? lol