Goslings of 2014 Hatch-a-long

[livininbrazil]

Update: Oliver Snow is now comfortable with his new house and me. He knows his name and as soon as I walk out of the house he sees me and honks once. When I call his name he will honk. The ducks have taught him to run up to me and compete for the food I have in my hand and I drop on the ground. He and the other ducks were trying to practically climb on my lap to get the pellets I was holding (Mazuri Maintenance) yesterday!

How do I keep him running up to me and eating out of my hand (or beside me) without getting too pushy? When the ducks eat out of my hand they dont pinch my skin, he does. Today he tried to nibble at my shoes. He is now comfortable being held but still runs from me when I dont have food.

Forest is still terrified of him. My husband built a partition on our florida porch so I can bring Ollie in and spend time with Forest where she is comfortable.

I brought in Violet (one of our new juvenile runner/cayuga ducks). Violet liked being inside but Forest was afraid of her too. How do I get her used to other birds?

Just what your doing putting up a partition so they can see each other but no touching. When I brought home my goose at 4 months old for Sam who was 5yrs old and had bonded with Muscovy's it took at least 3 months for them to bond, she was willing but not him so it does take time but it will happen. Best way to keep Oliver from nipping is to feed in something, I have an old pot with a handle I am using now graduated from a plastic butter bowl that way no nipping when they are being piggy.

As Lydia said about the pot..... I have pilgrims as you know, and they´re so sweet. I´ve never had any agro trouble from them, but I still use the pot, it´s so much easier. I use little margarine pots, they recognise them, and come running. It´s very useful.
Forest will get there, just needs lots of patience. Have you tried feeding Ollie from a pot, and leaving Forest to approach you both while he eats? Maybe have a pot of something for her when she gets close enough...then she´s choosing to approach him. Just make sure he doesn´t try to push her off, that´s all. Lots of patience, but they will be fine once she´s ready.
Just out of curiosity, did you give her a mirror when she was small? How is she with a mirror now?

 

[andreacroyle]

How is she with a mirror now?

thanks for the advice from you both. I had forgotten about the pot you suggested for Forest a while back. she never nips. She stands by me when Ollie is there eating but if anyone approaches her she honks (more like a scream) and runs away. I dont know if they want to get close to her to say hi or peck. She doesnt let them get close enough.

no, i didnt use a mirror, I didnt know I should have and now that she is older I definitely know that she doesnt think she is a bird. Someone on a facebook forum suggested that they use baby toys for their indoor goose so I found some cheap ones from a thrift store last week. She loves the goose stuffed animal and a baby mobile. it has a mirror on it. when she looked in the mirror it got her attention, but she had a look like..."what is that".

Lydia, I didnt think of separating the two birds! I do it all the time with new dogs, i even did it with all the new ducks i brought home.

 

[livininbrazil]

thanks for the advice from you both. I had forgotten about the pot you suggested for Forest a while back. she never nips. She stands by me when Ollie is there eating but if anyone approaches her she honks (more like a scream) and runs away. I dont know if they want to get close to her to say hi or peck. She doesnt let them get close enough.

no, i didnt use a mirror, I didnt know I should have and now that she is older I definitely know that she doesnt think she is a bird. Someone on a facebook forum suggested that they use baby toys for their indoor goose so I found some cheap ones from a thrift store last week. She loves the goose stuffed animal and a baby mobile. it has a mirror on it. when she looked in the mirror it got her attention, but she had a look like..."what is that".

Lydia, I didnt think of separating the two birds! I do it all the time with new dogs, i even did it with all the new ducks i brought home.

Aandrea, I think if you gave her a mirror now it´d help a lot... but a good-sized one, that she can see herself in. This goose that she sees will only 'go' toward her if she choose to go toward it. If you have dogs, you can apply a lot of this to geese. It´s just association, like if you have a pup and it´s frightened, and you 'oh, poor baby, come to mummy', it thinks it was right to be frightened. If you just carry on, it thinks 'oh, well, that´s normal then'. etc. And popping a little fence in between them will give her a little extra security, like Lyd said.
And the pot, it´s just so useful, even if the geese don´t nip, it´s an association tool.
Great pic of her with her toys, btw.

 

[andreacroyle]

Aandrea, I think if you gave her a mirror now it´d help a lot... but a good-sized one, that she can see herself in. This goose that she sees will only 'go' toward her if she choose to go toward it. If you have dogs, you can apply a lot of this to geese. It´s just association, like if you have a pup and it´s frightened, and you 'oh, poor baby, come to mummy', it thinks it was right to be frightened. If you just carry on, it thinks 'oh, well, that´s normal then'. etc. And popping a little fence in between them will give her a little extra security, like Lyd said.
And the pot, it´s just so useful, even if the geese don´t nip, it´s an association tool.
Great pic of her with her toys, btw.

Thanks so much! I gave her a mirror last night. She was interested but it might have been because she wants to peck at anything silver and reflective. thanks for the advice. do you have time to take gosling pics today =) i think its been about a week.

oh! I have a question for you! when your imprinted goslings started to get upset because they wanted to come back inside with you and the other outside goslings werent sure what to make of it, what did you do? did you bring the imprints back in?

 

[livininbrazil]

Thanks so much! I gave her a mirror last night. She was interested but it might have been because she wants to peck at anything silver and reflective. thanks for the advice. do you have time to take gosling pics today =) i think its been about a week.

oh! I have a question for you! when your imprinted goslings started to get upset because they wanted to come back inside with you and the other outside goslings werent sure what to make of it, what did you do? did you bring the imprints back in?

Just having the mirror there will get her used to seeing another goose...No goz pics today of the first batch, nor the second, nor third, as they´re all ouide with their parents and it´s rainings. The gozzies are loving it, though! Just the week-olds in her with me, and another that hatched last night which will go back out with a broody goose this afternoon. The goose is actually a year-old which I left sitting on 2 eggs, (one´s hers, another´s a cross-bred goose´s) not expecting anything, and she´s been a fantastic sitter but when they´d pipped, I brought one indoors just in case of accidents with hatching, and while this one hatched indoors, she hatched out her own little one last night, so this tiny one will go out with her, and yet another one that´s pipped and is on its way...so she´ll have three to look after, and I´ll keep the two very imprinted ones.
My imprinted goslings are introduced to the other geese at just a week old, and they stay in their little run a yard square with a little roof on it, out with the other geese. There´s always company for them, as the ganders can´t resist sticking close. That way, they get used to being with the other geese.
In your case, if I´m not mistaken, Forest was used to being on her own outside before you got Ollie? Was she ok, or did she panic?
If she was fine before, but is now making a fuss, go back to leaving her out there on her own (but with mirror, of course, away from the others, then once she´s settled with doing that many times,
many days, then you could let one of the other birds get closer, but have something to do yourself out there, like pulling up weeds, or something, so it all looks quite normal to her....and proceed like that, little by little. Goslings with their parents learn overtime to recognise and mix with other birds. She´ll do the same, but like dogs, they take their cue from you, so the more you worry, the more she will.
I have 2 very suspicious geese that are trying to make their goslings nervous of me, by snaking their necks, etc (2 I bought, a bit wild), but the babies are learning slowly that I bring food, so to eat, they have to come close to me.....their fear that the mother is instilling in them will diminish bit by bit as they´re lerning that nothing nasty happens, which is why I suggested about separate pots to feed them, because that way Ollie will be quite happy eating out of his own pot, likewise Forest, and without the threat of getting a telling-off, she´ll learn that he´s ok. blah, blah....

 

[andreacroyle]

That is great advice! Thanks for all of it. Forest has never been okay outside without me. If I am outside then she wants to be with me instead of across the yard in the duck area. I started the "pots" today. it looks funny with each duck's head sticking out of the pot. it was funny. i only had one and each duck awaited their turn. i like spreading it out on the ground/. it seems everyone gets an equal amount of it. my only drake scovie will go around to everyone and steal what each is eating, with bowls he would chase them away from each bowl. when it is spread out, they dont seem to get chased away.

It's crazy how one scared duck (or mean duck) can change the entire dynamics of the entire flock. We released two mean drakes that were rehabs, gave back three of the scared ducks that would run and only left one scared pretty duck. Now that she is around the nice ducks that dont run from us, she is slowly learning to trust us.


what is head snaking ? is it where they point their head straight out forward and squawk?

 

[livininbrazil]

Well, they put their necks out far and low.
And, as regards Forest, it´s only because she imprinted on nyou. My goslings stay with their parents until they´re chased off at next breeding season, sao they stay with parents a long time naturally. So, that explains Forest, too.

 

[nate1the1great1]

Thanks all for the info and help just checked on him/ her and found it dead bugger!

Same happened to me accept it was under her mama and it died

 

[livininbrazil]

Well the last egg under the desk lamp in the kitchen has hatched, so both goslings have gone out under the yearling goose that successfully hatched out her own egg, all beit rather small. Her gosling is surviving, AND I movedher nest, as she´d built it in such a terrible place for goslings, right on the edge of a drainage ditch! so, I moved her nest, her, her gosling....not too happy about that, but then I got some false eggs and put them in her nest, and the other gos that hatched yesterday, and then she was a little more settled. This morning she was ok, so I put the third gos out with her, and she seems quite happy there. Phew! So now I have the 6, the 4, the two, the other two that are with me, and now 3 more, so that´s 17 goslings so far, and I still have geese sitting on small numbers of eggs; 2, 2, 3, and 5 eggs, so 12 eggs still to go. The one sitting on the 5 eggs should be interesting, she´s the pied that has bred with her nephew, who´s a pied, so I´m looking forward to seeing what comes out of that.

Pics to follow when I have time.

 

[andreacroyle]

Well the last egg under the desk lamp in the kitchen has hatched, so both goslings have gone out under the yearling goose that successfully hatched out her own egg, all beit rather small. Her gosling is surviving, AND I movedher nest, as she´d built it in such a terrible place for goslings, right on the edge of a drainage ditch! so, I moved her nest, her, her gosling....not too happy about that, but then I got some false eggs and put them in her nest, and the other gos that hatched yesterday, and then she was a little more settled. This morning she was ok, so I put the third gos out with her, and she seems quite happy there. Phew! So now I have the 6, the 4, the two, the other two that are with me, and now 3 more, so that´s 17 goslings so far, and I still have geese sitting on small numbers of eggs; 2, 2, 3, and 5 eggs, so 12 eggs still to go. The one sitting on the 5 eggs should be interesting, she´s the pied that has bred with her nephew, who´s a pied, so I´m looking forward to seeing what comes out of that.

Pics to follow when I have time.

Wow! that is really exciting! I am not sure that I could keep up with so many animals. I have my 10yr old son (which I homeschool), 6 indoor dogs, a cat, 7 ducks and the 2 geese. Some days I feel very overwhelmed with all of my responsibilities. I am inspired by your posts because you raise your geese so well and still have time to reply to all of my questions! I hope the eggs under the pied parents hatch! I cant wait to see pics of them!.

Holding the pot seems to be working good. I am going to get another one so i can hold two. I let them out of their night time run and then they follow me quacking (the cayuga mixes are louder than i expected) and Oliver chatters gosling chatter. He does head snake at me while following me for food. I thought it was more of a demand for food, but could it be that he is still scared?
After I give everyone a little nibble in the bucket (pot), I spread the food out on the ground so they can graze on it. So, I make them come to me before I will feed them. So far it has helped a lot!