Goslings of 2014 Hatch-a-long

[DaisyMeadow]

Here is an appropriately terrible pic of Reece the Terrible. He likes to bite now, and it's getting to be more than just nibbles. He's front and center, with his two Swedish blue duck friends (I think one male, one female). In the background are my two sweet little female goslings, together with a passle of freshly-hatched muscovies, which will soon go to new homes. My bathroom is full!

 

[livininbrazil]

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

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

I did notice different colours there, Will be interesting.

 

[livininbrazil]

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.

I do much the same thing; they have chick crumb with a little cracked corn for breakfast, just a bit, and in the evening, and I also chuck in some lettuce for treats and when I want them to come running! The rest of the time it´s grass.

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?

We have a fruit that grows on a tree here, it´s native, it´s like a very small apricot, and the geese love them! They fall when ripe. If I get there first, they´re mine, but I usually find the geese have first pickings!!!!!

 

[livininbrazil]

Here is an appropriately terrible pic of Reece the Terrible. He likes to bite now, and it's getting to be more than just nibbles. He's front and center, with his two Swedish blue duck friends (I think one male, one female). In the background are my two sweet little female goslings, together with a passle of freshly-hatched muscovies, which will soon go to new homes. My bathroom is full!

The ducklings look like toys! And Reece the Terrible looks well-named!

 

[RURU]

Here is an appropriately terrible pic of Reece the Terrible. He likes to bite now, and it's getting to be more than just nibbles. He's front and center, with his two Swedish blue duck friends (I think one male, one female). In the background are my two sweet little female goslings, together with a passle of freshly-hatched muscovies, which will soon go to new homes. My bathroom is full!

When the duck bites take it's beak and pinch it together and say no bite. You just hold it closed and say no bite and keep doing so until duckling gets the idea no bite. You do the same with geese.

 

[8GeeseALaying]

I did an eggtopsy on the egg that died two days before hatching. It was a toulouse x tufted roman and was a true toulouse color :/ oh well im sure ethels eggs in her nest are part toulouse as well, still have a chance. Could be more lavenders as well.

 

[zekii]

Ok thanks for your reply.... I'll candle them one last time tonight to see if any have internally pipped, but will still put them in the hatcher
today Day 27, and then we'll

We've always had good luck with our duck hatches, but this is our first Geese hatch.

Oppps, opened the incubator tonight to transfer the Lavender buff eggs to the hatcher, and one of the eggs has already externally pipped, so I
guess transfer on day 25 or 26 would have been more appropriate, will post pictures once we see what hatches.

 

[bibkel]

My buff opr chicken hatched one, and it was white...but dead. I had candled just hours before! I must have missed it by a hour or less. So I checked the rest, and found a duckling internally pipped!! Finally I am gonna have a duckling!

Today, I took my two Sebbies to the local Jr. College. Annually they have tables set out to entice people to certain programs, so it is crowded. This was the first time they were out, with diapers on, leash attached. We were fine until we actually got there! Charles somehow backed out of his diaper and poop spilled out. So I swapped the diaper, and had to scoop both Charles and Diana up. My girls thankfully were waiting at a booth, discussing the polish pullet on my daughter's arm. This gave the goslings time to sit and watch lots of people walk by and exclaim how cute the "ducks" were. Once I had recovered from the initial chaos we started to walk again, but I carried both birds. I put them down when I got to the grass and they loved that. I decided the three teen girls I was with could wander while I sat on the grass. I had so many groups of people, young and old stop by to ooh and aah at the two "ducks" and was there something wrong with their tails because of the "thing" they were wearing.
I never get tired of my answers...actually it's a goose, Sebastopol goose, they are three weeks old...no actually it's pretty old breed....(we have a town named Sebastopol here in Sonoma County)...one boy and one girls, Charles and Diana, those are diapers, because they cannot hold it like we can, they love to eat grass, they are great weeders for a garden and what they produce is great for the garden. So it's like an ecosystem....(here in Sonoma county people are very much into self sustaining methods, we are kinda hippie that way).
I was very glad that even the 10 month old baby was gentle when they pet my babies. I only had one issue with a 5 year old that thought the leash was to "walk" them. So I explained that was just in case they got startled. I eventually took both diapers off, and they were fine. I let them waddle all the way back to the parking lot, where I scooped them up. It was a long walk, because my "ducks' were so cute and unusual.

I am hoping to use them in hospitals and retirement centers when they are older. I purchase Mother Goose's book Duck, There's a Goose in the House! and if you have not read that book it is wonderful so far. I am glued to the pages, and love the excerpts she added in there. I am just glad I am not the only one enamored by house ducks and geese.

My duckling has not come out yet, but I am waiting patiently...

 

[servpolice]

Thank ye for yer responses

 

[Miss Lydia]

My buff opr chicken hatched one, and it was white...but dead. I had candled just hours before! I must have missed it by a hour or less. So I checked the rest, and found a duckling internally pipped!! Finally I am gonna have a duckling!

Today, I took my two Sebbies to the local Jr. College. Annually they have tables set out to entice people to certain programs, so it is crowded. This was the first time they were out, with diapers on, leash attached. We were fine until we actually got there! Charles somehow backed out of his diaper and poop spilled out. So I swapped the diaper, and had to scoop both Charles and Diana up. My girls thankfully were waiting at a booth, discussing the polish pullet on my daughter's arm. This gave the goslings time to sit and watch lots of people walk by and exclaim how cute the "ducks" were. Once I had recovered from the initial chaos we started to walk again, but I carried both birds. I put them down when I got to the grass and they loved that. I decided the three teen girls I was with could wander while I sat on the grass. I had so many groups of people, young and old stop by to ooh and aah at the two "ducks" and was there something wrong with their tails because of the "thing" they were wearing.
I never get tired of my answers...actually it's a goose, Sebastopol goose, they are three weeks old...no actually it's pretty old breed....(we have a town named Sebastopol here in Sonoma County)...one boy and one girls, Charles and Diana, those are diapers, because they cannot hold it like we can, they love to eat grass, they are great weeders for a garden and what they produce is great for the garden. So it's like an ecosystem....(here in Sonoma county people are very much into self sustaining methods, we are kinda hippie that way).
I was very glad that even the 10 month old baby was gentle when they pet my babies. I only had one issue with a 5 year old that thought the leash was to "walk" them. So I explained that was just in case they got startled. I eventually took both diapers off, and they were fine. I let them waddle all the way back to the parking lot, where I scooped them up. It was a long walk, because my "ducks' were so cute and unusual.

I am hoping to use them in hospitals and retirement centers when they are older. I purchase Mother Goose's book Duck, There's a Goose in the House! and if you have not read that book it is wonderful so far. I am glued to the pages, and love the excerpts she added in there. I am just glad I am not the only one enamored by house ducks and geese.

My duckling has not come out yet, but I am waiting patiently...

What a wonderful way to show people geese don't have to live up to the nasty reputation they have. Most people are so afraid of them they automatically think the worst, Sounds like yours were a big hit.