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

[skittles1]

i am now getting the full grown gees, trying to figure out what they eat, how to clip their wings, will they mingle with my chickens. etc.

 

[RURU]

and you will get plenty of advise on here. Make sure before you purchase geese that it is the color(s) you like and the temperament you would like. Livininbrazil said it all.
I have Sebastopol's because I fell in love with the curly geese! I find them mild natured and pleasant to be around, except for breeding season they get super protective of their mate and eggs. I believe all geese hate everything in mating season...

 

[livininbrazil]

and you will get plenty of advise on here. Make sure before you purchase geese that it is the color(s) you like and the temperament you would like. Livininbrazil said it all.
I have Sebastopol's because I fell in love with the curly geese! I find them mild natured and pleasant to be around, except for breeding season they get super protective of their mate and eggs. I believe all geese hate everything in mating season...

 

[livininbrazil]

i am now getting the full grown gees, trying to figure out what they eat, how to clip their wings, will they mingle with my chickens. etc.

So what geese are you getting?

 

[Anna6]

What is a good inexpensive incubator for hatching goose eggs?

 

[RiverGoddess]

What is a good inexpensive incubator for hatching goose eggs?

How many eggs do you want to hatch/set at one time?

 

[RiverGoddess]

i am now getting the full grown gees, trying to figure out what they eat, how to clip their wings, will they mingle with my chickens. etc.

I guess I assumed you were getting eggs ~ I have egg hatching on the brain

So do you have them now, or know where you are getting them..... I guess your posts have me a bit confused

But thats easy to do

 

[Anna6]

How many eggs do you want to hatch/set at one time?

Probably no more then 12 or so. Do most of them hatch usually or are they problematic to hatch? I have hatching on my mind too.

 

[Anna6]

i was looking at getting eggs to hatch, but i found some on craigslist, African geese. 5 total with 4 hens. so i am looking at all the advise i can get.
i have chickens, now, can i put them in the pen with my chickens. i also have new chicks in the pen, well new as in 5 or 6 weeks old

Lucky you to find the geese you want and 4 are hens.

 

[SolarPoweredMe]

Alrighty, well we got the replacement shipment of eggs, and it seems that he was UBER careful this time as all 8 came in really, really good condition!!! Each was wrapped in paper towels and a bubbled envelope that was gingerly folded around the egg. Then there was those big bubble pockets along with tons of tissue paper. There was very little give inside the box. Much happier with this set, and quite hopeful we'll actually get some hatches.



We candled them first thing and it looks like only 1 has a *slightly* moving air bubble, the rest have nice defined bubbles and a definitive dark spot a bit under it. Letting them sit 24 hours before putting them in. Keeping fingers crossed that we get at least a few hatch from them all. We're going to have to get another incubator though, since there are a few in right now, and these will be put in days later... We can't open the incubator during "lock down" but will still be turning the second set.. So I suppose we'll separate the first set into the other bator 4-ish days before hatch date so they can be left alone and the humidity/venting/temp can be shifted as needed. This has turned into a much bigger thing than anticipated, but we're SUPER excited. I started making little recordings yesterday to keep sort of a video journal of the whole process. Hopefully, we'll be able to take it all the way to seeing them zipper open and become fluffy little bundles of love.

Like I said before, the guy we got them from says they are from a mixed flock of free range geese that include Embden, Sebastepol, Chinese, and Pilgrim... And the eggs we've gotten are of substantially different sizes... Here is a perfect example, this is the biggest and the smallest from this shipment. I know that both breed and age change the size of the egg, but it's *really* different. The big one is noticeably longer than it is fatter too! Any ideas? I know it's just speculation one way or the other, but it would be cool to see if guesses end up being right!