Goslings of 2014 Hatch-a-long

[Starfire669]

The one on the right

In both of those pics, Cream, my suspected gander is on the right.

 

[8GeeseALaying]

Even with most of mine being chinese and one of the easiest due to the knob i have to wait a few months to tell.

 

[psue]

Next round is in the hatcher. Moved 6 goslings and 10 ducklings to the outside brooders today. It is very close to their daytime pen (if the weather ever warms up again). I have 2 goslings that are still hobbled and a late hatch duckling inside yet.
Yay for a shed with electricity

 

[Starfire669]

Even with most of mine being chinese and one of the easiest due to the knob i have to wait a few months to tell.

Unfortunately the hatchery the feedstore deals with won't wait that long. I have to contact them soon if Cream is a gander. We brought them to be sure we had a female for each of our 2 boys and paid extra for them. The hatchery garenties their sexing or they send you a new gosling. I need that 2nd female.

 

[Starfire669]

Next round is in the hatcher. Moved 6 goslings and 10 ducklings to the outside brooders today. It is very close to their daytime pen (if the weather ever warms up again).  I have 2 goslings that are still hobbled and a late hatch duckling inside yet.
Yay for a shed with electricity

Pics please!

 

[RURU]

Have two more goslings that hatched today and a third working it's way out. One of my grey goslings kept jumping into the water bowl and it had some of the egg sack still exposed and I believe that baby has picked up and infection and is fading on me!
Not eating just laying around. I have put electrolytes in the water and pushed baby's bill into it but nothing. So guess he has the fading gosling syndrome.. Such a shame I hate to lose babies!!!!!

 

[8GeeseALaying]

Im sorry Ruru

 

[livininbrazil]

And here are updated photos of my own gossies! Hope, Miracle, and Wonder have accepted a total of 8 ducklings into their own little flock. Five of those are just white pekins, but the other three are mallard (maybe), crested blue swedish and crested black swedish. The ducks all came from Tractor Supply, in their final shipment for the year. The mallard was smaller and thinner than another one in there that was almost definitely Rouen. But he's also bigger than the two swedish, so I don't really know which of the two he'll turn out to be.

I don't even know if it's a he or a she!

ANYWAY, here they are!



Miracle checking out the food bucket. She KNOWS what is in it, too!



Miracle again, looking for the next piece of grass to grab.



The oldest/largest duck so far. He's about 50/50 feathers and down. I forgot what my niece named him.



The three new ducklings - crested blue swedish, crested black swedish, and possible mallard.



Three new ducklings playing hide-and-seek with the geese and older ducks.



Wonder saying hello to the camera.



This photo actually looks bad at first, but Hope is actually nudging the duckling towards her. She took to the three new ducklings like they were HER babies! It was SO CUTE!




Part of the flock walking together.




I think someone has been here... maybe a hungry goose?



Miracle, Wonder, and a duck drinking from a plastic drawer



None of the ducks had any problem with the new babies. They all lounged together, swam together, and basked in the sun together!




Hope getting a quick bite.




Wonder making sure his flock is still nearby.



Hope grabbing another bite.



The babies playing near Hope.




The first snuggle between the older ones and younger ones. The mallard got up against this pekin, put his head on him like this, and dozed off. For a moment, anyway.



More munchies! Miracle and two of the ducks.

Lovely pics. How sweet they all are! I love the blue duck, too!

 

[livininbrazil]

Unfortunately the hatchery the feedstore deals with won't wait that long. I have to contact them soon if Cream is a gander. We brought them to be sure we had a female for each of our 2 boys and paid extra for them. The hatchery garenties their sexing or they send you a new gosling. I need that 2nd female.

Starfire, why don´t you keep the pair of Africans as a pair? You´ll find that people are looking for Africans, especially as they have a better reputation than Chinese. As you have pure-breds, why not keep pure-breds?

 

[Starfire669]

Starfire, why don´t you keep the pair of Africans as a pair?  You´ll find that people are looking for Africans, especially as they have a better reputation than Chinese.  As you have pure-breds, why not keep pure-breds?  

Didn't think of that. Hmm, that is a good point. so you think the hatcher would take Cream if I contacted them? Everyone I have asked says I would get to keep him and get the female I wanted, because of bio security reasons. I wasn't really wanting to give him back, I just have more suspected gander than geese and I wanted to have them at least in pairs to keep them somewhat happy during breeding season. A male African is not an issue, I could always try and find him a white girlfriend of either chinese or african blood, to go with his brown African girlfriend. And still have Snow as my Chinese gander. It wouldn't be a hard change to make, and might even allow me to play around mixing Chinese and African bloodlines, which could be fun. I already plan on mix breeding my chickens to create a better dual purpose bird for meat and egg production for myself, why not play goose breeder as well? Lol.

Dang, I went from chicken math to goose math without pause!

Cream, my suspect gander might be developing a dewlap. It is just a little saggy area under his chin, but it is cute!