Mods- please move to "Geese"?- Growing Goslings!

[chickenlisa]

I'm having DSL issues today

what a pain! I started another thread a few days ago re the merging of the 2 groups. The first time didn't go great, and the 2nd time wasn't much better. My DD (11) gets so upset when the big boys start pushing around the little girls. The girls (Prissy, Pandora, and Porsche) are all doing great though. I put up a small window screen between them and they can see and hear each other now. I know what you mean about running out of room! I have a shed all cleaned out for them, I just have to put hay down on the floor. I'm wondering when I can move them out. I'm in NJ, so April can still get cold and we've had snow before at this time too. I'll rig up some fencing of some sort so they can come out of the shed but not free range yet. Maybe I'll just drag that playpen up to the doorway and take off 1 side of it...(thinking as I write....)
I'd like to have them altogether though when I move them out. I just put the 5th brooder box down in my basement. I've got 2 joined together for about 50 chicks and then the big stock tank divided into 2 parts, now a big rubbermaid tub for the new chicks who are hatching (yesterday and today and tomorrow and for the next few weeks.) I'll put the most feathered ones out soon- once we rearrange my other birds. They are running out of room too. I hate to see them crowded...
back to the geese- I've fed mine Collard Greens, Cabbage,Apple, and lettuce now. They love it all. I keep buying what's not too pricey at the grocery store and chopping it up for them. I can't wait to have my garden full of treats for them! They are so much fun though! The big 4 'talk' and come running to me whenever I'm near or they hear my voice. The little 3 don't do that yet, but I'm working on it. The big 4 are so distinctly boys and girl now- their colors are coming in so fast and so clearly!
Well, that's enough rambling for now- hope the DSL is working and it actually posts...

More pics soon....

 

[chickenlisa]

ok- my newest 3 "girls" are starting to grow and show some colors...they are all outside in a shed and penned area, so I can compare colors on the younger 3 to the older 4. 2 of the "vent sexed girls" are turning white like the 3 older boys and have been bigger since the beginning. 1 has been and is smaller (Prissy) and staying gray like Penny, the gray older one. What am I to do? Ideal said they vent sexed these and hand picked 3 girls. I had slight doubts from the very beginning b/c only 1 (Prissy) had the very dark bill and feet. But I trusted what Mykaela said and believed them to be girls and named them girl names. Now what if I have 5 boys and 2 girls? What would you all do? Should I take new pics so you can help me? I am so disillusioned at this point.

 

[chickenlisa]

Pics taken this morning...
1st is a group shot of the 4 older ones and 3 younger ones...(about 5 and 3 weeks old)

the younger 3:

size comparison of 2 younger ones:

What do you think re the sexes of all and the size of Prissy?
Thanks,Lisa

 

[Wifezilla]

LOL...don't you just love the awkward teenager phase?

 

[chickenlisa]

they are awkward alright! Too funny to see them stretch their necks way up and flap those too-small wings...they get a tiny bit of air under their feet when they do that. So funny- they look like they are jumping up and down...
I am concerned about Prissy's small size. She eats and drinks and gets around ok. Ideal emailed me back and said they were def. vent sexed by an experienced sexer. And that plumage can look so close until they are mature. By then it'll be too late to get anymore females this year. It may already be too late now. I'll not want to keep 5 males:2 females I know. So I guess for now, I'll just enjoy them, and wait to hear from any experienced goose people here. I don't have anything to worry about til next Spring right? They're too young to act like "men and women" until then anyways I think. So if Omni, or crazedguinea (or anyone else) sees this, please chime in.
Thanks
Lisa

 

[crazedguinea]

that is a tough call to make-they are on one hand lighter in color but on the other hand they were vent sexed by a "professional". i hope they are girls after all you've been through. prissy is very very very petite-has she grown since you got her? she is just really small compared to her siblings! they all look very happy in their new house, are you still using a heat lamp?(cold and damp lately in se pa-brrr-i want REAL spring NOW!). did you find a new home for your rir's??? keep us/me updated in a week about the gender issue once more feathers start coming in. you are having the kind of situation that usually happens to me all too frequently! (sorry i'm not of much help)

 

[chickenlisa]

sorry all- this is beginning to look like a blog of my goose experiences...
I brought Prissy in this morning because it was raining and she looked a bit slow and shaky. I dried her off and put her under a lamp (not a heat lamp, but a regular 60 watt bulb and reflector base) in her old brooder box. She had food and water and I saw her drink some. We went to my son's Accepted Students Day at Moravian College and just came home to find her already dead. I don't know what happened. I do know she's half or more smaller than her brooder mates. She was calmer and more docile since the day we got her. She was also the only dark one of the bunch from the 3 younger ones. I am so ready to hang up my goose hat and be done. I love the ones I have, but am having bad luck getting the girls I ordered and keeping the calm, sweet ones alive. Any advice? Encouragement? I am so bummed out now!

 

[crazedguinea]

oh you posted when i was starting to post elsewhere. i am so sorry about little prissy, that is so sad. my heart goes out to you because i know you care a lot for your babies and how much joy they bring you. i don't know what else to say. i don't know why she was so much smaller than the others though. i really really really hope the others turn out to be girls. it doesn't seem fair to have had to go through all this.

 

[chickenlisa]

thanks crazedguinea...Prissy had grown some, just not nearly as much as her siblings. I didn't have a heat lamp on them anymore...they went out to their shed earlier this week and they were closed in at night. Inside is pretty warm and filled with straw. They look like they've made little beds/nests in it already. I just don't know about Prissy...what was wrong? Why she didn't grow normally and ultimately died? I sure hope I didn't do anything wrong...the others are growing like weeds! Oh what we put ourselves through. I love my animals but the heartache they can cause when they are sick or die...Agh! If anyone knows what was wrong with her- please chime in. I'm not experienced at all with geese.

 

[Wifezilla]

Doesn't sound like anything you did. It was developmental.