Goslings with mother

[Goosehill]

Mother Goose successfully hatched 4 of 6 eggs (2/Oct) before leaving the nest, one of the remaining eggs was peeping and the other still/candled without any movement or much air cell development. I put the peeping egg under Aunty Goose, who has been sitting for a week now and it hatched yesterday afternoon, and she showed me the healthy and active gosling this morning. Mother Goose accepted it right away and Aunty has been generally ok about this arrangement so far.
I've been letting Mother Goose range with the others but am questioning the wisdom of this after observing her struggling to brood 5 goslings in wet weather while moving about with the others. This evening I put Mother Goose and her sister in the shelter together to ensure the goslings are dry and warm but I'm unsure if this should continue until the goslings are a bit older?

 

[Callender Girl]

I don't know the answer to your question, but I think it's so sweet that the mom and aunty are sharing care of the goslings (which tend to be among the cutest creatures on earth).

 

[Goosehill]

I don't know the answer to your question, but I think it's so sweet that the mom and aunty are sharing care of the goslings (which tend to be among the cutest creatures on earth).

The wittering of happy goslings is a really good thing to hear, just another cute factor

 

[Goosebaby]

You could bring the goslings in when it’s exceptionally wet and at night and have supervised outings with the mom and aunt until they’re a week or two old. This won’t affect the bond between them and the adults.

 

[Goosehill]

I've left Mother Goose and her sister in the pen today with the goslings and think maybe this arrangement is helpful, at least until the weather improves and the goslings get a bit bigger. I'm amazed at how fast they grow.
Putting them in the shelter last night ( the shelter is in the pen) seems to have it worked out as this evening they retired to the shelter without any encouragement at all.

 

[Tennessee Great Granny]

Mother Goose successfully hatched 4 of 6 eggs (2/Oct) before leaving the nest, one of the remaining eggs was peeping and the other still/candled without any movement or much air cell development. I put the peeping egg under Aunty Goose, who has been sitting for a week now and it hatched yesterday afternoon, and she showed me the healthy and active gosling this morning. Mother Goose accepted it right away and Aunty has been generally ok about this arrangement so far.
I've been letting Mother Goose range with the others but am questioning the wisdom of this after observing her struggling to brood 5 goslings in wet weather while moving about with the others. This evening I put Mother Goose and her sister in the shelter together to ensure the goslings are dry and warm but I'm unsure if this should continue until the goslings are a bit older?

I've got two females who live with one male in a large predator proof pen and Sophia has her nest and "Auntie" Beatrix also has a nest right besides Sophia's. They share nesting responsibilities but Sophia seldom leaves. Beatrix helps out all the time and I would not be surprised if some of those eggs aren't Beatrix's eggs. In the beginning when the eggs were starting to get too old to remain fertile for much longer we took them inside and incubated them. We sell those babies to pay for parents feed bill. The moms I already know will lovingly share the babies. But some that were laid and incubated at a later time I am sure Auntie will have these left overs to fend for while momma tends to the babies. We are making a slide proof (and fall off proof) ramp for their pen and as soon as babies come switching from their BIG pool to a tiny baby pool with easy baby in and out features. I just love our baby goslings. Even though the parents are feisty because they are nesting they stop the aggression when my son picks them up and give him goose kisses. The parents were once baby goslings we hand reared. Hopefully they will trust us with their kids. Parents get to raise their own kids, we only sell babies from eggs we swipe that they don't see.