Tennessee Great Granny
Chirping
- Mar 24, 2022
- 55
- 58
- 81
I'm adding Sebastopols to my waterfowls. I raise Buff Orpington ducks. I read up on hatching out the Sabastopols because they are expensive with a limited laying season and I wanted to keep gosling losses down to a minimum. I also wanted genetic diversity so I ordered three batches of eggs from 3 different areas of the nation. The first two batches came from experienced sellers. I got some nice sized eggs from older moms. Third batch I had to order twice because the first got here too long after laying and I was sure after ten days they were dead (plus they sat 4 days over a weekend in a very rural unheated post office before being sent back and forth between two wrong post offices. The reshipment came via express mail. All 4 were fertile but the problem came in that these were very small eggs and I suspect from newly laying geese. The shells were really tougher than nails and the membrane extremely thick. One managed to crack the shell quite a bit but could not puncture the membrane. They were assisted hatch all the way through. There was no bleeding and they were a day post hatch date. They were all weak and very exhausted. They were not rallying even after a long slumber. I finally started feeding them newborn duck/gosling super boost formula. I took an egg yolk from a duck (rich in omega three and stuff goslings need too- it's like mother's milk for ducklings and goslings)and mixed it with water, and some white sugar. Raw sugar has too much iron and it can be tough on a birds liver- honey has the potential for botulism and an immature immune system can't tell the difference between killed botulism that's been pasturized- or live botulism from raw unfiltered honey and that can quickly kill an already compromised newborn. So I chose white sugar. I added one microdrop vitamin d (for people babies- I had a free sample) and one drop of liquid B12 to the yolk and thinned it out with water made with poultry booster vitamins. Then I took a 3 cc syringe without any needle and gave them 1/4-1/2 cc of baby booster formula. I had to open their bills with the side of my thumbnail and then press the fleshy sides of the fingers of my other hand into the sides of the bills to hold it open enough to get the syringe tip into their mouths. This wasn't easy. They couldn't fight it at first because they were too weak but as they became stronger and fought it was a sign of them rallying. None of them could chirp because they were that weak. The strongest one actually started nibbling at the food on the tip of the syringe but it was not consuming enough. It was the first able to chirp. The smallest I worked up to 1.5 cc of baby booster and the largest baby got up to 2-1/2 - 3 cc. They actually started holding their heads up by the end of day two. None of them could stand until day three. That's when I started feeding them a watery gruel of Nature serve duck starter. For that I took a TB syringe-or a 1000 unit insulin syringe works just as fine. I used a serrated kitchen knife and cut off the needle end leaving a large bore opening for the gruel to come out of. Over the course of the day I got them interested in drinking vitamin/electrolyte enhanced water on their own, and then started to thicken the gruel to a soft paste. I knew they were ready to advance because they started drinking bath water. The weakest gosling sunk like a rock. I had to hold two of the others up with my hand after a short time and the strongest was okay in the water By the end of the that day they were walking around. It was a very short bath @ 100 degrees Fahrenheit (boy were they sticky with egg yolk!). The first couple days was rough because I was working with them every 2 to 3 hours and taking my time to get them fed but not stressed out. They did rally. I also knew they would be okay because they finally pooped, boy did they poop. I have 4 of the sweetest baby goslings that love to chatter with me. They are now on duck starter and are so lively and spunky. Those first days were a labor of love and it's paid off. I have twice given the weakest of the bunch a supplemental yolk feeding at bed time just to be sure. So that I was not giving them a bunch of bacteria laden booster formula, I made up a new batch every 4 hours. I did not refrigerate it because feeding newborns icy cold formula would have shocked them to death. I also kept them in the hatchery (my old 360 that doesn't turn any more) with a shelf liner anti-skid mat so when they took a tubby after being towel dried that they would be air dried finished quickly. The relative humidity of our ambient air is 49%. So I maintained a mildly moist environment of about 50% humidity. I love the 360 because it disinfects quite nicely unlike styrofoam which inbeds bacteria deep into every little nook and cranny. For now they have a sweet little brooder pen they love but experience tells me they grow very fast so these days are going to be short lived and they'll need a much bigger one soon. One thing I love over all other fowls with geese is that no matter the hatching date they will mix into a nice flock when they finally get to go outside. They never met another goose of their breed that didn't become family. My chickens take forever to adopt, but that is after all chicken politics! I hear geese are great watch dogs. We have cameras everywhere I'd be excited to see that in action! Many blessings for my fowl loving peers. Hope this success story helps someone else experiencing a difficult hatch.
