A Gaggle of Geese

[Sugar Sand Farm]

If the big one is hissing its probabally a boy Its my males that hiss not the girls. They say the gander has a deeper voice than the goose I know my girls are really ear splitting when they start compared to the ganders.

 

[MissPrissy]

It might be a male. I really don't know yet. At different times thay all hiss and carry one. As far as their voice they all pretty much sound alike with their baby peeping. No honking or almost honking or trying to honk yet. Just goslings peeps. I have no clue how to even begin to sex them either.

 

[gumpsgirl]

The pics are precious MissPrissy! Thanks so much for sharing and for the smiles!

 

[greyfields]

I would put some bricks in teh pool, just in case one gets waterlogged and can't lift itself out. Those kid pools are very slick. I've lost more goslings to drowing than predators, and it really hurts when it happens. So I'm very paranoid now.

 

[MissPrissy]

I do have brick steps in the pool. I also have bricks on the outside. They can climb in and out very well without any effort.

I have raised ducks before - just never raised geese from a fresh egg through hatch and then to adult birds. We had to build steps for the ducks last summer.

 

[GoodEgg]

I love the pics! Especially the one you said, where it looks like a conversation between your son and the babies.

It's so interesting to see them at different ages like that. Mine are in between (just a little older than the little ones).

They are going to grow THAT much in the next week? Wow, but then again, they seem to grow during the day when they are outside.

And they hiss already? Mine don't hiss yet. They only make baby peeps and whistles. They call when something scares them, or they want me to know where they are, or make happy noises while they eat.

LOL, and when they sleep, one of them makes a tiny quiet honk sound (almost like a duck quacking). I think he's snoring or something!

But no hisses yet. I love these little guys. They are SO entertaining to watch! Mine need a place to swim, but it will be a while before I can give them one. Right now they just have a water dish and I fill the small holes the dog has dug whenever I refill the water. They can lie in them, but not swim. They go nuts when I fill them with water and spray overhead. I like the small kid pool though. I bought the largest one I could find for the ducks last year, but it's way too big for me to let the babies into it.

trish

 

[MissPrissy]

This first batch has been hissing since they were one week old. The biggest one would hiss at my little poodles hen they sniffed around the crate I kept them in.

Have you thought about a shallow washpan for the geese to get into? When mine where smaller I used one of those black rubber feeder/waterer pans from the horse supply section. I would fill it with an inch of water and they would play in it until the water was all splashed out.

 

[Run-A-Muck Ranch]

Quote:
Last year I had sexed out baby geese. I seemed to do prety good even though I never seen it done before let alone had it explained to me.
I just flipped them over and looked at there bottom area (vent area). I assume it's the same when sexing chicks that way...(although I have never done that either).
I ended up with 3 female and 1 male last year.


We have another batch of baby geese that were hatched on Monday. the mom is a little too protective for me to get around them right now. But I think just by looks I might have 2 female and 2 males for sure. And that is just going off guessing by lookings. I have no technical knowledge of what I am looking for...(maybe it's the mothers in-tutsion-sp??- thing)

 

[Guitartists]

Adorable pics!

 

[GoodEgg]

Thanks for the suggestion, Miss Prissy.

I will look around and see what I have. I just moved the pen today, so they lost their "holes" ... I'll have to give them something to splash in because they just enjoy it so much (and it's getting pretty hot here).

I'll just make sure it's something they can get in and out of easily and not put too much water in it. I'm too attached to the little guys to risk one (and besides, the chicks are in an adjacent pen and sometime wander under the fencing in with the geese ... I wouldn't want them to drown either!)

thanks again!
trish