Over the weekend my first ever goslings hatched out of my Sebastapol's eggs. I was so excited, two lovely females and one male. They were doing great. I know I never would have been successful incubating them without all the wonderful info I find here. thank you all!!!
The sad news is today one died. We all know that geese will put everything in their mouth, what I didn't know was how "sticky" the gosling tongues are. I put a stuffed moose in the brooder and the one little girl must have played with the tag, a few strings got stuck to her tongue and I think she broke her neck trying to get free, she died in my hand while I was trying to get the string off her tongue. Her neck was already completely floppy when I found her. She didn't choke the string was not in her throat.
I always am sad when an animal dies, but I feel even worse because this was completely my fault. They didn't need the stuffed moose and I should have checked the moose more carefully. I thought I'd picked a "safe" stuffed animal.
So anyway my word of warning is be extra careful with the cute stuffed animals in the brooder.
The sad news is today one died. We all know that geese will put everything in their mouth, what I didn't know was how "sticky" the gosling tongues are. I put a stuffed moose in the brooder and the one little girl must have played with the tag, a few strings got stuck to her tongue and I think she broke her neck trying to get free, she died in my hand while I was trying to get the string off her tongue. Her neck was already completely floppy when I found her. She didn't choke the string was not in her throat.
I always am sad when an animal dies, but I feel even worse because this was completely my fault. They didn't need the stuffed moose and I should have checked the moose more carefully. I thought I'd picked a "safe" stuffed animal.
So anyway my word of warning is be extra careful with the cute stuffed animals in the brooder.
