Goose had one gosling which got sick and died... what to do?

[Kimmyh51]

My one goose hatched one gosling. Unfortunately I found it outside the nest cold, took it to warm it up and it struggled all day then died. She had a rotten egg in her nest which had not burst or leaked, but the gosling stank of rotten egg and I suspect it was contaminated by it. There were no other live eggs. I suspect the gander who has a duck ‘wife’ wasn’t doing the deed with the goose enough to fertilise all the eggs... so she won’t hatch any others from this nest.

Anyway I am wondering a couple of things:

1 as the goose was looking for the gosling after I took it to warm it up, should I take the little ones body out to her so she can understandnits gone, or will that cause her more pain?

2. I thought about giving her some ducklings as I have an excessive amount of those incl one hatching in the incubator. But am worried she will smother them due to her size...
She’s now sitting on some (dirty not eatable or hatchable) duck eggs I put in the nest after removing the gosling, mainly to keep her put in case the gosling recovered, as we had planned to catch her, wash her off and house her and the gosling together in a house as the vet said they should both go on prophylactic antibiotics. I am moving house in a couple of days so have to take her off the nest anyway. Would ducklings help her get through this? Having said that, really wanted goslings so also hopingnshe will sit again which I guess ducklings will stop her doing...

Any advice? So sad for her, it was her first ever nest...

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

Remove everything. She won't understand what a dead gosling is. She will eventually snap out of it.

 

[HorsesRMe123]

Aww I’m so sorry this happened! This is so tragic. If I were you, I would put the dead gosling in the nest so she understands what happened to her baby. Animals are more aware and conscious than we may think. Geese are smart birds. I’d leave the gosling in the nest with her for a few hours so she can grieve.

I’ve done this before. I’ve had a few rabbits die and I would leave their bodies in with their bun family so they could grieve and come to terms with it. We put a towel over the body and when we came back, our rabbit had taken the towel off the dead rabbit’s body. So we put it back on again, and when we returned it was off again. He wanted to see her and smell her and just come to terms with the death. Animals are very smart. So I would leave the baby with mama for at least a few hours.

You can give her duck eggs but it might be risky depending on if she could crush them. You could give it a shot though, never know until you try. It may help her to get through this difficult time.

Also, she had a late clutch. How come she laid so late? Usually their season for laying is late winter to early summer. I’m assuming you must across the world and it’s coming into spring for you.

How old is your mama goose? How many eggs did she lay in the clutch? Did you see her lay on the eggs most of the time and be broody? Just a few questions because I too have a young goose and gander that will be having babies next spring and I’m really burning with questions!

Again I’m so sorry about your loss, I hope mama goose feels better soon

 

[Goosebaby]

You can remove the eggs and nest and it may encourage her to lay more, but on the other hand if she’s laid a large number of eggs and sat on them long enough to hatch a baby her body is fairly depleted from laying or fasting, she might be done for the season.

She’ll likely crush the eggs if you offer duck eggs to her, if you offer ducklings they’ll usually snuggle alongside in her feathers or under her wings like most babies do.
Geese are deeply emotional and individualistic, it’s hard to say how she would react to the body of her baby, I’m sorry the little one didn’t make it.