A Gosling at My Farm

March 26, 2019

My fluffy two-day old gosling is doing so well - eating, drinking, and enjoying all the sights and sounds of its new surroundings.

If you follow my Instagram page @marthastewart48, you may have seen the image I posted shortly after the gosling hatched. Right now, it is being kept in my kitchen, where it can be closely monitored until it is big enough to join the other waterfowl. As many of you know, I’ve had Pomeranian guard geese for many years. They keep watch over my chickens. I also have five Sebastopol geese and two Toulouse geese. They all get along extremely well and can always be found together in the coop.

Here are some photos - enjoy.

: Here is the gosling in its warm enclosure in my Winter House kitchen. At just a couple of days old, it has already had many, many visitors.

: The gosling hatched in this incubator. Several more goose eggs are waiting. The actual period of incubation varies – some eggs from the lighter breeds may start pipping after 28-days, while eggs from the larger breeds may take 35-days, and it may take up to three-days for hatching to be completed.

: Once hatched, the gosling was moved to this large bin under an essential heat lamp. Here, it has plenty of food and lots of fresh water that is changed several times a day.

: This gosling is very curious and very alert.

: Here it is stretching its neck to see all the activity.

: This gosling is now eating very well. It will eat starter food for several weeks. Afterward, it will get a pelleted growing food along with cracked corn and other grains.

: It has bright, clean eyes – a sign of good health in a bird. This gosling is also very energetic and already walking around very steadily.

: This is where my chickens and geese live – in the large yard next to my vegetable gardens. I keep the entire space completely netted to protect all the birds from predators.

: Here are my two Pomeranian guard geese – always sounding off their “alarms” as soon as visitors arrive.

: These are three of my five Sebastopol geese. I got these Sebastopols from breeder Brian Tallman in Pine Plains, New York. The Sebastopol goose originated in southeastern Europe and is named after the Russian city.

: My Sebastopols are still under a year old, but they will weigh 12 to 14 pounds each when fully mature and have even longer more frizzled feathers than they do now.

: The Sebastopol goose is also referred to as a Danubian goose. The name ‘Danubian’ was first used for the breed in 1863 Ireland. The tan goose on the far left is one of my two Toulouse geese I got from the this year’s Northeastern Poultry Congress. The Toulouse is a French breed of large domestic goose, originally from the area of Toulouse in southwestern France. Look closely and you can see that this goose breed has a dewlap – a longitudinal flap of skin that hangs beneath the lower jaw or neck.

: This Toulouse has a beautiful buff coloring, but it also comes in white and gray. On Sebastopols, their feathers lay loosely, so they cannot fly, but they will flutter their wings.

: Sebastopols are all white, but juveniles may also have a few gray feathers, which will fade to white as it matures.

: My dear Pomeranian geese are never far. Thanks to their loud honks, geese make excellent guardians for my chickens. They can scare off many predators that otherwise would bother the hens, and they are known to be great at spotting aerial predators, such as hawks.

: The geese like to huddle together in this coop, which is kept very dry and free from drafts. We built a couple of these in the chicken yard, so they can have their own shelters separate from the chickens.

: Do you know… a goose is actually the term for female geese, male geese are called ganders. A group of geese on land or in water is a gaggle, while in the air they are called a skein, a team or a wedge.

: The Pomeranian goose, also known as the Rügener goose, is a breed developed by Northern German farmers of Pomerania in the 1500s. Pomeranian Geese average 16 pounds in weight, have flattened heads, stout necks, prominent breasts, and rounded bodies.

: During the colder months, I allow the birds access to the adjacent vegetable gardens so they can fertilize the soil. They provide a tremendous nitrogen source to the area, and are champions of turning the soil, and eliminating the weeds.

: The Toulouse, on the left, is a huge bird averaging 20 to 26-pounds when full-grown. They also have stout bills, large heads and moderately long necks that are thick and nearly straight – very different in comparison to the smaller frame of the Sebastopol, which is considered a medium sized breed.