Baby gosling killed, momma goose crying - now what?

[ohiofarmgirl]

a terrible find - our heavy hog panel fence fell over on our one surviving gosling and killed him. i just found him and my heart is just broken. all of the geese were standing over him silently. it was awful.

i put him in a box until my hubby gets home to help bury him.

but now the momma goose is standing out there screaming. i know she is calling for him (its the 'we're separated' cry).... is there anything i can do?

will she lay again this year?

i'm just heartbroken. to make it worse... he was still warm and so it must have just happened. i meant to go out sooner but got distracted.. i was going out to move them into their 'day pen' and this never would have happened.
:-(.....

 

[chickenlisa]

oh that's too sad. I worry about things like that happening here too- I put up temp. walls to keep my young almost adult chickens from hurting my 2 ducklings and 4 Mandarins (and hopefully soon Mandie babies) but worry about the walls falling down. We've braced them and made the 1 so I can move it to get in and feed/water them, but the walls aren't permanent. Does your Mama goose have any other babies to care for? Hope so!
Lisa

 

[ohiofarmgirl]

we've had so much rain that it weakened the tpost that was holding it up - the whole thing just fell right over

she's still out there screaming and i found the gander over by our baby ducks...not sure what to make of that.

i'm just gutted by the whole thing. all of the adults - the 2 males and 2 females have just been hovering over him this whole time and he had just gotten big enough to get into the baby pool.

he was the only one that made it of the two that hatched.

 

[ams3651]

i dont have any experience with geese but if you found somewhere to buy goslings would she accept them?

 

[ohiofarmgirl]

one of my buddies has a goose that is about to hatch - thats a good idea, thanks.

i'm just still so upset about the whole thing. my hubby is home now so we're going to go and dig the hole.

i have some tears
:-(

 

[goosedragon]

You all may think this suggestion is bad but think about it a bit. Return the dead gosling back to the flock and let them realize that it is dead and mourn if they need to. My boss gander had the bad habit of chasing cars until he got caught under one and dragged badly. There was no way he could survive so I chased the flock away and then put him down quickly (The noise they make when in bad pain could break your heart) I then herded the flock back where he was and it was like a human funeral. they all gathered around the body like they were when he was injured. Finally one gave the body a shove with its bill and wandered away to the coop. each goose repeated this action until they were all gone then I recovered the body to bury. RIP

 

[ohiofarmgirl]

thanks goosedragon - the whole thing reminded me of a bunch of elephants when they loose one of their own. it was a while between the time i found him and when we buried him and they hung around where i put the little body. i'll know better next time (hope there isnt one!) and give them more time... but your thought really helped. our momma goose is really old (almost 8??) and i didnt think she'd make it thru the winter. this might just do her in.

but for now the momma has calmed down and we put everyone up for the nite. but they spent a lot of time hanging around our momma duck and her babies so we'll keep an eye on that especially tomorrow. if i were to humanize our gander i'd say he was trying to get a new baby for the momma.

sorry to hear about your gander - i have a love/hate relationship with mine (see my signature).. but i got a gate for our drive b/c he kept heading toward the road. my fear was that he'd get hit by a car.

thanks again for the thoughts

 

[Windchyme]

Quote:
I think it is a GOOD idea. Rather then have them wondering where a flock mate went give them time to understand that it is gone. They are so bonded into their flocks it makes sense to me.

 

[chickenlittle32]

Very good idea...another thing to consider is that after she realizes its dead...she may start laying another clutch of eggs...How soon before your friend has goslings?

 

[Cottage Rose]

So sorry to hear of your loss.

Its always so sad when something like that happens.
Your mama goose will get over it.
Getting her a replacement gosling might not be a good idea.
There's always the possibility that she won't accept it.
Give her a few days.
Animals have a way of moving on much faster than we humans.