Goslings of 2014 Hatch-a-long

[livininbrazil]

She's stuck like glue too, I had to pick her up and put her outside so she would eat. That part worries me she hasn't been eating much at all, when you have gosling with their parents what do you use for water? all my flock uses gallon buckets and i have plastic containers with lid with a hole cut in for babies but I can guarantee you everyone is going to use the container and muck it up till it's mud. I'll just have to check it often to make sure there's water in it. I'm a nervous wreck you'd think nothing ever hatched here.

Haha, don´t worry.. she´ll eat when she has to. When I have a goose with goslings, I put in a small cat-litter tray of water with a brick outside and inside for them to reach it. Mum drinks it too, and they just follow suit. Don´t worry about the baby getting into the water, it has Missy to keep it warm. Here´s a pic to remind you what mine looked like...You can always put it near the big one so Missy can wash her face too. Can you see a little one in the water?

 

[Miss Lydia]

Haha, don´t worry.. she´ll eat when she has to. When I have a goose with goslings, I put in a small cat-litter tray of water with a brick outside and inside for them to reach it. Mum drinks it too, and they just follow suit. Don´t worry about the baby getting into the water, it has Missy to keep it warm. Here´s a pic to remind you what mine looked like...You can always put it near the big one so Missy can wash her face too. Can you see a little one in the water?

I do see the little one in the water so precious too, I have a cat litter tray I use for ducklings to play in so I'll try that. probably get a few ducks in it too.

 

[ChickDancer]

Hey guys, just kind of a PSA here. Be careful who you buy eggs from. I just had mycoplasma show up in my flock. It decimated my marans flock and I have to start all over. I had to cull birds who were in that coop that didn't show symptoms yet which was hard. I'm posting this here because it came in from some sebbie eggs I bought and hatched. I run a closed flock besides hatching eggs so I wasn't watching hard for the signs and I should have been. I hatched one gosling out of six eggs and you guys were my support system for that since it was my first time so I really want to pay you all back and give you a warning. The gosling, at about a month old, started making these hacking sounds that I took to be her needing a drink after eating. She was living with three other perfectly healthy goslings at the time, and chicks, which is how the infection spread. The chicks didn't show symptoms until I moved them out into the little grow out pen I have...right next to my marans coop. Well, the chicks and the marans all came down with mycoplasma and I was really confused - until I thought about my gosling. She has now passed the infection to the other three goslings I have and I am trying to treat them with denagard, which, I am told, if you treat with constantly for six months can actually eradicate the bacteria instead of just making the birds into carriers. If this doesn't turn out to be the case, I am going to have to cull my goslings, and it will be heartbreaking. They all have nasal discharge now, so I know it came from the one gosling who was a lone hatch and showed the symptoms first.

I should have been aware that low fertility was a sign because the disease destroys phallic tissue in ganders - out of six eggs, only two developed. I should have been even more aware when the other egg went all the way to hatch, internally pipped, and then was too sick to make it and had a nasty infection inside the shell and in the yolk. I should have paid closer attention to Cookie's coughing, but since I wasn't worrying, I paid it no mind. So I just wanted to warn you all to be careful.

By any chance, did you get the eggs from someone here on BYC? If so, could you PM the user name to me? I hatched out three sebbies I got on here too. And while I don't see any signs of mycoplasma in my flock (YET) and they are almost 8 weeks old, I am seeing a lot of other issues in my flock, predator attacks aside.\

Although I wouldn't put fertility into the ring of issues so easily. Yeah it may be related, but EVERYONE seems to be having fertility issues this year, after the bad winter, and drenching spring. I figured between reading everyone's issues with hatching this year, losing my own chickens to predators (which aren't normally this bad), losing LOTS of chicks to mysterious death (I have five at the poultry lab now, just waiting on results), and the other issues here and there, that this entire year is just a wash out. Skeeter's death was my last straw, where I decided to give up on pretty much everything until next spring.

 

[Pyxis]

By any chance, did you get the eggs from someone here on BYC? If so, could you PM the user name to me? I hatched out three sebbies I got on here too. And while I don't see any signs of mycoplasma in my flock (YET) and they are almost 8 weeks old, I am seeing a lot of other issues in my flock, predator attacks aside.\

Although I wouldn't put fertility into the ring of issues so easily. Yeah it may be related, but EVERYONE seems to be having fertility issues this year, after the bad winter, and drenching spring. I figured between reading everyone's issues with hatching this year, losing my own chickens to predators (which aren't normally this bad), losing LOTS of chicks to mysterious death (I have five at the poultry lab now, just waiting on results), and the other issues here and there, that this entire year is just a wash out. Skeeter's death was my last straw, where I decided to give up on pretty much everything until next spring.

I actually got the eggs on eBay, although they may be here on BYC too. I'll pm you the name and see if it rings any bells for you. Yeah, in my case I know it's mycoplasma because of the coughing and nasal discharge, and the chicks that got it and the marans got the swollen eyes and eye bubbles too. So sorry about your roo

 

[Iain Utah]

sorry to hear of all the fox problems.. it's hard to keep everyone safe.

Serv. you have a beautiful set up and birds. I bet everyone is glad to be back as one big flock

4 Embden and 1 Buff dewlap toulouse this week here. I've quit setting eggs so only 3 more weeks and I turn everything off. Marie has decided to join Napoleon on the nest, but she's acting more in a protector role (poor ducks

). I need to candle those and see if they are growing. I have a hen and a scovie hen also on nest... so lots of babies to come.

Beautiful babies!! Congrats on a wonderful hatching season!!

J so sorry for all your losses this year and sure hope you can catch this killer, do you know for sure it's a fox? glad everyone is being locked up for their own protection.

Based on kill pattern and tracks, the local fox trapping experts are convinced it is a fox. I hope we can catch the killer soon, as I don't want to have to keeping locking everyone up for too long.

Ya'll Missy's egg looks like this

according to Metzers this is day 24 she has not be sitting full time but 2 weeks this past Monday how can this be?

still seeing movement in there.

How exciting!!! Yay!!

She's stuck like glue too, I had to pick her up and put her outside so she would eat. That part worries me she hasn't been eating much at all, when you have gosling with their parents what do you use for water? all my flock uses gallon buckets and i have plastic containers with lid with a hole cut in for babies but I can guarantee you everyone is going to use the container and muck it up till it's mud. I'll just have to check it often to make sure there's water in it. I'm a nervous wreck you'd think nothing ever hatched here.

Have you tried putting food/water next to her nest? My girls all seem to appreciate that. I start with a shallow Tupperware for the 1st few days, then either move up to a pyrex baking dish or black rubber bowl.

Haha, don´t worry.. she´ll eat when she has to. When I have a goose with goslings, I put in a small cat-litter tray of water with a brick outside and inside for them to reach it. Mum drinks it too, and they just follow suit. Don´t worry about the baby getting into the water, it has Missy to keep it warm. Here´s a pic to remind you what mine looked like...You can always put it near the big one so Missy can wash her face too. Can you see a little one in the water?

Cute!

 

[Iain Utah]

Here are pics of my goslings as of today. The older pair are almost big enough to integrate (with parents) into main group yard. The little African still has a ways to go before ready to venture into the African group, but will at least get to move to an temporary outdoor pen by next week. I only know what gender the buff Toulouse is. Serv, any ideas what gender the grey Toulouse and brown African are??

 

[livininbrazil]

I actually got the eggs on eBay, although they may be here on BYC too. I'll pm you the name and see if it rings any bells for you. Yeah, in my case I know it's mycoplasma because of the coughing and nasal discharge, and the chicks that got it and the marans got the swollen eyes and eye bubbles too. So sorry about your roo

So sorry to hear about this. How terribly disheartening. There´s someone on another thread that spoke of chickens getting bubbly eyes. I´ll have to look up micoplasma, don´t know what it is.

Here are pics of my goslings as of today. The older pair are almost big enough to integrate (with parents) into main group yard. The little African still has a ways to go before ready to venture into the African group, but will at least get to move to an temporary outdoor pen by next week. I only know what gender the buff Toulouse is. Serv, any ideas what gender the grey Toulouse and brown African are??

Lovely babies.

 

[ChickDancer]

Just giving everyone an update, Pyxis and I did NOT get our sebbie eggs from the same source. I still need to find out what's wrong with my actual chickens, and take that little fox down. But the geese are healthy as far as I know, and safe.

I am waiting on a report for five chick corpses I sent to the Georgia Poultry Lab for necropsy. If it is something treatable, and my flock isn't carrying anything, I'm going to donate some sebbie eggs to Pyxis next spring to help rebuild that flock. Anyone else want to help? Unfortunately, I don't have Marans chickens breeding yet so I can't help replace those. Just have a lonely Cuckoo Marans roo.

 

[RURU]

Today I got a big surprise after I got home from dialysis!!! My beautiful white Sebastopol Samantha who is going on I believe 8 years old hatched out two goslings this morning or last night. I am thrilled because there is a beautiful solid grey female and a grey saddleback which I am not sure of sex. But I have waited years since she had her other grey female which a white chinese gander that was sent to me by accident, drowned my grey. I know he did because I caught him trying to drowned Spicie my grey splash gander from that same hatch years ago.

Anyway here are the new kids on the block here...






There are still eggs in with Samantha. So not sure if any more will hatch...???

 

[Starfire669]

Just giving everyone an update, Pyxis and I did NOT get our sebbie eggs from the same source. I still need to find out what's wrong with my actual chickens, and take that little fox down. But the geese are healthy as far as I know, and safe.


I am waiting on a report for five chick corpses I sent to the Georgia Poultry Lab for necropsy. If it is something treatable, and my flock isn't carrying anything, I'm going to donate some sebbie eggs to Pyxis next spring to help rebuild that flock. Anyone else want to help? Unfortunately, I don't have Marans chickens breeding yet so I can't help replace those. Just have a lonely Cuckoo Marans roo.

It depends on what Pyrxis is wanting bird wise. I have some Chinese and African geese, some Cayuga ducks, and a very mixed flock of large breed brown egg layers. All my birds are hatchery birds and very healthy. If you don't care if the chickens are pure breds I can donate some eggs. I have a black Austrolorp X white Leghorn rooster and BR, RIR, SLW, BO, and BA pullets. When they start laying, which should be in 2 months I can check for fertility. My Cayuga ducks are only a week old, but I can offer some eggs after I know they are fertile. The geese I have to wait till next spring as they are only 15 weeks. I think others on this thread have older more experienced geese than I do. You would do better to get geese from older more mature birds for better fertility.