Goslings of 2014 Hatch-a-long

[andreacroyle]

Livin light purple beak means that the gosling will be lavender gosling but turn whiter like miss penny penny lavender but we will see that

what is considered a lavender gosling? is it the very silver metallic coloring? All of Forest's under feathers are very silver, but i cant seem to capture them on camera cause they are so shiny.

 

[andreacroyle]

The skin looks good when they´re in the roasting tray.

He and his brother have now formed a mini-gang down there to protect on of their sisters who´s sitting on the tiniest egg! Teenagers!
The voice and the behaviour are the sure things to go by.

Okay! that makes sense with the white feathers and why farmer breeds out all the black spots. we took 4 ducklings and choose them because they did have spots, it was easier to tell them apart. only the boy (Harry) kept his spot on his head. All three girls lost them and now we have to watch their personality to tell them apart. I was thinking about how to mark them to tell them apart. its hard because they have a pool, food coloring came right off. it was fun seeing a blueish white scovie walking around for a couple of hours though!

what age do geese start laying? I dont think Forest will go broody only because she is a special bird, but when i get the other two pils tomorrow, it might change things. I still wonder because she is handled so much.

Oh! Since I cant free range. (We have an abundance of coons, possums, raptures and my friend spotted a fox this weekend)

Could I please have some advice on the best size night time (outside) coop for the new pils I am getting. By the end of the year, they will have an awesome enclosure for the nighttime. I just need to find specs and design it. my husband is a contractor, so as soon as i come up with what i want, he will build it for me. During the day they (Forest only if we are out there) all forage in my fenced in yard. So far, they have been safe, but we never see predators in this area of the city until around 5pm (the time they put themselves to bed inside their run, it's cute)

 

[andreacroyle]

Sounds like someone just learning to play the trumpet.

Funny you said that! I told Saireth (my son) last night that it sounded like Forest had a frog playing a broken trumpet inside of her throat! Ha! ironically, (just thought of it) Forest's calm down and go to sleep music is Chris Botti!!

 

[livininbrazil]

Most of us don't even want to visualize our ducks in a roasting pan.

Well neither one of my babies act ganderish YET but they are maybe not old enough. They do come out of their house every morning talking every breath like Sam does. but their voices are so shrill right now, hoping that will change as they mature, Sounds like someone just learning to play the trumpet.

Still little babies. I always try to figure out the voices at this age, but never can. Just have to wait.

I started figuring out which 3 were the males when they were about 6 months old.

 

[livininbrazil]

Okay! that makes sense with the white feathers and why farmer breeds out all the black spots. we took 4 ducklings and choose them because they did have spots, it was easier to tell them apart. only the boy (Harry) kept his spot on his head. All three girls lost them and now we have to watch their personality to tell them apart. I was thinking about how to mark them to tell them apart. its hard because they have a pool, food coloring came right off. it was fun seeing a blueish white scovie walking around for a couple of hours though!

what age do geese start laying? I dont think Forest will go broody only because she is a special bird, but when i get the other two pils tomorrow, it might change things. I still wonder because she is handled so much.

Oh! Since I cant free range. (We have an abundance of coons, possums, raptures and my friend spotted a fox this weekend)

Could I please have some advice on the best size night time (outside) coop for the new pils I am getting. By the end of the year, they will have an awesome enclosure for the nighttime. I just need to find specs and design it. my husband is a contractor, so as soon as i come up with what i want, he will build it for me. During the day they (Forest only if we are out there) all forage in my fenced in yard. So far, they have been safe, but we never see predators in this area of the city until around 5pm (the time they put themselves to bed inside their run, it's cute)

a lot of us use cable ties on their legs to tell them apart.
I think any goose of the Pilgrim breed will go broody, seeing as they´re quite ready to raise youngsters. But how successful she´d be is another matter.

A big dog kennel would do fine. Don´t forget to post pics of the new arrivals. Be best to put them in a small fenced-off area just at the start, to let them get used to their new area and let Forest get used to them too. Just a little while, and they shd be fine. Just to avoid startling anyone.

 

[Miss Lydia]

Funny you said that! I told Saireth (my son) last night that it sounded like Forest had a frog playing a broken trumpet inside of her throat! Ha! ironically, (just thought of it) Forest's calm down and go to sleep music is Chris Botti!!

LOL gotta love them.

 

[Iain Utah]

Thanks, everyone! We are very happy with our newest addition.

Serv, we love our white scovy momma. She is one of the original scovy additions to our group but I hope the baby is not pure white. Daddy is a lightly marked lavender ancona and has thrown quite a few pure white babies, but this one has a bit of markings on him.

Andrea, have you had xrays taken of Forest's legs? If the right leg rotation is in the bone (not joint), it is fixable with surgery and could greatly improve mobility and thus quality of life.

 

[andreacroyle]

Andrea, have you had xrays taken of Forest's legs? If the right leg rotation is in the bone (not joint), it is fixable with surgery and could greatly improve mobility and thus quality of life.

Vet wanted to wait for her to be fully grown since things change so quickly. That is the plan though. I do appreciate your advice since there really isnt a lot of rehab info out there about pet geese and ducks.

Biggest concern is her hock joint. She had very little ligament strength when she was little. The only thing holding her bones together was her skin. Her ligaments have shortened and strengthened so much, but still not enough that i am comfortable leaving off the vet wrap. I think the rotation is also ligament related because foot/leg can be turned forward with no problem. she just cant keep it there. Vet was going to use a hobble (?) like they do with chicken that have splay feet, but it was way too much bracing for her, she kept falling over so vet said that it is better for her to deal with one thing at a time. Vet specializes in avian rehab and has a company lined up that will make a custom brace for her when needed. If she thinks GG (Forest) needs surgery, I think I will seek out someone that specializes in avian orthopedic surgery.

 

[Iain Utah]

With my deformed gander, we had xrays done at 5 weeks and it showed the rotation problems. While it takes 12-16 weeks to form fully mature bone structure, the deformities are unlikely to change. My vet tried soft and hard casts to help shape tendons between 5-9 weeks, which gave him temporary mobility with the aids, but didn't change the bone structure deformities. Spirit was 6 months old when he had bone corrective surgery performed. I could have done it as early as 4.5 months but we decided to wait until grass died off in late fall to allow him to enjoy those extra weeks of good weather.

 

[livininbrazil]

Vet wanted to wait for her to be fully grown since things change so quickly. That is the plan though. I do appreciate your advice since there really isnt a lot of rehab info out there about pet geese and ducks.

Biggest concern is her hock joint. She had very little ligament strength when she was little. The only thing holding her bones together was her skin. Her ligaments have shortened and strengthened so much, but still not enough that i am comfortable leaving off the vet wrap. I think the rotation is also ligament related because foot/leg can be turned forward with no problem. she just cant keep it there. Vet was going to use a hobble (?) like they do with chicken that have splay feet, but it was way too much bracing for her, she kept falling over so vet said that it is better for her to deal with one thing at a time. Vet specializes in avian rehab and has a company lined up that will make a custom brace for her when needed. If she thinks GG (Forest) needs surgery, I think I will seek out someone that specializes in avian orthopedic surgery.

Andrea, have you looked at Utah´s story about Spirit? It´s really interesting and encouraging.