baby white chinese goslings -- help!

[Faith Hope]

Apparently, I am about to be the proud owner of 2 baby geese. (like, within the next hour or two they will be arriving!) Now, I have chickens and turkeys and have been raising them for several years. My chickens and turkeys go broody quite frequently, and I even have a brooder still set up from some turkeys that we acquired this spring.

So, what do I need to know that will be different for these geese? My in-laws bought some to take care of weeds in their strawberry patch and have more than they need. We will use them to eat weeds, etc. if they survive.

My other question is this: I have a silkie that went broody a couple of days ago. I haven't given her any eggs yet, but she is a very experienced broody and has hatched a lot of babies for me -- chicken babies! Do you think she could handle 2 goslings? She has adopted chicks before as well, so I think she could handle that part. Just how quickly do these goslings grow? Could she handle them for the first 2 to 3 weeks?

What do you think?

 

[Pyxis]

Congrats on your babies! Goslings are very sweet and I think they are the cutest babies ever. The only thing different about raising them than chickens and turkeys is that they grow a lot faster and they are messier - they like to splash in their water. I don't think I would give them to your silkie - they might outgrow her and be unable to get under her for warmth. They really grow like weeds. You can literally see them grow overnight. I have a week old gosling now that would be about all a silkie could handle, and she's a sebastopol, a small breed of goose. Plus, they cannot resist chewing on anything vaguely hair-like, so I'd be worried that they might ruin your silkie's feathers or pull them out.

 

[Faith Hope]

Well, the babies have arrived! After seeing how huge they already are, there is no way my silkie could handle them. They are already about half her size. Thanks for the advice.

The babies are really cute and will already follow us around.

 

[cgmaster]

here is my chinese i got on the 31st her name is chitter(im hoping she is a goose)




chitter(left) and chatter(right),I think chatter is a gander, this was taken yesterday.

 

[Faith Hope]

Here they are taking a bath. I had no idea how personable geese were! My girls love them already, and the goslings follow them around very well when we take them outside.

 

[livininbrazil]

Here they are taking a bath. I had no idea how personable geese were! My girls love them already, and the goslings follow them around very well when we take them outside.

They´re lovely, but I noticed you had newspaper down for them. It can get too slippery for them. Towels are much preferred generally. They´re easy to wash through, too.