Congrats on the babies! Thatsa whole lotta geese! :)

I am not experienced with geese, but am with chickens. Some people with chickens have had some success with reintroducing babies to foster moms by waiting until dark, then sneaking the babies under mom at night. In the morning, lo and behold she has more babies and all is well. It doesn't always work, so you have to be right there the next morning to snatch them away if she turns on them. But if it works, after the first morning you're golden. I'd wait and stuff them all under her at once, that way maybe she won't catch on.

I think you will be wise to seperate the new mom and babies from the rest of the geese for a time--mom can't be everywhere at once and if more than one jealous goose attacks the babies....

Hopefully someone with goose experience will chime in. Good luck, and please post pics if you have them! :)

Velvet ~:>

Also, and not to be picky, just trying for accuracy - fledglings is the term usually applied to baby birds just after they have grown in their feathers, and left the nest, corresponding about to adolescence. To my knowledge, just hatched baby geese are called goslings.

Geese behave much differently than chickens. First, you'll never be able to sneak up on her at night. They can see almost as well as during the day. Second, if by some chance you are able to get close to her, she'll still know that you're there. It will cause all sorts of commotion, scattering both "her" hatched babies and those that you've saved. You'll take the chance that they'll all get lost or chilled. Geese are extremely intelligent, and have social behaviors that are so much more advanced than that of any chicken flock. Probably one of two things happened with this clutch. Either she is an inexperienced mother, and her instincts were satisfied by hatching the first few, even though more were coming, or, two, there were other females who had access to her nest, and they layed after she began setting, so there are actually multiple eggs with varying hatch dates. I have had good luck both ways, introducing newly hatched goslings to a mother even several days after her true brood had hatched, or also introducing young started birds to the group when they were several weeks old. I've even had my flock take in newly hatched babies when there was no female setting. I would introduce them all to the entire flock first thing in the morning when you have a few hours to watch closely that everything is going OK. In most cases it will take only a minute or two before you know if they'll accept or reject them. I've never had well adjusted (non pet) males cause any problems with babies in my flock. The only time that there were issues was when I had too many males, and squabbles between the males who were in the group and those who were kept out have sometimes inadvertently caused problems with young chicks that got caught up in the fighting. Even that has usually worked itself out in a few minutes. All this happens in a pen of almost 3/4 an acre, and I'm sure that plenty of space is a factor in allowing everything to work itself out.

UPDATE: For the goose fanciers out there or anyone in a similar predicament, here's a bit of an addendum.
We selected the oldest 'gosling' (thanks for the correction dibit) to use as a confederate to see how she'd do if introduced to a new baby many hours after. She was a bit preoccupied hissing at us to notice the newcomer, but for the gosling, it was love at first sight! He toddled right over and she welcomed him in.

THe next two we introduced seemed a bit bewildered at first, but then clamored right toward her with no fear and clumsily scrambled RIGHT ON TOP OF HER. She didn't even blink.
Here's a pic. She certainly is a super mother goose!

THe fun isn't over for her yet though. We have three more to introduce as soon as they get their sea legs. Patrick, it now makes perfect sense why some were latecomers. All of the geese were sharing (and fighting over the same nest) until we finally locked the broody one in to be at peace. I could never understand why they didn't each make their own nest, but they never did. In hind site, I'm sure this is the reason for the staggered hatch. I feel a littel badly now about pullling the plug on the remaining three eggs in our makeshift incubator, but then, wIth nine goslings total, it's going to take the whole village to look after them. It will be interesting to see what those chinese/tolouse crosses look like.

I guess we did pretty good our first year, all of us!

(Thanks Sullicorbet for instructions on posting a pic).

LF & RJ

{{gwi:39873}}

Good, and don't discount the value of introducing the whole brood to the the rest of the flock. They really are amazing, usually, in how they all participate. Sit back and watch the whole greeting process. It's really fascinating, IMO. Geese display a social order and an intelligence that is unmatched by any other domestic livestock, and I've worked with them all.

Live and learn. You've actually done very well in hatching so many, even with the setbacks. Geese are not the easiest to hatch successfully by natural means. Freezing eggs early in the season, while the clutch is being assembled, the mother setting on the right number vs too many, and just the long incubation period increases the chances that things can go wrong.

By the way, the mother is not a Toulouse, she's a Common Gray. Big difference, but the two breeds are often confused.

Well, duped again then. We were TOLD it was a Toulouse, but then again, we had ordered "africans" and didn't quite get what we pictured there either. It's okay though. We're not after pedigrees, just learning the ropes...and boy this gaggle has taught us quite a bit! As well all of you on this forum.

Thanks everyone.

What a lovely family! :) Great picture, thanks for sharing. Glad everything worked out (see, I knew someone who knew geese would jump in, yay Patrick!).

Geese are so cool. Someday I'll have room for some...*sigh*

Velvet ~:>

Yes, I'm actually a bit envious. It's rare that I try to hatch naturally anymore, but every few years I'll give it a go at the end of the season. Seldom have I had such good results.

Natural incubation can be tricky with geese. Last year it went well but this year has been aggravating. First our gander, Ben totally rejected Willow, our two-year-old Pilgrim. He had a torrid love affair with our Buff goose and paid occasional attentions to our yearling Pilgrim, Elsie.

We found a good home for the Buff, thanks to a forum friend from HT, and Ben has taken up with Elsie but still shuns Willow. Two days ago, Willow went broody but the chances of her eggs being fertile are slim to nil... so I set some of Elsie's eggs under her. So maybe, just maybe... we'll get a few goslings yet.

It's so frustrating. Here I have an order for a dozen October geese and there is no way I am going to be able to fill it. These people would be delighted to pay $15 - 20 per goose and since they are for their table they don't even mind crosses.

I want to increase my breeding stock for next year to two pairs or two pairs and a spare female. Surely one of the ganders would take on a second mate? Any thoughts, Patrick, (or anyone else) on the best way to manage the breeders?

I have a crush on white Sebastopol Geese like these:

http://www.feathersite.com/Poultry/Geese/BRKSebastopol.html

Frizzled geese! :) Anyone had any experience with Sebastopols?

Velvet ~:>

Simple, keep the breeds seperate for breeding season, even if they're not with the natural mates that they have chosen among themselves. They can live peacefully together for the rest of the year, usually. Mine do, when kept in proper ratios. I've found that there's always a top male, and, like higher primates, there is often one subordinate who the boss allows as his underling and backup partner, to drive off all of the others. This is in a flock of about 20 to 25, about 1/3 males. That's still too many males for real harmony, and often one at the bottom has a perpetual bare breast (fighting), while there's often other less severe spats. Ideally, I'd have about one male to 4 or 5 females, but I'm working with 3 varieties, and don't want to always rely on 1 male per. In spring they get broken into breeding pens. Depending on what I have, anywhere from pairs or trios to 2 males and 5 or 6 hens. This year I even did a reverse trio with one hen I wanted to be sure to get fertile eggs from.

Sebs, never had them, but always admire them at shows. Beautiful, calm, relatively quite, difficult to keep clean without clear water and grass pens that don't get muddy.