Please help ease my fears or confirm them

[pinkchick]

This little baby hatched last night right on schedule. I have never had geese and never hatched them out but a nice BYC'er gave me 4 Pilgrim goose eggs. 2 quit around days 10-15 it appears and the other 2 made it to lockdown. 1 of them stopped rocking and chirping 2 days prior to hatch, I opened that egg this morning and it was dead but fully developed.

Here's my fear.......is this how this little baby's neck is suppose to look? I'm assuming it take some time for them to build up their neck muscles but how long until it can hold its head up normally? Is it suppose to be twisted back like that? The baby can move it forward but not really straighten it out. Am I just an over worried new gosling mamma?

Thanks in advance!

 

[Barred Rocks forever]

you could get a hair dryer set it at low and maybe it would pep up a little bit ? how long has it been like this ?

 

[pinkchick]

Since it hatched last night around 830. It is still in the hatcher. It is starting to move its head a little more but it just doesn't seem right.

Should I give it some vitamins like I give my baby chicks? Sorry, like I said I am TOTALLY new to geese. Thanks.

 

[Barred Rocks forever]

if you look at some youtube videos they dont pop up very fast after they hatch

 

[Bleenie]

I don't think vitamins would hurt him. It may hae a crooked neck but just wait for himj to perk up a little more, then you'll know for sure.

 

[TennesseeTruly]

Just from looking at this gosling I can tell your humidity was too low. The baby has some of the membrane stuck to its down. The humidity really needs to be above 80% for a successful hatch.

As for the way the babies neck is, baby goslings are nothing like chicks. They take at least a day sometimes two to get their legs under them and start to walk around and really get moving. I'm a novice to geese too and have only hatched out 5 but this is just my observation from the 5 I've hatched out this month.

They also don't really eat or drink for more than 24 hours. They are still living on the absorbed yolk so they really have no interest. I don't know if vitamins will help, I don't think they will hurt.

Good luck.

Laurie

 

[pinkchick]

Thanks for all the replies!

I kept the humidity up over 80% as high as I could keep it. That is not membrane but was some of the first out of shell poopies that dried there and I have been afraid to open the hatcher and wash it off....should I, will it hurt the baby to wash it off?

 

[duck&chickencrazy]

it looks like wry neck to me. I just had a gosling hatch out with it and it ended up dying.

 

[newduckie]

my baby ducks that hatched 3 weeks ago were like that. Really twisted up. Their necks were twisted and theri legs were weird. I thought they would all die , but they took close to 24 hours and they were up and going. Hope yours does too. I need to know if it does, I have baby geese due in about a week.

 

[pinkchick]

Thanks again everyone....but this morning I made the decision to cull. There had been no change as of my last post. This baby spent more time on its back with out being able to roll back over then anything else. When it was right side up it just couldn't function. The neck was severely twisted in 2 places, at the base where it connected to the body and then again about half way up. Not just kinked but twisted like a spiral.

It was the sweetest little baby and nobody warned me about how totally cute they are. I can see why they are addictive. I will try again when the opportunity presents itself.