New to geese and have questions....

[Paintedhorsegirl]

I am new to geese, i have just one baby gosling thats a couple weeks old. I have some baby pilgrims on the way.
I got this little gosling because I was at a poultry swap and it was the only one. The farmer said someone bought all the others, Im thinking how awful to buy all the others and leave this one all alone. So Of course i brought the little gosling home. I think it may be a embden but not sure. I asked the old farmer said" i dont know what breed it is I have over 100 adult geese on my farm, some are white and some are gray"..... So its fuzzy and yellow, my guess is she/he will be white so Im guessin gbut donr know, maybe an embden.
Anyways my question is this do I need to give the goose grit? I havent but wondering if i should...
I have free range chickens, lots of baby chicks, ducks of all ages. I have many different foods for all the different poultry, the gosling has been eating chick starter. My local farm store dosnt have waterfowl starter, so Im not sure what I should feed her/him. My adult ducks have been on waterfowl food but for adult birds, My free range are on layer pellets. I just dont know what to feed the gosling.

 

[Cottage Rose]

How nice of you to rescue the lone gosling.

Yes you can feed it chick starter and sprinkle chick size grit on the food lightly.
Around 2-3 weeks switch it to a grower formula.
If you can't find a waterfowl grower you can use multi-flock grower
with a protein level no higher than 16 - 18 % protein.
Do not over feed or feed higher protein since this can cause angel wing.
Lots of grass and fresh water daily is vital for growing healthy gosling's.
I have a tip page on my website for raising gosling's that you might find helpful.
Good luck with your gosling.
They are a joy and a pleasure to own.

 

[Paintedhorsegirl]

Thank you so much for the info. I really appreciate it.

 

[BeckyBoo]

I don't know if it's the same in the US but over here we have medicated and non medicated chick crumb - I was advised to use non medicated for our goslings (our first as well!!

)

Hope your eggs hatch so your little goslings gets some friends soon

BeckyBoo

 

[Oneacre Homestead]

I am reading a book on geese (mine are coming in 2 wks) and it said not to feed medicated feed to ducks and geese. I'm glad you took the poor lonely gosling!

 

[pete55]

Hi

Here in the UK we can obtain Waterfowl Starter Crumbs and this is what we feed our goslings together with chopped grass and dandelions. As the protein level is high we then switch them onto growers pellets at 3 weeks of age with access to grazing grass.

Hope thats helps.

Pete

 

[Paintedhorsegirl]

Thank you everyone. So i should probably switch over to grower this week then. Im not sure how old exactly this gosling is but Im guessing 2 to 3 weeks old. She/he does eat plenty of grass everyday, Ill start giving dandelions. I cant wait for the other goslings to arrive, I will be well prepared for them

 

[GarlicEater]

DON'T feed medicate. Give greens, as in the two types geese like: Grass and members of the lettuce family, and some unmedicated starter crumbles as a supplement. Geese eat grass from the start, they'll tug on blades of grass and fall on their little butts then get up and tug again, it's pretty funny to see. You can sprout grass, like the "greens" for cats, you can keep some lawn watered and trimmed (for new growth) etc., but geese eat grass. They'll also eat lettuce and members of that family, mine eat what I call wild lettuce, signpost plant, and "warty dock", all members of that family.

 

[Paintedhorsegirl]

I tried to get waterfowl grower but all i could get is chick grower, so I went with that . Almost everyday Gosi ( thats what my daughter named her/him) gets outside to graze the grass with all my older chickens and ducks. I make sure to put grass in with Gosi's food everyday.