GOOSE BREEDING THREAD - for breeding, incubating, hatching and rearing.

[Miss Lydia]

Yes, the mirror is such a help!
Well the one to come was dead-in-shell, didn´t make it out of the membrane, so that´s why I only heard faint noise, obviously. Last night there was no noise from the shell. Shame, but it would probably have been a weak one. The others are out in the run with the goose, she´s fine, not mothering them yet, but it´s nice in the sun, they can get acquainted. All quiet now for another fortnight.....

Aww sorry about the gosling, but great news they are all out with mama, hopefully she'll begin to take an interest in them, isn't she still sitting on eggs too?

 

[livininbrazil]

Aww sorry about the gosling, but great news they are all out with mama, hopefully she'll begin to take an interest in them, isn't she still sitting on eggs too?

The dead-in-shell was the last egg. So, out of 8, 4 hatched and survived so far. One was infertile, one rotten...2 dead-in-shell. I yet have a goose on 7 eggs and a duck on 3, nothing due to happen with them for another fortnight. And then it starts again!
Meanwhile these little ones will spend nice days outside with the goose and the bad days and nights indoors, as the goose isn´t being maternal at all, it´s her first successful hatch, but at least she´s not frightened of them any more and itsn´t shaking her head at them!

I shut her out of her nest so that she has to be near them, and she´s quite calm, sat watching. So much work for you to look forward to next year!!!!

 

[Miss Lydia]

The dead-in-shell was the last egg. So, out of 8, 4 hatched and survived so far. One was infertile, one rotten...2 dead-in-shell. I yet have a goose on 7 eggs and a duck on 3, nothing due to happen with them for another fortnight. And then it starts again!
Meanwhile these little ones will spend nice days outside with the goose and the bad days and nights indoors, as the goose isn´t being maternal at all, it´s her first successful hatch, but at least she´s not frightened of them any more and itsn´t shaking her head at them!

I shut her out of her nest so that she has to be near them, and she´s quite calm, sat watching. So much work for you to look forward to next year!!!!

Your coming to help right? LOL 4 is a good number with more still to come.

 

[livininbrazil]

Your coming to help right? LOL 4 is a good number with more still to come.

LOL, I´ll help from here!!
So far this year I lost 4, but I have the two singletons, now about 2 and half months and 6 weeks, then the 6, 3 weeks old, and now these 4.

The 2 older goslings plus mum and dad, plus the undergoose and her six have made a flock. They look great wandering around the place. We can see them in the stream, then they come up to the house, then wander back down again....
Hopefully in a few weeks these little ones will be doing the same thing with their mom. I let her back into her nest later today, and she actually allowed 2 of them to snuggle under her wing today for a bit, but they were out again later getting a tad cold, so I brought them all in and left mum on her nest. They´ll go back down again tomorrow........and so on, until they´re big enough to stay with her all night. By then the others will have arrived!

 

[Miss Lydia]

LOL, I´ll help from here!!
So far this year I lost 4, but I have the two singletons, now about 2 and half months and 6 weeks, then the 6, 3 weeks old, and now these 4.

The 2 older goslings plus mum and dad, plus the undergoose and her six have made a flock. They look great wandering around the place. We can see them in the stream, then they come up to the house, then wander back down again....
Hopefully in a few weeks these little ones will be doing the same thing with their mom. I let her back into her nest later today, and she actually allowed 2 of them to snuggle under her wing today for a bit, but they were out again later getting a tad cold, so I brought them all in and left mum on her nest. They´ll go back down again tomorrow........and so on, until they´re big enough to stay with her all night. By then the others will have arrived!

What are your temps this time of year? you have really added a nice number to your flock .

 

[livininbrazil]

What are your temps this time of year? you have really added a nice number to your flock .

Around this time of year, it´s generally 30ºC+, and around 20ºC at night. When the geese started laying back in July, it was around 20ºC+ during the day, and down to 7ºC, even a frost sometimes, at night. Today the wind had changed direction, it was a little fresh. Great for us, but I had to keep an eye on the babies so they didn´t get chilled on getting out of their pool (cat litter tray). They love sitting in the water, the sun heats it up for them. One of the goslings, the one that had trouble hatching, with the dry membrane, has been slow in getting to eat. He´s been playing about with the food, then spitting it out, and today we noticed it´s not coming on like the others. This afternoon my son (17) took it onto the lawn and sat there with it, got a plant-pot saucer of warm water, and was picking the seeds off the grass heads and putting them in the water for the gosling. This seemed to perk it up, it was eating the seeds out of the water. Well done 17-yr-old-x-box-guru! My hubby bought some antibiotic for it, just in case it had some bacterial infection after pooping in the egg....tonight it´s eating better and is more lively again. Everyone´s rallying for the goslings!

 

[livininbrazil]

Here we go, the extended family: gander with favourite goose and the two older adopteds, then undergoose with her 6 mingled among the lot, and the young gander tagging on behind, as I hadn´t put his 4 little ones out yet, and he was bored with the females just sitting in nests!! Oh, and the slow gosling started eating like a velociraptor last night, so all going well.
"keep up there, kiddies!"

 

[Miss Lydia]

Here we go, the extended family: gander with favourite goose and the two older adopteds, then undergoose with her 6 mingled among the lot, and the young gander tagging on behind, as I hadn´t put his 4 little ones out yet, and he was bored with the females just sitting in nests!! Oh, and the slow gosling started eating like a velociraptor last night, so all going well.
"keep up there, kiddies!"

Beautiful pic of the family. and wonderful news about lil slow one finding it's appetite!!

 

[livininbrazil]

Well, I put the 4 tiny goslings down with the goose mom yesterday, the weather was good, cool wind, but no problem. They ended up all snuggled into her feathers, then out to feed, then back into the feathers...so I left them with her last night. All good. They come out to feed, then back under mum. It´s only about 20ºC today, overcast, a bit drizzly, but they´re doing great with mom. The gander dad is keeping a very close eye on them all, but he´s outside the pen, as his favourite goose is sitting on eggs, and every time she comes off, he forgets about the babies..and rushes off to fuss over No.1 wifey!! .

. I´ll let him look after the babies together with his favourite goose, and it looks like this year has produced enough males to supply mates for the undergeese to have their own knights in shining armour next year! (mirrors included!)

 

[Miss Lydia]

Well, I put the 4 tiny goslings down with the goose mom yesterday, the weather was good, cool wind, but no problem. They ended up all snuggled into her feathers, then out to feed, then back into the feathers...so I left them with her last night. All good. They come out to feed, then back under mum. It´s only about 20ºC today, overcast, a bit drizzly, but they´re doing great with mom. The gander dad is keeping a very close eye on them all, but he´s outside the pen, as his favourite goose is sitting on eggs, and every time she comes off, he forgets about the babies..and rushes off to fuss over No.1 wifey!! .

. I´ll let him look after the babies together with his favourite goose, and it looks like this year has produced enough males to supply mates for the undergeese to have their own knights in shining armour next year! (mirrors included!)

Better get full length.

Great news about mom doing her mom thing now, they are so much better off when they can be raised by their natural mamas. Not us artificial ones.