Ordering Goslings

[DulcyDoll]

I was looking into ordering a few goslings and was curious where is the best place to get them from. I don't have a ton of money, so I need someplace without outrageous shipping charges.

Do shipped goslings bond like hatching them yourself?

 

[ldaziens]

I am a newbie at this. I got my very much loved 10 goslings from Murray McMurray when I ordered the "Fancy Geese Package". My goslings are wonderful, and I love them, and they are definitely bonded to me; however...

if I were doing it all over again, I would order from Holderead, http://www.holderreadfarm.com/, and I would order in male / female pairs. Yes, they are more expensive, but if you are planning to have these geese bond to you and be your dear pets; then it makes sense to get them from the best possible source. Ultimately, given the length of time that you will have these birds and compared to the cost of a high quality pure bred dog or cat, it's really not that expensive. You'll be spending plenty more providing your babies with proper feed, housing, predator protection, etc. IMHO, the only better source than Holderreads would be to find a good breeder located near you. Instead of getting a "few" from a less expensive source, get a male / female pair from the best source possible.

I made the mistake of ordering my goslings, and then doing my homework reading about geese while I waited for them to arrive. I thought I knew a lot about geese based on the one goose I had in Junior High. I had no clue. The mystery of the "Fancy Geese Package" sounded fun, but now I have who knows what sex of 3 different breeds. So, I will need to order more in the future to make pairs, AND, I will need to keep the different breeds separated during the breeding season in order to avoid having them interbreed and create mutts, and they may decide on their own to bond to a mate of a different breed. Anyway, I believe I inadvertently created lots of problems for myself by ordering "impulsively". I didn't know anything about Holderreads at the time I ordered my goslings -- again, I learned as I was doing my research AFTER placing the order.

I want to commend you for taking the time to research BEFORE making your purchasing decision!!!

 

[Goose and Fig]

I have to agree with you about Holdereads- I never hear of them until after I ordered mine. But - I got 8 lovely french toulouse from Metzer Farms- and they all arrived safely from California in less than 2 days. They seemed to know me & my voice after just a day. I got straight run to save a few bucks- it was less than $100 for all 8 shipped. I'm going to grow them out and keep a trio or quad, sell the rest. They are too cute! "weep weep weep!"

 

[Kim65]

they will definitely imprint on you even if they are a few days old. They will also imprint on each other, which is how they form their flock.

Goslings are usually about ten dollars apiece from the regular hatcheries. Holderread produces show quality and "pet" quality geese, and they are very healthy and shipped with care. Google Holderreads for the pricing, and I think it's higher than the typical hatcheries.

You could ask your local feed store to order you some but then you pay overhead (a couple of dollars usually). The thought of MAILING goslings gives me severe nerves, but it happens everyday successfully. And usually there is a minimum order, you can't just get one or two (directly from hatchery). My feedstore would order twenty or so, and sell them by ones and twos if wanted.'

Idaziens has good advice . . . in the long run, paying NOW for a sexed pair will save you money in the long run. I made the mistake of ordering straight run goslings a few years ago and got FIVE GANDERS. Lovely fellows, but still. I had to buy sexed geese so they'd have girlfriends. Soon, my flock was huge. Either that or you have to sell or (gasp) butcher the extra ganders, and if you're anything like me that's just not happening. My current geese are a sexed pair from Holderreads

I bought show quality, and they were fifty five dollars a piece in 2009. Pet quality are significantly less, but very worth it, Holderreads is a home operation and the owners are amazing and dedicated to their geese.

 

[jojo@rolling acres farm]

DulcyDoll,

I've ordered from Metzer farms during the last two years. Very, Very happy with both the service and the birds. I've also ordered geese from Ideal a few times. No losses but one of the Romans's I rec'd from them two years ago has a really longish neck and one baby that I ordered this year doesn't seem to have a crest or much of one. Other than that...basically positive. With Metzer you can order a pair and have them shipped with a heating thingy that helps keep the babies warm. I got mine within two days of shipping and the heat pack was still warm several hours after my babies arrived. BTW - they are a very nice size and have huge tufts. Don't know what breed you ar planning on but I can highly recommend Metzer. Good Luck...pls keep us posted.


Almost forgot: You will have no problem with imprinting.

 

[[email protected]]

Kim, I would love to see show quality roman's do you have a picture? I don't know how big a tuft is supposed to be. But the roman's I got from Ideal were actually one roman and one buff. Just fyi for OP. jenn

 

[ldaziens]

I have also read positive things about Metzer's on this board, so they would probably be my 3rd choice after Holderreads or a good local breeder. As far as the feed store... they are going to order from one of the big hatcheries: Ideal, Murray, etc. Then, the birds are going to be shipped to the feedstore and then you'll pick them up -- this adds extra time before the birds are settled with you along with more stress on the young bird and extra exposure to all kinds of who knows what at the feed store, where they are selling other birds and where people are coming in bringing potential disease etc. from their farms -- in other words, no bio-security. The feed stores in my area insist that all ducklings and goslings need to eat is chick starter, which is completely incorrect and causes niacin deficiency-- and they routinely give all of their poultry anti-biotics in their drinking water. Big hatcheries and feed stores are set up to sell meat birds to commercial farmers -- they are not concerned about quality or longevity, which is fine, because that is the business that they are in. However, you are looking for a pet to love for a long time, which is a totally different need.

Additionally, I just read on my heritage turkey group that these feed store birds bond more closely with the other birds than with people.

To illustrate my point about big hatcheries, here is my Murray McMurray experience. This spring I moved to the country to 8.5 acres and was excited about starting my "farming" adventure. I was interested in heritage breeds and ended up at the Murray McMurray site and ordered the following all at once to be delivered as follows:

3/17 - 25 laying hen chicks of assorted rare and heritage breeds. I had my brooder all set up several days in advance and was excitedly waiting. I got the call from the post office at 8 a.m. and was there to pick up my chicks by 8:15. The box was peeping. I rushed home, and opened the box to find 20 dead chicks, and 8 dying chicks. Despite my best efforts of round the clock TLC and hand feeding, only 4 chicks survived. Murray McMurray said that this happens and gave me a full refund for the dead chicks. However, I would have much rather had healthy chicks than a refund. Again, for a commercial farmer dealing w/ large quantities of birds, a refund and re-shipment is perfectly acceptable.

3/18 -- 15 assorted ducklings -- again, I get the call and rush to the post office DREADING opening the box. I find 16 ducklings, of which 1 is not doing well. That one dies that night, and a week later, another one suddenly is ill, and even though I stay up with it all night hand feeding, it dies "in my arms". I cried like a baby. I didn't cry over the chicks -- I think because I was just in shock and didn't have time to process it, since I had to immediately sort through them to figure out who was dead and who needed help. And, the first duckling died so quickly, but that second one that died in my hands -- that was awful. In retrospect, I believe this duckling died of Aspergillis, a fungal infection; because I had the ducklings housed in a large plastic rubbermaid container. Even though I changed the bedding frequently, ducks are incredibly messy and spray amazingly quantities of water everywhere. In a plastic container, the water then pools on the bottom. After trying about a million different things, the best housing solution ended up being 2 huge metal dog crates joined together w/ a plastic small holed chicken mesh placed over the floor and straw bedding filling one crate and the food and water placed at the far end of the other crate, where there was no bedding and the water could drain through to a tray underneath. The BEST solution for brooding ducklings I saw recently -- a hand built large, raised brooder w/ a wooden frame, small hole hardware cloth, and a bathroom sink at one end topped with hardware cloth. The sink served as the base for the waterer, and all of the water the ducks splashed around went down into the sink, down the drain, and into a plastic garbage can underneath. This would be a good setup for goslings, too. Of course, Murray McMurray gladly gave me a refund for the first duckling, who died w/in 48 hours of arrival. And, again, I would have rather had all healthy ducklings than a refund.

4/5 -- 10 goslings arrive -- luckily, these have all been healthy. However, one does appear to have a defect where there are small feathers growing out of the INSIDE of the upper eyelids on each eye. A vet I consulted with believes that this is a keratoma and will need to be corrected ASAP w/ surgery before the eye is damaged. So, today I am trying to hunt down an Avian Veterinary specialist, and I think I can promise you that the surgery will cost FAR more than just ordering from Holderreads to begin with. Additionally, while I was able to identify 4 Chinese Brown goslings, I had 4 huge tufted birds and 2 slightly smaller non-tufted birds, which I wanted to identify. There was discrepency between the breeds listed on the packing list sent with the birds and the list of breeds on the website. When I called to try to figure out what exactly the possible breeds were, the customer service rep said that I should go with what was on the paper, because the website information might be out of date, but she really had no clue. So, I e-mailed their customer service and explained that I just wanted to know what the possible breeds were and detailed the discrepency between the breeds listed on the website and the breeds listed on the packing slip -- I never got a reply.

4/12 -- 15 White Midget Turkey Poults arrive -- turkey poults are known for being fragile and delicate and more difficult to brood, so again, I had done lots of research and had everything set up perfectly. Again, upon arrival, some weren't doing well. After much examination and research, I determined that 11 of the 15 had a condition known as omphalitis (aka mushy chick disease). All experts agreed that these poults NEVER should have been shipped, because omphalitis has a poor prognosis. This condition is super obvious to the naked eye -- when you turn the poult over, it has dark scabby area under the vent and sometimes bruising and swelling around that. After extensive TLC, hand feeding, consultation w/ an Avian vet in the UK, treatment with an anti-biotic for a week, etc. 2 poults died. The 13 survivors are going along okay, but they are on the small and scrawny side and are very likely to experience further health problems. All experts thought that these poults should be culled, but I just wasn't up to it. Technically, these are supposed to be for eating, not pets; but I just didn't have the heart to kill little babies that had a will to live. But, THIS was my final straw w/ Murray McMurray. They did give me a full refund, and they said they would have the "turkey manager" contact me, but I never heard from anyone.

In retrospect, I should have just cancelled the remaining deliveries when I got the chick "box of death"; however, the ducklings that came the next day were adorable and ONLY 1 died and they had included an extra, and I would have had to wait until June or July if I had tried to order the goslings and turkeys somewhere else, and I wanted them ASAP. Note -- be willing to WAIT for the best quality -- you're going to have these pets for a long time, and a few months is not going to make a huge difference.

Sorry that this is so long, but I hope that by being detailed, I can persuade others to learn from my mistakes.

Lastly, be really prepared when you are ordering mail order birds -- #1 Find a vet that will treat your gosling! Most vets do NOT treat poultry. Have your brooder area set up w/ the heat lamps on at least 2 days prior to arrival, and place a thermometer around the brooder so that you have the temperature right before arrival. Luckily, geese do not need as much heat for as long as other poultry. A hard plastic kiddie pool can make a great brooding area -- just get at least 2, so that you can set up a clean one, then move them over to it, clean out and set up the dirty one, etc. Makes it much easier. For the first few days use old towels & / or blankets as bedding -- or rubbermaid shelf liner, which is washable. Once they are eating their food, straw or pine shavings work fine as bedding -- as long as you keep it dry by controlling the waterer -- I ended up putting my waterer inside a pan inside a large plastic storage container lid. Other people have come up with some great watering solutions.

These are some things which I would definitely have on hand prior to delivery-
*At least 2 brooder lights and a spare bulb for each light -- lights can burn out, but, more likely, a bird will get sick and you will need to isolate it in a second brooder.
*Gro-Gel Plus B -- http://www.randallburkey.com/Gro-Gel-Plus-B-100-Dose/productinfo/80900/ Give them this before offering food.
*Nutri-Drench for Poultry -- http://www.randallburkey.com/POULTRY-NUTRI-DRENCH-4oz/productinfo/10846/ This can be given straight to a sick bird, and is absorbed into their bloodstream within minutes.
*Electrolyte / Vitamin / Probiotic Powder to add to water -- since waterfowl drink more water, you need to dilute this -- I use half the recommended dose --
http://www.randallburkey.com/GQF-VITAMIN-PLUS-4-OZ/productinfo/5168/
*VetRx -- used for any cold / respiratory issues
http://www.randallburkey.com/VET-RX-2-OZ/productinfo/26096/
*FOOD -- "chick starter" is NOT appropriate for waterfowl -- Get your feedstore to order Mazuri Waterfowl STARTER for you, which is made by Purina, http://www.mazuri.com/PDF/5641.pdf
http://shop.mazuri.com/mazuriwaterfowlsarter.aspx
* FOOD pt. 2 -- geese are vegetarians that eat grass. My goslings were trying to eat everything in the brooder. By the end of the first week, I had to take them outside so they could eat grass. They had an outdoor pen made from a 4' diameter circle of 4' high hardware cloth which I covered with a hardware cloth "lid", and a sheet covering part for shade -- along with a draft barrier and their heat lamp. MAKE SURE THAT YOU GIVE THEM "CHICK GRIT" prior to and free choice along with the grass or any greens -- without the grit, they will get blocked up. Our feed stores do not carry CHICK grit -- only poultry grit, which is a little large. So, I got a bag of playground sand from Home Depot and mixed some of the poultry grit in with the sand. Also, make sure that you move their outside pen each day so that they are starting on CLEAN grass -- you may need to move it more frequently throughout the day -- you don't want them eating "poopy" grass. Another great recommendation that I read about AFTER they were out of the brooder is to grow flats of grass for them. They recommended using the cardboard flats that cans are shipped on, filling them with dirt, and scattering on the grass seeds. Then, you can place a flat in with them each day.

* Feeders and waterers -- I would recommend going ahead and getting a 3 gallon waterer, because the lip allows them to dunk their heads.
http://www.randallburkey.com/3-Gallon-Waterer/productinfo/13091/

My goslings were always hungry all the time. I have read somewhere that you can withhold food and water overnight, but I just cannot in good conscience withhold water from an animal. My goslings would start fighting and fussing in the middle of the night if they did not have food, so I ended up using a feeder that holds more food, however, they repeatedly managed to unscrew the 3 lb hanging feeder that I got, which meant the nut and washer came off in their pen -- not good!!! I ended up using it without the metal hanging part. Very quickly, they get to a point where they can be outside eating grass all day and can be fed in a pan of water -- the Mazuri pellets float. Mine are now 5 weeks old and spend their days outside eating grass - contained and protected by Kencove Electric Poultry Netting,
http://www.kencove.com/fence/Electric+Net+Fencing_detail_NPCG.php
and swimming in their plastic kiddie pool, which is filled with clean water each morning and emptied each night and has steps on both the inside and outside of the pool. I feed them their floating Mazuri in multiple stainless dog bowls w/ water, and I spread them out so everyone has room to eat w/o squabbling. I usually feed mine 2 - 3 times per day. They also sleep outside at night on the front porch w/ the light on and inside the electric fencing. We ended up just making a 3 sided sleeping are by stacking straw bales 2 high for the walls and putting a sheet of plywood on top and hanging their heat light out there for them. This is not a 100% predator proof solution, but I can see and hear them from my bedroom window and I have very protective dogs.

Make sure that you read up on when and how to allow them to get wet and swim. They can get water logged and chilled easily, but they do need some exposure to water to begin preening and activating their oil gland. I started out in the bathroom -- turning on the bathroom heater to warm up the bathroom, putting a towel in the bottom of the tub, then filling a shallow pan with warm water and letting them splash and swim for a short amount of time, then drying them off thoroughly, then putting them under their heat light.

Good Luck. If you get the best quality birds and have everything set up and ready to go, it will definitely make things easier and increase the odds of success.

 

[DulcyDoll]

Holderead is sold out of both breeds I wanted..lol

My gander now is a Toulouse/African cross, so those are the breeds I am looking to get. His mate was killed yesterday by a dog, he is fathering their adopted duckling now, but when I re-home the duckling in a few months I need him to have a few friends ready.

I'm studied up on geese, but the shipping scares the poop outta me. I've had chicks from McMurray shipped before and it was an outcome like yours, out of 30, only 12 made it past the first few days, 6 being DOA.

I keep going back and forth between buying gosling's or eggs. Eggs worry me less with shipping, but there are no guarantee's, and incubating them (again) seems almost impossible with the way things have been lately.

 

[Kim65]

have the feedstore order you some, then (like me) you can avoid the parcel post anxiety of opening a box and finding dead ones or getting lost in the mail You'll pay more overhead but this late in the season options are limited. I did get my lavenders from Holderread's last hatch in 09, on was June 7.

THere's still time!! Just have to call around perhaps

 

[Kim65]

[email protected] :

Kim, I would love to see show quality roman's do you have a picture? I don't know how big a tuft is supposed to be. But the roman's I got from Ideal were actually one roman and one buff. Just fyi for OP. jenn

I'm sorry I have (genetically) show quality american lavenders, a color variation of the buff.

I hope I didn't type romans or something.​