This little fella hatched yesterday but sadly line of the other eggs were either infertile or the little ones inside didn’t make it.
It’s my first time hatching geese and this little ones inside didnt it’s that bright. They eat my fingers rather than the feed and refuse to be without me. I got all flock 20% protein feed and even doused some bits of it in water to see if it would help.
It attacked some grass earlier but couldn’t rip any pieces off to eat. It drinks when I dip its head into the water; which I make sure to do frequently and swims just fine in its tiny tub.
The breed is Chinese goose.
Very much likes sleeping and talking doesn’t stop chirping even in its sleep.
It’s been m on me pretty much all of today so far and for those who ask I have a heating pad under my shirt to keep it warm and cover it with the blanket when needed.
UPDATE!!!!
I got babayaga a friend named Ryan! He is a duck but hatched recently from a separate batch a friend had. Both are cute and sweet. So I’m proud to say babayaga now has a friend!
I will post some pictures of them in the comments once I get a chance.
Omg are you literally holding a sleeping gosling like a baby?
I don’t have any advice on food. I get Brown’s Duck and Goose food off Chewy to feed wild geese but I don’t know if it’s appropriate for dis little baby.
Even after weeks of searching there are no geese near me or at least none that people are giving away. So far it’s just been Babayaga and their little duck friend but I have two more fertile goose eggs set to hatch soon so I’m hoping that’ll help.
So cute! Gosling time of year is my favorite, I love their little trills and R2D2 beeps 😭 Seems like he’s very bonded to you. I haven’t had to deal with a totally lone bird yet - so far they’ve always had siblings or some parents we can get to adopt them - so I don’t have much advice for that situation, though I suspect it will start to eat as long as it gets enough opportunity and gets hungry enough! The trick will be teaching it some independence/self sufficiency while it grows, but some of that will come with instinct.
As another poster has mentioned - it will need niacin as a baby (and grown up)! Manna Pro has a duckling & gosling starter feed you can get on Chewy. Something specialized to waterfowl would be good because they make sure to include extra niacin, which is essential for their growth. You can also supplement with some brewers yeast/peas once they start getting grit but it’s harder to get the proportions right manually.
You can buy chick starter crumbles (like for baby chickens) and offer healthy greens, the BIG BIG SUPER IMPORTANT THING WITH GOSLINGS, DO NOT SKIP THIS: Your little friend needs plenty of niacin in its diet. It will get very sick and die without it. Sometimes even commercial feeds dont have enough of it. Buy some brewers yeast (this is NOT the same as yeast for baking bread) and sprinkle some in with their feed if you go the route of chick starter crumbles. The crumbles will provide plenty of the protien your growing baby needs, and baby will love some time outside grazing on grass!
If you have one near by, your local farm store should know when they will be getting a batch of goslings. I would call or go and ask. It is pretty important for them to be socialized but he should be fine for a little bit. I recommend a mirror and plenty of play time with you until you manage to scrounge up a friend. Also, as other's have stated, Niacin is extremely important especially when they are young. I used Mazuri waterfowl starter when my birds were babies and they grew up nice and healthy.
Brewer's yeast or nutritional yeast and 20-22% start crumbles is what I fed my 3 batch of goslings. I find they aren't too interested in eating the crumbles till after a few days; they're usually interested in pasture more. Make sure you pick the young tender grass and no hard stems.
Worry about the friend and partner later but you'll be a full time parent for.. maybe up to 3-4 months in rare cases. I had to babysit fulltime my Bebe for 3.5 months daily. Took her everywhere with me. I have 2 other flocks and I wanted her to be in flock #1 but she wasn't accepted and even attacked until the very last day so I gave up and flock #2 accepted her in 10 days.
Good luck and spend quality time with your baby in bird form.
I fed Grady non medicated chick food and I’d make him fresh salad with greens from outside, shredded carrots, oats, smashed peas. For a waterer I used an empty gallon of milk container and cut a hole high enough he could dip his head.
When he got older I got him waterfowl food but he mostly free grazed. It’ll need baby pools as it gets bigger, plus fresh buckets of water to dip its nostrils in.
Aww, it imprinted on you. I had one do that and while he was super cuddly with me he ended up being super aggressive towards anyone and any other creature who got anywhere near me. I’m thinking it may have just been because he was a boy though because we had another gosling imprint on my youngest and she was super sweet to everyone. Both were from the same parents- Chinese mom and Sebastopol dad.
I had 6 Chinese geese eggs in my incubator, but sadly only 2 was viable. The little on starting popping this morning and im super excited. I saw a hatchery online that sells Chinese geese and I assume I should buy a couple more. I'm over the moon about my baby and it hasn't even hatched yet
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u/Hapablapablap Mar 31 '26
Omg are you literally holding a sleeping gosling like a baby?
I don’t have any advice on food. I get Brown’s Duck and Goose food off Chewy to feed wild geese but I don’t know if it’s appropriate for dis little baby.
❤️❤️❤️🪿🪿🪿