Let's have a gosling hatchalong!

[pete55]

Good luck Iain

What stage is the Buff at? I assume past the external pipping point as you must be able to see the beak colour?

 

[RURU]

Pete on the Blue SB gosling the mother Hanna is a grey SB curly. The father Nikki is a solid Lavender curly.

On the Gloria goslings.
Gloria is a solid grey curly breasted and the father is a Grey SB smooth breasted.

If I understand right with Gloria being asolid grey female and the gander being grey SB would that make the SB babies female or could be both male and female SB. But read that with the father being a SB the males would be grey???

 

[DaisyMeadow]

Pete, since you're online now, perhaps you can answer my color question? I posted my Embdens previously and one looks like it will just be grey, while the others are white. Is that normal?

 

[DaisyMeadow]

Also, my Toulouse and Embden/Chinese mixes hatched out yesterday. I got 17/20 success. But the farmer didn't mark the eggs. Being a noob, I have no idea what to look for. About half are dark with dark bills, and the other half are yellow with brown/grey saddles and yellow/orange bills.

I have an interested buyer, but I can't tell him what breed or sex any of them are.

I'll try to post pics later today.

 

[Irishgirl]

I also have a question. Why do you feed goslings brewer's yeast if you don't have waterfowl starter, and what age can you stop feeding the yeast to them?

 

[pips&peeps]

I'm doing the same thing Iain and RURU. Have a weak one that didn't pip on it's own, got it pipped and it is breathing good now an talking to me. Just waiting on the yolk sac................

 

[Iain Utah]

Pete, she internally pipped some time yesterday and based on lack of activity last night, I didn't expect her to be alive this morning. Needless to say, I was surprised she was still going when I externally pipped her 4 hours ago. She has a lot of fluid inside her sac and the beak is at tip of fat end (the egg itself is more narrow torpedo shaped). She is breathing steady but not active. I can take a pic?

I had a bad feeling when going into lockdown about the hard hatch yesterday. He was making a honk sound instead of a peep. I am amazed he internally and externally pipped (using his foot) with beak against abdomen. He appears swollen with fluid, but has receded a lot and overall made steady improvement. He no longer makes a honking sound and is sitting and holding head up. Here is a pic of the three from yesterday.... the hard hatchling is the far left.

 

[pete55]

Hi Barb

Sorry to mislead but I think the new baby may be a Blue SB, it looked so sweet and feminine I thought it may be a female. However from that mating you can get 50% Blue SB (in either sex) and 50% Solid Blues (in either sex but males split for SB).

In the Gloria mating you should get 50% Solid Grey males and 50% SB Grey females.

DaisyMeadow - I saw your Embdens and think something very strange is going on there with the darker gosling. Looks like a rouge egg has slipped in there. Did your geese lay the eggs or were they shipped?

As for your last hatch I would think its safe to assume the darker billed goslings are your Chinese and the goslings with lighter coloured beaks are Embdens. Those with the fainter saddleback pattern in the goslings with pale beaks are probably females as the males tend to be more yellow.

Irishgirl - Niacin is a Vitamin required for health but in waterfowl in often shows as mobility problems and swollen leg joints. Most waterfowl feeds have this at the correct level but you can supplement with brewers yeast and access to good grazing.

Pete

 

[pete55]

Iain - as its only approx' 24 hours since internal pipping I would expect much activity and its only now that external pipping would occur- usually 12 - 24 hours after IP with Dewlaps. The fact she's breathing is good as more moisture is lost through respiration too. You may have to observe with a pen torch for withdrawal of the yolk sac and the vessels receding before further intervention. Is she at the same stage of incubation as the others that hatched.

The last male Dewlap does sound like he was carrying additional fluid and over the first day this excess is lost. Just encourage drinking (yes I know its extra fluids but got to kick start kidney function). often a great way to shift excess fluid is to blend dandelion leaves and strain off the liquid. Its a natural diuretic

 

[DaisyMeadow]

Thanks, Pete!

The Embdens were from another farm. I will contact her and find out what the possible parentage is.

As far as this new batch, guess I should clarify that there are two types: half are purebred Toulouse, and the other half are a Chinese/Embden mix. I will post pics as soon as I can. Hard to get them to hold still so you can see their coloring. Right now I just have a kiddie pool full of noisy fluff.

I also have Sebbie/Tufted Roman mixes. But I know which ones those knotheads are.

Will these lose their color distinctions and should I leg band them so I can tell the sexes apart when they get older?