They've hatched!

[LadyGascoyne]

We woke up this morning to find gorgeous little fuzzy goslings. They are an absolute delight. Gwen is a very proud mum and very protective of her brood. Earnest has finally taken an interest in fatherhood which is a relief because he has been begging to be let into the house lately.

Here are the little ones

We started with eight eggs. One didn't hatch at all, one partially hatched but didn't make it and we think one was trampled.

We had five at 10.00 this morning but she appears to have lost one during the day and we are down to four.

I don't want to interfere with her too much but does she need some help here, or is this a normal amount to lose?

 

[Sandstone1]

They will need you to provide chick crumbs I think. It's years since I had any chicks but I'm sure that's what we used to feed.

 

[PorkChop]

They are fab

We make sure they have access to chick crumbs, but apart from that its up to mum! They will move onto growers pellets fairly quickly so you only need enough for a few weeks.

Can you shut them in at night? More likely to make it through the first few weeks if you can.

 

[D66]

Congratulations.
I think the loses are normal, we have only used an incubator to hatch poultry and you have to work hard to get them all to survive.
Don't count your geese before they've hatched.

 

[Tyssandi]

We woke up this morning to find gorgeous little fuzzy goslings. They are an absolute delight. Gwen is a very proud mum and very protective of her brood. Earnest has finally taken an interest in fatherhood which is a relief because he has been begging to be let into the house lately.

Here are the little ones

We started with eight eggs. One didn't hatch at all, one partially hatched but didn't make it and we think one was trampled.

We had five at 10.00 this morning but she appears to have lost one during the day and we are down to four.

I don't want to interfere with her too much but does she need some help here, or is this a normal amount to lose?

awwww cute, mum looks very proud

 

[Clodagh]

As has been said they will need food. I know nothing about geese but others will be along, I am sure. Gorgeous!

 

[MotherOfChickens]

cute! am new to geese but there appears to be some similarities between feeding them and young ducklings. If you can get waterfowl specific duck/goose starter crumb for 3-4 weeks and then goose/duck grower finisher. The high levels of protein found in crumb is bad for them as they continue to grow and can cause problems, waterfowl specific because waterfowl can't get B bits from grains like poultry can and non-medicated feed too.

 

[LadyGascoyne]

Great! I will get some crumb this morning. They are effectively wild geese so I don't want to shut them in and stress them out.

They came with the property when we moved in. Geese have apparently had been living feral here for years. They were the only two of nearly 50 to escape being culled before the property went on the market.

Earnest has decided to befriend us but Gwen is still quite suspicious.