Go-to gosling treats? Which are hard no-no’s? Are peas ok??

[lilolilman]

Hi again!

I found a lot of good posts about what goslings CAN have and the treats they seem to really enjoy, but I want to know a couple more specific questions. At this point (day 5) we have not given them any treats yet, and I understand that I need to I introduce grit when we start giving them greens.

as far as treats go, I’d love feedback on any of the following:

1) what is your go to gosling treat?
2) which “treats” would you tell me to avoid?
3) how old do they have to be before I can safely give them the treats?

thanks for all the awesome help!

 

[Goosebaby]

You can start introducing treats now, it’s always a good idea to start young to try and prevent picky eating from starting.

Whatever they try will probably need to be chopped pretty fine for them to be able to eat right now.
Some things they can try is melon, minced apple, berries, romaine lettuce, carrot shavings, minced corn, peas, minced tomatoes, chopped grapes, peach, plum, and pear.

 

[lilolilman]

You can start introducing treats now, it’s always a good idea to start young to try and prevent picky eating from starting.

Whatever they try will probably need to be chopped pretty fine for them to be able to eat right now.
Some things they can try is melon, minced apple, berries, romaine lettuce, carrot shavings, minced corn, peas, minced tomatoes, chopped grapes, peach, plum, and pear.

Ah, good to know. Makes sense about the picky eater thing.

my uromastyx (lizard) is spoiled rotten and will only eat de-shelled sugar snap peas. I have to take the peas out of the pod or she won’t eat them, or anything else unless she’s starving. So, Id like to avoid another picky eater lol.

peas are okay, what about the pod? We have a bean arch with a lot of peapods, should I de-shell?

could they choke on peas somehow?

 

[Goosebaby]

Ah, good to know. Makes sense about the picky eater thing.

my uromastyx (lizard) is spoiled rotten and will only eat de-shelled sugar snap peas. I have to take the peas out of the pod or she won’t eat them, or anything else unless she’s starving. So, Id like to avoid another picky eater lol.

peas are okay, what about the pod? We have a bean arch with a lot of peapods, should I de-shell?

could they choke on peas somehow?

I would deshell them, at this age they could possibly choke on the peas, unless they’re mushy dethawed peas, in another week and a half fresh peas will be fine.

 

[lilolilman]

Got it. Thank you so much!

 

[iturnknobs]

...somethings that Goosebaby didn't mention...kohlrabi, broccoli, cauliflower, zucchini, cucumbers(I remove the seeds),bok choy, brussel sprouts, dandelion greens, clovers, turnip greens, cabbage, etc.

No spinach. Have fun with your little bird.

 

[Wawaivy_]

...somethings that Goosebaby didn't mention...kohlrabi, broccoli, cauliflower, zucchini, cucumbers(I remove the seeds),bok choy, brussel sprouts, dandelion greens, clovers, turnip greens, cabbage, etc.

No spinach. Have fun with your little bird.

Im wondering, why no spinach?

 

[iturnknobs]

Im wondering, why no spinach?

It contains oxalic acid which depletes calcium in bird bones and eggs.

 

[Iain Utah]

Favorite treats are watermelon, lettuce, broccoli, corn, strawberries, and bread.

Agree about not feeding spinach. Also avoid raisins, onions, chocolate (basically anything your dog would be allergic to).

As for age, if I hand-raise inside, I grab grass and dandelions from outside, or use romaine lettuce and broccoli as primary source of diet from day two, and then I crush mazuri maintenance into crumble and feed that as a supplement. The more fresh greens and restricting grain, the healthier they will be long-term. When people feed a high grain diet and keep them inside a pen, they are just asking for trouble like angelwing, slipped tendons, etc. Truly, the more time they can spend outside grazing on grass, the better!

 

[lilolilman]

Favorite treats are watermelon, lettuce, broccoli, corn, strawberries, and bread.

Agree about not feeding spinach. Also avoid raisins, onions, chocolate (basically anything your dog would be allergic to).

As for age, if I hand-raise inside, I grab grass and dandelions from outside, or use romaine lettuce and broccoli as primary source of diet from day two, and then I crush mazuri maintenance into crumble and feed that as a supplement. The more fresh greens and restricting grain, the healthier they will be long-term. When people feed a high grain diet and keep them inside a pen, they are just asking for trouble like angelwing, slipped tendons, etc. Truly, the more time they can spend outside grazing on grass, the better!

OK - that’s good to understand about the pen/high grain diet. We will have to keep them In a brooder and they won’t have their own yard to graze in until we move next month to our new house which has a fenced in yard and a chicken coop ready to go. We will try to give them more of the greens and less of the crumble (we’ve already been blown away by by how much of the crumble they go through in a day!)

I’ll look into what “Mazuri maintenance” is.

also, I started picking up on the fact that there were similar no-nos between the dogs and the geese. Interesting. Makes sense!