Goslings of 2014 Hatch-a-long

[Miss Lydia]

I plan on selling most but I don't plan to ship anything until fall. This week I finally have my first Embden babies due

.

It's so much fun watching them grow isn't it, Missy has now been sitting 2 days, so I think she has finally committed. Looking forward to seeing your Embden babies.. Been almost 7 yrs since I had one.

 

[livininbrazil]

Ooh babies everywhere!

Congrats to everyone with babies they are gorgeous.

Sorry to hear about your goose Iain Utah and I hope you solve your "pest" problem.

I finally have a hen that's serious about brooding so i gave her 3 eggs until I find some goose eggs but now I'm having trouble finding the breed I want! Typical.

I started on this post earlier but had to go out. So er, they say you should be careful what you wish for and they're right! I checked on the broody only to find I have 4 broodys. Original broody has increased her brood to 7 (huh?!) And the other 3 were sitting on 11 eggs between them!

Er, I don't think so! Lights on, nest boxes opened, 3 hens kicked out into the rain! I'm hoping I've caught them in time as they only started yesterday.

all of our current waterfowl babies



today's hatch ...first turkey ever ..


2.5 weeks old these are the oldest


LOOK!!! He's already getting baggy pants

Family number 3, babies are growing fast XD

Lovely pic.

 

[servpolice]

Just out of interest what do ye all feed goslings that are a bit over a month old?!

 

[servpolice]

Thank you brazil can you spot the 2 goslings that are going to be all brown in that pic just for fun because they all kind of look the same but 2 will be all brown

 

[servpolice]

the other 4 will be white with bits of brown feathers scathered (males) or all white(female)

 

[psue]

Just out of interest what do ye all feed goslings that are a bit over a month old?!

I switch mine to my basic adult food. As much grass as they can eat with evening portions of a 2-1-1 mix of all flock, oats and Black oil sunflower seeds. It's worked fine for me so far.

 

[Miss Lydia]

I switch mine to my basic adult food. As much grass as they can eat with evening portions of a 2-1-1 mix of all flock, oats and Black oil sunflower seeds. It's worked fine for me so far.

Why Blk oil sunflower seeds? my flock love them but why at a month old?

 

[psue]

Why Blk oil sunflower seeds? my flock love them but why at a month old?

My Basic mix has been working... Jerry did the research, we take them off the chick feed to lower protein and hopefully *knock on wood* avoid angel wing. I understand that there is still discussion on if it's genetic or protein, but I go with the *if it aint broke,dont fix it* line of thought. Mine are on grass most days from 12-14 hours during the warm weather so they aren't eating much else anyway.

I know I can change up the grains some ... but I haven't looked into it that much yet.

 

[ChickDancer]

Just out of interest what do ye all feed goslings that are a bit over a month old?!

Scratch grains from the chicken feed as they find it in the yard from the adult chickens, a little bit of chick starter feed that they eat before leaving the pen (it's how I distract the actual chicks while I have the gate open to let the geese and ducks out), and then grass from sun-up to sun-down.

 

[ChickDancer]

Hope got her first taste of strawberries today, and she LOVED it! I have three or four tiny, almost useless, strawberry plants from last year - some with only a couple of leaves on them - that are trying to grow fruit anyway. One of the strawberries was probably the size of a dime, but had already turned red. I tried to get the geese to eat it from the plants, but none of them were interested. I finally went to Hope who had walked around the side of the house and offered it to her. She rolled it around in her mouth and I thought she was going to swallow it whole for a moment! But she finally broke the outer skin and when that juice hit... that strawberry was crushed and gone within seconds!

She almost grabbed a white one that I was messing with a few hours later, so I picked one and gave it to her. She played with it for a bit, but didn't like the bitter taste of an unripe strawberry. She also tried to taste the leaves of the plant, but didn't like that so she didn't even bother tearing one off. But maybe this means she'll feed herself from these plants as the fruit actually ripens! They're useless as strawberries for human consumption because they're way too small! But if the geese enjoy it... why not?