The African and Chinese goose thread!!

[NathanZee]

@atmaclean , sorry about the gosling!

I really don't know what was wrong, I hope someone with more experience can help you!

 

[chicken hawk 33]

Updated pictures on the first goose I hatched

 

[nightowl223]

(((hugs)))

I'm sorry for your loss.

I know how hard it is to lose a little one you've tried so hard to save! I hope your others do well. I wish I could suggest something you could have done, but it sounds like, whatever went wrong, it was beyond your efforts to save, no matter what you tried.

Sending my deep sympathy.

 

[nightowl223]

So, I was curious - either of these large enough to potentially be an egg from my (potential) girl?

I didn't SEE either of these laid, or even hear racket shortly before they were found.

Both were found sorta abandoned in the front-ish yard area. I know Egg #1 wasn't there when I went through one direction to put some peas in the ground, and hoped I could keep an eye on the geese at the same time, but likely got distracted with the garden stuff. An hour or so later, there the torpedo one was, like "taa daa!"


This one, Egg #1, the Torpedo, is ever so slightly cream colored:



This one, Egg #2, Flat-bottom, obviously had a faulty shell. It was hard, but extremely thin. When I find one of these with my hens, I make sure to top off the free-choice oyster shell. (I assume that, if it's a goose egg, they know to seek out the calcium sources, too? I did add more 16% layer to their nightly snack mix, just in case, when I found it.)
Anyway, this was sorta behind my chicken tractor, which was nearly up against a fence to one of my garden areas. I spotted it when getting the egg from the tractor. No idea how long it was there, or, again, from who. Whoever it was needs some calcium, though!



Now, neither one of these eggs is anywhere near as small as even the largest hen egg I've ever found. Both were much larger. The faulty-shell one, Egg #2, Flat-bottom, is shown next to one of my Leghorn eggs, which are nearly every time the size/weight of Jumbo chicken eggs. The torpedo-looking one, Egg #1, was slightly longer than #2, but not as wide.

Any thoughts on whether either one of these MIGHT be a goose egg?

Or do I have one or two very unhappy hens wandering around wondering what on earth happened to them?

(edited to fix a typo and clarify)

 

[Chaneys Ranch]

So, I was curious - either of these large enough to potentially be an egg from my (potential) girl?

I didn't SEE either of these laid, or even hear racket shortly before they were found.

Both were found sorta abandoned in the front-ish yard area. I know Egg #1 wasn't there when I went through one direction to put some peas in the ground, and hoped I could keep an eye on the geese at the same time, but likely got distracted with the garden stuff. An hour or so later, there the torpedo one was, like "taa daa!"


This one, Egg #1, the Torpedo, is ever so slightly cream colored:



This one, Egg #2, Flat-bottom, obviously had a faulty shell. It was hard, but extremely thin. When I find one of these with my hens, I make sure to top off the free-choice oyster shell. (I assume that, if it's a goose egg, they know to seek out the calcium sources, too? I did add more 16% layer to their nightly snack mix, just in case, when I found it.)
Anyway, this was sorta behind my chicken tractor, which was nearly up against a fence to one of my garden areas. I spotted it when getting the egg from the tractor. No idea how long it was there, or, again, from who. Whoever it was needs some calcium, though!



Now, neither one of these eggs is anywhere near as small as even the largest hen egg I've ever found. Both were much larger. The faulty-shell one, Egg #2, Flat-bottom, is shown next to one of my Leghorn eggs, which are nearly every time the size/weight of Jumbo chicken eggs. The torpedo-looking one, Egg #1, was slightly longer than #2, but not as wide.

Any thoughts on whether either one of these MIGHT be a goose egg?

Or do I have one or two very unhappy hens wandering around wondering what on earth happened to them?

(edited to fix a typo and clarify)

Yes goose eggs!, Congrats wait until they look average to consider hatching!

 

[nightowl223]

Woohoo!!!

I was worried that they were too small to be goose eggs, as I had always heard goose eggs were HUGE... maybe because I have hens that lay jumbo eggs anyway, I had something larger in mind.

Thanks for the advice. So it's just like any other incubating situation, make sure eggs are all about the same size and no oddball shapes or strange shell issues. I figured as much.

Heaven only knows how many I've missed if she's just plopping them anywhere the urge comes on her.

I was looking for "logical" places one would lay an egg, LOL!

These were found a few weeks apart, is the thing, and that was several weeks ago, so either I've missed all the fun, or she's actually stashing most of them somewhere better than a bare spot in the yard.

I hadn't given the oddball extra large eggs any more thought after that until I was downloading some of my pictures to my laptop, and spotted them, and thought.... hmmmm... could they be? So, lol, I had to come ask the ones that should know!




(Edited because I keep finding stuff that needs fixed... I'm OCD that way.

)

 

[atmaclean]

These are the 3 little goslings that we have. They seem to be doing just fine. I'm still not sure what could have happened to the other yellow gosling. I'm wondering of their might have been something wrong with it when we purchased it.

How long do you leave a heat lamp for the babies? I am thinking these are about a week or 10 days old - what do you think?

 

[mominoz]

So , I have a baby African, that just hatched yesterday . Seems it is the only African egg that hatched (grandkids accidently pulled the plug twice on the bator for who knows how long, and had 2 power outages that the backup didn't restart....I did get 3 goslings of another breed hatched also. Yesterday I took the eggs from the female who had been setting eggs (only one hatched, the others were duds, probably from the yearling geese). I have 2 gooses that started to set in the last week. One is the African mom, the other a Shetland mom. (haven't candled their eggs yet.) So I put 2 of the babies out yesterday with the mom, who had the one baby and took the bad eggs away. She and her sister and hubbies took to babies and they alll seem ok. The two goslings I have left,hatched a day later and are in incubator to be moved. My dilemia is this: Do I give the African baby to the family with the 3 babies , plus the other Shetland , or do I give it to the Super African parents to raise (there are 4 of them, but the males are only a year old), who have never raised babies? Identity crisis here..... or in a couple weeks switch him to the africans, so he bonds with them too? I already have one African who was raised with Shetlands and trys to get into their pasture sometimes...
But when I look at the size of the Africans....gee , they could squash it pretty easy... Or just put it alone with a mom? It would interupt her setting at one week.... but think I should let her give the eggs a try for a couple weeks.... She set last year, but exploders... no live ones. Or give them to another female in another pen who just started setting. She is older too, but with 7 other geese who are yearlings, except her mate, who is 2.

 

[mominoz]

atamaclean

Baby could have just been weak, or too stressed .... sometimes they just don't make it. They need heat for a couple weeks...7-10 days is not enough, at least at night, until they feather out on backs. You can reduce it 5 degrees a week. Starting from 95. If shivering , it is too cold or they make a lot of distress noise. .They will move closer or further away from lamp as their needs are met. They have no mom to snuggle up too, and each other isn't enough for a while. Also Drafts are hard on birds, so keep them draft free. Geese and Ducks don't need all the supplimnets and drugs etc. commonly given to chickens, they have a stronger immune system or ability to not get the illnesses chickens get. Rarely , if fed well and housed properly will one ever get sick. I use Purina Flockraiser for my ducks and geese for first 3 weeks, then cut it 25% with whole oats as Storeys Guide says. Waterfowl do not need the high protein that chickens and game birds need.... 18-20%, at beginning, then cut it back to 15% as adults or you will likely get Angel wing. Geese are pasture animals , herbivores, not omnivores like chicken and ducks.... Good tender grass is often enough as soon as possible.... if not grains can be given, wheat and oats preferred, not too much corn. But try to give the babies some greens , lettuce or grass clippings too.

 

[atmaclean]

Thanks so much "mominoz". I have moved the goslings to my back porch in a wire bottom cage with a towel at one end (opposite their food/water). I had another gosling go to sleep and not wake up today. It was fine this morning and was out walking around and watching us do chores. Absolutely no clue what could have happened. They have heat lamps, plenty of food and fresh, clean water. I read somewhere that they will eat shavings, so I wonder if maybe they ingested some of the sand from the floor. I just can't imagine what happened. I never dreamed they would be this fragile. I put the baby chicks in the same indoor/outdoor pen and they are doing fine. I am also using a Southern States brand wild game starter feed for the geese (non-medicated!). It is what the feed store recommended when I purchased them.

Somewhere else I read that I should wet their feed?? I have their dry food and water right next to each other so they can go back and forth with just a turn of the head.

Can you tell from the pictures what breed they are? They are "hatchery choice" so they thought African.