Mar21
In the Brooder
Hi 
I've been loving this site since we were given a lost little gosling last week! I live in the country on a small sanctuary farm for old and/or abused animals with my parents and my brother; we have had chickens before but never have we ever dreamed of raising waterfowl!
This little guy I'm going to attempt to attach a picture of is Merlin! He is the sweetest little gosling, and I have no idea what type of goose he actually is. I'm hoping he isn't a Canadian goose, but rather a Toulouse or African, because he fits in so well here! Of course we can't keep Canadian geese because that's a federal offense, but the poor little dude follows me everywhere and I really am nervous about giving him up to a rehab center because someone said they usually just cull geese. My mother has been a veterinarian technician for over 30 years so she is luckily equipped to deal with a variety of animals, but she has limited experience with waterfowl.
For now, little Merlin is enjoying his time following me around the yard, eating grass, sleeping on my chest, etc. etc. We are feeding him non-medicated chick starter for now, but he mainly eats greens and will very loudly let me know when he wants more lol. I feel terribly for him because he's the only gosling we have. I've been looking around for ducklings or other goslings for him, but apparently they aren't really in season in my area anymore. We're going to be building him a coop and a small in ground pond for when he gets older and feathers out, but for now we have an very large dog crate in our garage with shavings and hay for him. He also has a small fan because it's around 90 degrees now. I try to keep him with me as much as possible, but we have 10 small dogs and they very much enjoy barking at him, which freaks him out. I'm attempting to move him to my bedroom to sleep and stay cool, but I need to wait until my mom is back from a vet conference in Virginia.
I hope I'm doing some things right ^^" I guess we are going to add geese/ducks to our little farm now! I'm very excited to share this brand new journey with Merlin and everyone here I hope to learn as much as I can!
I've been loving this site since we were given a lost little gosling last week! I live in the country on a small sanctuary farm for old and/or abused animals with my parents and my brother; we have had chickens before but never have we ever dreamed of raising waterfowl!
This little guy I'm going to attempt to attach a picture of is Merlin! He is the sweetest little gosling, and I have no idea what type of goose he actually is. I'm hoping he isn't a Canadian goose, but rather a Toulouse or African, because he fits in so well here! Of course we can't keep Canadian geese because that's a federal offense, but the poor little dude follows me everywhere and I really am nervous about giving him up to a rehab center because someone said they usually just cull geese. My mother has been a veterinarian technician for over 30 years so she is luckily equipped to deal with a variety of animals, but she has limited experience with waterfowl.
For now, little Merlin is enjoying his time following me around the yard, eating grass, sleeping on my chest, etc. etc. We are feeding him non-medicated chick starter for now, but he mainly eats greens and will very loudly let me know when he wants more lol. I feel terribly for him because he's the only gosling we have. I've been looking around for ducklings or other goslings for him, but apparently they aren't really in season in my area anymore. We're going to be building him a coop and a small in ground pond for when he gets older and feathers out, but for now we have an very large dog crate in our garage with shavings and hay for him. He also has a small fan because it's around 90 degrees now. I try to keep him with me as much as possible, but we have 10 small dogs and they very much enjoy barking at him, which freaks him out. I'm attempting to move him to my bedroom to sleep and stay cool, but I need to wait until my mom is back from a vet conference in Virginia.
I hope I'm doing some things right ^^" I guess we are going to add geese/ducks to our little farm now! I'm very excited to share this brand new journey with Merlin and everyone here
I hope to learn as much as I can!
