Topic of the Week - Raising and caring for goslings

[sumi]

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This week I would like to hear your thoughts and practices on raising and caring for goslings. Whether it's artificial or with a mother. Specifically:

- For brooder raised goslings: What are the brooder requirements?
- What is the best food for growing goslings?
- At what age can brooder-raised goslings be moved outside?

Anything you would like to add.

Pic by @wildpeas​

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[Henrik Petersson]

- At what age are they weaned?
- Are adult geese mean to goslings?
- Are older goslings mean to younger ones?
- At what age can you tell the difference between the sexes, and how?
- At what age do you need to start thinking about the ratio between ganders and females?

 

[K813ZRA]

 

[henaynei]

Have a lone gander (I think) under a year old - Toulouse. Haven’t bothered to sex him/her yet...until recently it’s been too cold or wet for both of us to investigate that.
I think I read somewhere they have special nutritional needs for their skeletons but Henry/etta shuns greens I provide: sprouted barley, kale, lettuce, cabbage, mustard greens - during this winter. He regularly only eats the soaked organic layer feed I use for the chickens. He’ll take a bite of greens or cut fruit but seems to largely ignore the greens.
And he has obvious difficulty going up ramp to coop and seems to some times limp and seems to have always preferred lying down to walking even as very young gosling. He did eat greens as a gosling.
S/He is doing good job alarm goose.

 

[SunshineMary]

The easiest way to brood them is with the goose (if she will sit). Goslings are very messy to raise in a brooder, though I have done it a number of times. You just have to change bedding OFTEN.

Our gander Uncle Waldo has always been very protective of and careful with both incubated/brooder–raised goslings as well as the ones his goose hatched herself. He is a great flock leader; he really took over the training of all the goslings much more so than the goose.

 

[DianaMallory]

I got a pair of goslings for my birthday, I will be picking them up April 4th. I know very little about them, so I can't wait to read more here. One of my big questions I have right now is it okay to brood them with my meat chicks I will be hatching soon?

 

[SunshineMary]

It is advisable to supplement goslings' diet with Brewer's yeast if you are raising them in a brooder. They require additional niacin or they are prone to develop problems with their legs, which can cause lameness. You can purchase a canister of brewer's yeast on Amazon for $10-15. Sprinkle it over their feed.

One of my big questions I have right now is it okay to brood them with my meat chicks I will be hatching soon?

I advise keeping them separate. Goslings are VERY messy with their water and have lots of wet poo. You will need to change their bedding much more frequently than you do the chicks'. Here is a short video I made on how to make a no-mess waterer:

 

[ChickNanny13]

Great idea!

 

[poultry person]

Goslings are the best! We raised three Embden goslings they'ed follow us around (and poop everywhere)! Their names are Captain, Jack, and Sparrow (Captain recently died).
Them as goslings and geese:

 

[henaynei]

I got a pair of goslings for my birthday, I will be picking them up April 4th. I know very little about them, so I can't wait to read more here. One of my big questions I have right now is it okay to brood them with my meat chicks I will be hatching soon?

I brooded mine with my dual purpose chicks last year the chicks bullied him (walked and roosted and pecked-no blood) until he got bigger than they.