picked up 2 goslings today advice?

[shadowpaints]

ok i know i should have researched a bit more but, i bought 2 little 2 week old goslings today. they are so cute. i have them in the house in a big tote with straw a 2inch dish with water in it and i clipped some fresh alfalfa and grass outside for them. the girl i bought them from had them on no feed, they just ate grass in the pasture with their parents

my question is, should i offer some chick feed?? or just let them eat all the grass and alfalfa they want??
should i keep them inside for a bit? or should i leave them in, they were out with their parents up untill today
they are a bit nervous right now, but they like to be held.

i will get pics tomorrow

thanks
Becca

 

[Goosehaven]

They need non-medicated poultry food that is at least around 18 percent since they are 2 weeks old now. Usually goslings are on 20 percent plus food for the first three weeks then dropped down to around 17-18 percent after that. You still can give them as much greens as they will eat but offer the other food as well for their rapidly growing little bodies. Keep the food dry and as far away from the water as you can as the food molds very easily, especially in warm weather, and can make the goslings sick.

It is not a wise idea to put the babies out by themselves this young without their parents, especially at night, due to predators. Even during the day they need to be in some sort of safe enclosure because they are not old enough to protect themselves.

They are quickly going to outgrow the tote so be thinking of where you will put them in the next week if you don't have a safe place to put them outside. Growing goslings need lots of room. Good luck with your new goslings!

 

[shadowpaints]

i will be building their pen over the weekend. i only feed non medicated, its locally chopped here. i believe its around 15 % protein. we are very exited to have them!!! every time i walk by them they peep at me

lol

 

[shelleyd2008]

My babies get a cupful of flock raiser in the morning for 2 babies. Other than that, they eat grasses all day with their 'parents'. My embdens adopted and took over my babies, but they didn't hatch them. The goslings are about 6 weeks old or so.

 

[TinyBirds]

Quote:
Me too!! I bought 2 from the feed store. I have around 200 chickens, and 20 ducks, but these are my first 2 geese! They are so cute and curious! I have them in with all the other babies now, eating flock raiser crumbles. I am mainly curious though to learn more about how they'll act when they're older. Will they act similar to ducks but just more bold? My turkeys seem to be the least scared of people, so I'm curious if geese will be similar. The ones at the park scare me and look aggressive though, so maybe this was a bad idea! Oh well. If they end up being mean like the ones at the park, I guess we could eat them.

 

[shelleyd2008]

Geese are nothing like ducks, they are very cool! They are very intelligent birds, and usually pretty sociable. My ducks have finally decided that I'm not going to eat them, but they are still unsure of my son

Most of my geese are kind of stand-offish, but they have babies (that they stole from me!), so that might have something to do with it. They were also bought as adults, the young ones will let me cuddle them. The goslings and me just tell their 'parents' to hush when they are hissing at us

I keep reminding them that those are MY babies, but I think they are forgetting

 

[Tinted]

My 5 day old goslings "Cry" for me when I go in the house. (They are in the garage.) Is there anything I can do to help that? They are breaking my heart crying out there.

Edit: Solved the issue. I put some music on for them, and the crying stopped. I believe they just dont want to fell alone.

 

[noahsgeese]

I feed my adult geese chicken pellets! I would just keep chick food available to them and keep feeding them grass!

 

[Bleenie]

I got 2 baby geese as day olds and they have been on non-medicated starter since i got them. but when i started letting them run in the yard they went NUTS for grass/weeds/bugs and it was all they wanted. i would pull grass up for them at ngiht after they went back to the brooder and they would pick every last piece off my hands, it was so cute!

They live outside now and are still babies but do eat mroe grass/weeds/bugs than they do feed. Between 20 Muscovy duckling, 5 Mixed ducklings & the 2 White Chinese Goslings they only eat about 12Cups of feed a day. They get a lot of Free Range time in the yard though.