Help - hatching goslings for the first time.....

[Iain Utah]

No problem, Hayley. It was only 3 short months ago when I hatched out my 1st set of goslings and was grateful that I had Pete to guide me through it. Glad to pay it forward.

It will be fine to use auto turner, even though you started with manual turning. Just don't forget to turn it off and lay on sides about 5-6 days before hatch.

 

[Hatty1]

We bought 2 Embden cross geese from market (charlie & lola), we were sold them as a pair. We then bought a pair of chinese geese the female maisy is white and the gander Nibbles is brown.

The Embden crosses both lay eggs so obviously not a pair and Nibbles gave maisy the sholder and shacked up with the embdens I feel really sorry for Maisy but if one of these chicks is a gander we may lock them together for a while and she will hopefully have a partner ;0).

Maybe the Embden were crossed with toulouse and its come out in these babies but I don't know what different breeds look like as chicks.I will be happy with whatever we get we are very lucky to have them.

We purchased a smallholding last year and renovated the farm house, we wanted some geese to help keep the grass down, especially the bank side of the brook, this is why we got the geese. We now have 13 hens, 13 ducks, 4 geese, 1 gosling and maybe a few more

, 2 cats, 2 dogs, 2 rabbits and 4 guinea pigs!!!!

 

[1MrsMagoo]

We bought 2 Embden cross geese from market (charlie & lola), we were sold them as a pair. We then bought a pair of chinese geese the female maisy is white and the gander Nibbles is brown.

The Embden crosses both lay eggs so obviously not a pair and Nibbles gave maisy the sholder and shacked up with the embdens I feel really sorry for Maisy but if one of these chicks is a gander we may lock them together for a while and she will hopefully have a partner ;0).

Maybe the Embden were crossed with toulouse and its come out in these babies but I don't know what different breeds look like as chicks.I will be happy with whatever we get we are very lucky to have them.

We purchased a smallholding last year and renovated the farm house, we wanted some geese to help keep the grass down, especially the bank side of the brook, this is why we got the geese. We now have 13 hens, 13 ducks, 4 geese, 1 gosling and maybe a few more

, 2 cats, 2 dogs, 2 rabbits and 4 guinea pigs!!!!

Your plan sounds just wonderful. Our geese keep our front lawn mowed to about 1/2 inch in length. The have a large field, probably 1/2 acre, in which to graze but like the front yard better as they seem to prefer the native grasses over the pasture grass we planted.

Best of luck with goslings #2: The first one is completely adorable!

 

[Iain Utah]

Hayley, it sounds wonderful. I have a good feeling about baby #2 making it, too. So far, so good!

 

[Hatty1]

We've now moved Booboo out of the incubator she/he was all over the place!

Now onto Baby#2 The membrane was really dried out, I took some more of the shell off as I couldn't wet the membrane very well and it looks like the membrane has come away from the outer shell to as far down the inside of the egg i can see, is this what you call shrink wrapping? I have wet down as much as I can, have a read somewhere that I could drown the gosling if I use too much water is this correct?

Where do we go from here? Do I need to get up every 2 hrs to wet down or will it be ok over night?

Thanks Hayley

 

[Iain Utah]

Not sure what you mean. The inner membrane fits around baby like a sack. Then there is an outer membrane that is flushed against the inside of the shell.

Shrink wrap is where the inner membrane has lost too much moisture and instead of fitting baby like a glove, it starts to shrink and suction onto baby causing it to get stuck. However, if baby can move his beak around ok, you should be ok to leave him for 4-6 hours. Make sure your humidity is really high in bator.

Unless you are soaking the baby so that his beak could find itself sitting in a pool, I find it unlikely you could drown it. Lots of people use mist bottles and spray membrane without any problems.

 

[Hatty1]

Thats what I'm doing mist spraying, I did use a dropper to wet down but it wasn't really wetting it just running off the membrane. I got some cotton buds and gently wet the edges direct. Now I've got them moist enough I'm trying to keep on top of it with the mist

Booboo is cherping away as I type just hope she stays with us

 

[Iain Utah]

Not sure you saw my question before... or if you answered and I missed it. So I'll ask again. Is Booboo flipping over on her back? Or would you describe it more like drunken sailor movement?

 

[Hatty1]

Hi,

Sorry totally missed that, yes she was flipping over on her back, today she seem more stable, last night we thought that was how she slept but today she is much better on her feel. She was like a drunken sailor!

On a very sad note, we came down this morning to find Baba had hatched herself, only a little round like belly button thing where her abdo was so she hatched much better than Booboo, unfortunately she passed away at around 10am

I do have to say tho she was making strange noises when breathing and I didn't hold out much hope in a funny kind of way I knew, she wasn't anything like Booboo.

How do I get Booboo to feed? Michael has bought some Poulry tonic so I've done her some of that, she drinks by herself with no problems.

I candled the other 6 goose eggs this morning and out of the 6 in the bator 5 are fertile, they have the dot with lots of veins. They are day 6 and I've started the spraying and put the automatic turner on but will manually flip over (not in a hard handed way) once a day.

I'm am really sad that Baba never made it but I do think it was just down to something not being right.

Hayleyx

 

[Iain Utah]

Hayley, it happens.... a lot! I am very grateful that you have Booboo, given this was your first gosling hatch .... and assisted!!

Flipping onto back is not good. Glad to hear she is not doing it today!! Offer her mashed hard boiled egg yolk. You don't want to start her on starter food until tomorrow.