Thursday 1st June 2017
Our wonderful Queenie Baby Blue has proved herself to be just as good a mother as her own mum, Queenie. This morning we were rather delighted to find that our weak male gosling was still alive and whilst still a bit wobbly, was holding his head up more and making a bit of effort to walk. We transferred all five birds to a large dog cage in the broody stall in the barn, complete with food and drink. As the day progressed, our male (front right), just got stronger and stronger and by the evening looked just as good as the other three. We are sooo pleased, all the more so because for once, helping a bird out of its shell, seems to have been the right decision.
One of the main issues with unpicking the shell like this, rather than the emerging bird doing it, is that the muscles that should have been strengthened as the bird pecked and sawed his/her way out, DON’T get used and therefore the bird does not have the mobility it should once free from the egg. It is the neck muscle that does most of the work of course and so that is why you often see quite a severe head lilt, with the bird not really being able to hold its head up, which of course affects its ability to walk.
Our young gosling seems now to be quite strong but it will be interesting to see how he develops compared to his sisters.
We are lucky to get three females. West of England geese are, along with the Pilgrim breed, the only geese that it is possible to sex at birth. In the case of the WoE, the difference is seen on the bill: totally orange in the male, orange with grey in the female; and in the plumage, with the female showing a darker head and overall much more grey and much darker grey. The male is paler and of course as the ganders are totally white, his greyness will disappear!
We will let mum and babies gather strength and really get a lot more mobile before seeing how they fare back in the stables. We wonder at what point we might be able to introduce them to their ‘natural’ parents and what the reactions will be!!!!
And talking of their natural parents, we have not had any new eggs so do now wonder if that might be it till next year!!
Our young gosling seems now to be quite strong but it will be interesting to see how he develops compared to his sisters.
We are lucky to get three females. West of England geese are, along with the Pilgrim breed, the only geese that it is possible to sex at birth. In the case of the WoE, the difference is seen on the bill: totally orange in the male, orange with grey in the female; and in the plumage, with the female showing a darker head and overall much more grey and much darker grey. The male is paler and of course as the ganders are totally white, his greyness will disappear!
We will let mum and babies gather strength and really get a lot more mobile before seeing how they fare back in the stables. We wonder at what point we might be able to introduce them to their ‘natural’ parents and what the reactions will be!!!!
And talking of their natural parents, we have not had any new eggs so do now wonder if that might be it till next year!!