2 days to go to hatch and goose broke egg.

[Miss Lydia]

p.s. the undergoose is due to hatch her eggs from tomorrow (day 28), so far so good..........She´s in her own pen which is inside the goose enclosure, and she has 6 eggs. I´ve not candled them, but I expect some will hatch. The little family is free-range now, the tiny one has turned a month old, and at night they all sit up as close as poss to the fence where the undergoose is sitting! But I´ll keep her in her pen (it´s a big one) until the goslings are 3 or 4 weeks, then they can all go around together. here´s hoping........

looking forward to seeing the lil ones.

 

[livininbrazil]

Hi Ruru.
Yes, last year I went to check on the goose, day 28, and there were already 3 very new goslings in the nest! This year day30 was the later hatched gosling. Interestingly, both the surviving goslings were 30- and 29-day hatches, the last of the hatch. Their siblings had already hatched at least a day earlier. Maybe it´s the Brazilian weather!

I hadn´t thought about it before...normally we expect the late hatches to be the weak ones, don´t we, but this year it was the earlier goslings didn´t make it. Maybe coincidence, as all of them survived last year. Can´t quite figure it out, but this year when I took the survivors in for me to rear for a bit, they came on leaps and bounds. I think, just guessing, that the parents ran them off their little feet, and they couldn´t eat enough. When I put the chick-crumb down there, the parents would call them away and go grazing all over the place. And in the stream, but there´s not really anything to eat in the stream, just plenty of grit! When I picked up the little bodies of the dead ones they were very light.

When i gave the 2 singletons back to the parents I fenced them in on good grass for 2/3 weeks, Now they´re free-ranging and doing really well. The younger gosling leads the family, so I know she´s getting enough to eat. She´s is a lump! So podgy compared to the ones that had died. They still get chick-crumb every day with Brewers Yeast. So, I´ve fenced in my other 2 sitting geese, and will keep them fenced with their goslings for a few weeks, I´ll be able to control the feeding better, and then let them go with the others when they´ve grown a bit. Live and learn!

Funny story, the goslings are learning to bully everything around, taking lessons from mum and dad. My other geese even run from the tinies! So, yesterday older gosling decided to send muscovy duck on her way, but muscovy duck thinks "little upstart", and chases her off taking a few feathers out of her tail! Oh, that gosling had such a surprise! Ran, tripped over, what a come-uppance! The gander chased the duck, of course, but nothing much. Gosling picked herself up and limped along a bit, seemed embarrassed! So funny. She only limped for a minute, by the way. Reminded me of a teenager! i think she´s not going to be such a bully now!

 

[livininbrazil]

looking forward to seeing the lil ones.

Will post pics if all goes well, goose incubation is a little less precise science than artificial, but I find it exciting. And then, at times extremely disappointing! Like with the muscovies...usually they hatch out mostly females, but this last hatch, I can´t believe that she hatched only 1 female and 5 males! And the males are all gorgeous, the females is just plain white!

 

[Miss Lydia]

Will post pics if all goes well, goose incubation is a little less precise science than artificial, but I find it exciting. And then, at times extremely disappointing! Like with the muscovies...usually they hatch out mostly females, but this last hatch, I can´t believe that she hatched only 1 female and 5 males! And the males are all gorgeous, the females is just plain white!

Was this the same mama duck? But all whites have the beautiful blue eyes.

 

[chooks4life]

Quote: Yeah, they're from Africa and Asia. We already have the banteng running feral here, as with many deer species, and I'm pretty sure Gaur would totally reverse their slide into extinction if they were "ranched" here. (Sounds better than the Aussie equivalent, which is "stationed").

Australia is an ideal mix of environments for many creatures going extinct in their own countries. We have all these animals already in Aus, most in zoos but some in private collections and farming experiments. The eland have been farmed since the 1800s; they're around 6 foot tall at the shoulder but tame well and all wild bovines do better than domestics when compared, in terms of survivability and production on harsh or less than lush scapes. Some folks think these wild bovines are the future of farming. Certainly Australia's got the harsh places they favor, in excess. Thompson's gazelle and a few others of these species have also been successfully farmed. They have a very high dressing weight and fast growth, so I reckon there's a future in game ranching these animals.

But obviously it'd be expensive to start up. I've seen folks around here farming Bison so the market's getting progressive.

Quote: Very funny. I recall my little goslings doing the same, very smug in the knowledge that their parents will back them up. That'll learn her... We hope.

Best wishes.

 

[livininbrazil]

Was this the same mama duck? But all whites have the beautiful blue eyes.

Hi Lydia, do you mean was this the same mamma duck that raised all of the batches? No, I have 4 ducks that raised various batches of ducklings. I read somewhere that a well-fed hen is more likely to produce more females than males, (as I´m sure you know, the hen determines the sex) and so far that´s always been the case. I feed mine very well, as the hens are easier to sell than the drakes. It´s always proved absolutely true except for this one time. There´s one white females, and all the others appear to be male, judging by the feather development. Having said that, they are a bit rounded in shape and there´s only one really big duckling. Maybe they´re still deciding! Hah! Yes, I know all white ducks have blue or blue-green eyes, but the ducklings of this hatch that I think are drakes are black-and-white/barred with blue eyes, so I´ll keep the prettiest whatever sex they turn out to be! If they´re drakes, they´ll have enough space, but the ducks will have to run!

 

[livininbrazil]

Hi chooks4life, it´s always interesting to read your posts. I´ve seen eland a number of times in safari parks in England, they´re beautiful animals. As regards wild bovines being the future for farming....well, of course, the problem crops up again that you mentioned on a previous post.....within the small groups start to come the genetic problems. People would have to be far more careful in the breeding with these animals than has been the case with domestic breeds of cattle, for instance. After all, the domestic breeds were all pretty tough at one time! Sounds great to be able to help save these species in an environment that adds to their protection. I find it a little interesting here in Brazil. Of course, the meat producers vaccinate and everything, but here they aren´t really into pure-breed cattle, just a few places. Mostly they mix everything, so of course the animals are far tougher.

Most people with chickens, for example...( everyone around my place, runs chickens. ) If they die, they die.....I give mine ACV, and the rest is pretty much up to them. They´re pretty tough, too.

The gosling didn´t learn a thing!! Today she charged into a group of young muscovies scattering the lot! Confidence soared!!!!!!! Thugs rule.

Looks like undergoose has hatched something, she´s sitting in her nest with wings slightly lifted. I´ll have a better look later.

 

[chooks4life]

Quote: As far as I know, this is due to iodine specifically. Females of pretty much the majority of species require a higher amount, and when low levels are present more males are born or hatched. Female animals tend to be more susceptible to goiter than males for this reason as babies, because from birth/hatching onwards, they're trying to build up a concentration that will tide them through their future pregnancies/clutches. So their thyroid will often show issues before a male because their needs are higher. I've always found that very young parents produce mainly male offspring, and nothing worth breeding. So I breed young ones to get a "crop" of "munchies" which won't have any difficult choices needing to be made over which to cull and which to keep... They're all for culling. They just look flimsy compared to later generations from the very same parents when they're older.
Quote: Lol, what a little drama queen. Obviously feels bigger than she is.
Quote: Yeah, it's just tragic how small the gene-pools have gotten and how much inbreeding is being done. At least with the wild bovines, nobody's selectively bred anything in or out for certain traits/characteristics, so I'd assume that while what's left may be limited, it ought to represent a fair template of the standard for the species as a whole.
Quote: That's great. At least some folks are doing what's necessary for preserving genetic strength and viability. Breeds which are dependent on "just so" conditions aren't going to make it very far into the future, methinks. It'll be the ferals and the free rangers that'll dominate genetically.

Best wishes to all.

 

[livininbrazil]

looking forward to seeing the lil ones.

Well, they started to hatch Saturday, I was out all day yesterday but when I got home she had at least two more. Today there´s a mass of yellow fluff, and I counted 4 heads,so I´ll go down later and see what she has. Wouldn´t it be great if there was 100 percent hatch!

 

[livininbrazil]

Ruru, 2 eggs pipped day 28/29, hatched overnight. More hatched day 29, and then last night. I´m sure all are hatched. Today is day 30. That is, if I got the right day that she started sitting....maybe I didn´t notice her sitting the first day. Unlikely, but not impossible. At the moment it´s a bit cool, about 19ºC, so I´ll wait until it warms up a bit, then I´ll go down with my camera!