2020 Gosling Hatch-A-Long

[Miss Lydia]

I’d say grazing is what they do if you have feed down they know it’s there and will eat if they want it. Sounds like they are doing great an mom an dad will make sure they get what they need. Have we seen pictures?

 

[ColtHandorf]

Awesome. Sounds good. I think a lot of people weren't receiving their notifications about tags last week. There are some pictures on the couple of pages before this. I posted their pics and videos in this thread as well:

https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/american-buff-geese-hatching-soon.1358943/

Where I tagged you and a few others who enjoy their little updates.

 

[Titus Kiptoo]

Week 3 , Mother Turkey and her Goslings

 

[Miss Lydia]

That is precious! ❤

 

[Gray Farms]

@Pyxis @Miss Lydia @Gray Farms and all the other gosling experts out there...

So the seven babies are doing amazing. They follow Georgia and Golly around everywhere (I now know how my short friend feels when she's walking behind me...lol). They've gotten a little braver and pop in and out of both the chain-link fence and the welded wire fence to graze on grass that must be much tastier than the grass in the yard. Their parents do not at all approve of this and I for one will be very glad in a couple more days when they are too big to do it anymore.

All the grazing has led me to my question:

I do have unmedicated starter down for them in low dishes along with several small water containers (don't get me started on Golly and Georgia introducing them to the not so very small med puddle in the center of the yard) but they are grazing, a lot. In fact I'd say that 90-95% of what they are eating is fresh green grass. Is there a problem with that, nutritionally or otherwise? I would like to avoid any leg problems or angel wing if possible with the little sprouts.

Also as a fun observation:

Georgia absolutely hates the barn swallows that nest here every year. She will literally jump up, straight of the ground, bill open and hissing away at them as they swoop around catching little bugs. Golly doesn't seem to mind them and I'm not sure the babies even notice them. But it is quite cute. I know she's trying to protect them from what she sees as a fast-moving over-head threat.

The goslings also surprised me by showing fear of the big scary hose that came out to fill the pool for their parents who are bathing a lot. Golly and Georgia stepped right over it and kept on grazing/walking, but the goslings were quite distressed. lol They'd each bravely get close and leap up and over it to race after their parents. It was super cute.

Edite to add: I also performed a partial egg-topsy on the eighth unhatched egg and just opening the portion with the air cell showed a large amount of fuzzy-grey bacterial or fungal growth. I didn't even bother looking any further and tossed it. But has anyone ever seen that? I know I haven't with chicken eggs.

It sounds like your doing fine. Let them graze. I've found that angel wing is more related genetics not feed.

 

[Pyxis]

@Pyxis @Miss Lydia @Gray Farms and all the other gosling experts out there...

So the seven babies are doing amazing. They follow Georgia and Golly around everywhere (I now know how my short friend feels when she's walking behind me...lol). They've gotten a little braver and pop in and out of both the chain-link fence and the welded wire fence to graze on grass that must be much tastier than the grass in the yard. Their parents do not at all approve of this and I for one will be very glad in a couple more days when they are too big to do it anymore.

All the grazing has led me to my question:

I do have unmedicated starter down for them in low dishes along with several small water containers (don't get me started on Golly and Georgia introducing them to the not so very small med puddle in the center of the yard) but they are grazing, a lot. In fact I'd say that 90-95% of what they are eating is fresh green grass. Is there a problem with that, nutritionally or otherwise? I would like to avoid any leg problems or angel wing if possible with the little sprouts.

Also as a fun observation:

Georgia absolutely hates the barn swallows that nest here every year. She will literally jump up, straight of the ground, bill open and hissing away at them as they swoop around catching little bugs. Golly doesn't seem to mind them and I'm not sure the babies even notice them. But it is quite cute. I know she's trying to protect them from what she sees as a fast-moving over-head threat.

The goslings also surprised me by showing fear of the big scary hose that came out to fill the pool for their parents who are bathing a lot. Golly and Georgia stepped right over it and kept on grazing/walking, but the goslings were quite distressed. lol They'd each bravely get close and leap up and over it to race after their parents. It was super cute.

Edite to add: I also performed a partial egg-topsy on the eighth unhatched egg and just opening the portion with the air cell showed a large amount of fuzzy-grey bacterial or fungal growth. I didn't even bother looking any further and tossed it. But has anyone ever seen that? I know I haven't with chicken eggs.

Grazing is fantastic for them That's actually the type of food they originally evolved to eat, so it's great that they have access to it and are enjoying it.

 

[ColtHandorf]

Glad to hear there shouldn't be any issues with them enjoying all the fresh grass. Now if they'd just get big enough to not be able to squeeze through the fence. I'm hoping by the end of the week they'll be too big. It's not do a thing for the parents' or my stress levels when they go for a little walk about.

 

[Gray Farms]

3 more today

 

[mominoz]

Well, lost my first gosling that Externally pipped. It pipped, cheeped, after a day I took a bit of shell off as it wasn't chipping anymore, wrapped in warm damp towel and put back, waited. Next day it was dead in shell.. when I opened it , it looked like it had not absorbed yoke or had some parts of it's body outside the shell.I could see greenish stuff,later it had pooped in shell. It was orange, had veins, also something kinda red., maybe an organ... ....Now I had another pip (they are set when I get gather them) , ?Wed. externally, cheeping some when I talk to it or shine a light., hasn't moved or chipped anymore this morning, so I took a bit of shell off it 's head, membrane is white looking, I dampened egg, wrapped in towel. I can see some yellowish liquid, no blood... It isn't turning... wondering if it is too weak or too big for shell, but it has been 48 hours. I am kinda afraid to to more ... it is still cheeping if I put light on or talk to it...humidity is around 58%...

 

[mominoz]

Well, lost my first gosling that Externally pipped. It pipped, cheeped, after a day I took a bit of shell off as it wasn't chipping anymore, wrapped in warm damp towel and put back, waited. Next day it was dead in shell.. when I opened it , it looked like it had not absorbed yoke or had some parts of it's body outside the shell.I could see greenish stuff,later it had pooped in shell. It was orange, had veins, also something kinda red., maybe an organ... ....Now I had another pip (they are set when I get gather them) , ?Wed. externally, cheeping some when I talk to it or shine a light., hasn't moved or chipped anymore this morning, so I took a bit of shell off it 's head, membrane is white looking, I dampened egg, wrapped in towel. I can see some yellowish liquid, no blood... It isn't turning... wondering if it is too weak or too big for shell, but it has been 48 hours. I am kinda afraid to to more ... it is still cheeping if I put light on or talk to it...humidity is around 58%...

Oh, thank goodness! while checking all the 'assisted hatch' threads , it hatched! and is resting! Been 4 years since I had babies. I sold off part of my birds and got some new birds to prevent inbreeding . Last year my yearlings had some fertile eggs, but had incubator issues and several large power outages and lost more than half I set of ducks and geese.