A Gosling Hatches at My Farm

March 30, 2023

It's always such a joy when we have babies at the farm growing and thriving. Among the newest residents is a fluffy week-old gosling. It's doing so well - eating, drinking, and enjoying all the sights and sounds of its new surroundings.

As many of you know, I’ve had Pomeranian guard geese for many years. I also have Sebastopol geese, Toulouse geese, Chinese geese, and Brown African geese. Right now, it's breeding season for all the waterfowl. Once an egg is laid, it is placed in a special incubator set-up in my stable feed room. The incubation period for goose eggs varies slightly by breed. Some eggs may start pipping after 28-days, while eggs from larger birds may take up to 35-days. This gosling is the first of several eggs to hatch, and already he is the most popular bird in our brooder.

Enjoy these photos.

: The goose eggs are kept in this Brinsea incubator. Several more goose eggs are waiting. Eggs are brought up and placed in the incubator the day they are laid. Here, they will be safe from other birds and closely monitored until they hatch.

: Hard to see through the cover, but whenever an egg comes up from the coop, we label it with the kind of egg it is and the date it was placed in the machine, so we can gage approximately when it will hatch.

: When it comes close to the end of the incubation period, it is placed in this hatcher from GQF Manufacturing, Inc., where the egg can hatch safely and where goslings and chicks can stay until they are dry and can move into a brooder.

: And here is our first gosling. At just a day old, it has already had many, many visitors.

: Once hatched, the gosling is moved to a cage in the same room. It will stay here for a few weeks. The cage has plenty of food and lots of fresh water that is changed several times a day.

: A few days later, our gosling is walking around very steadily watching all the activity in the room.

: It is also making new friends. Here it is with a chick. Our brooder is also home to about a dozen fluffy chicks, but these two are always together.

: Helen Peparo is my stable manager, but she also oversees the care of my chickens, peafowl, and geese. She is extremely knowledgeable and passionate about animals.

: Here is our gosling resting in the cage next to one of our Silkie chicks. The photo looks a bit red because of the heat lamp in the cage. Very young chicks and goslings need constant monitoring until they are at least a month old. They require an air temperature of 95 degrees during the first week, 90 degrees the second week, and so on – going down by around five degrees per week until they’re ready to transition to the coop.

: Here is the heat lamp suspended about a foot and a half above the center of the cage. These babies also have ample feeders and waterers.

: Some of my other chicks include these cochins. All the babies are up and about and playing and interacting with each other.

: This chick is watching our camera from behind the feeder. They are all very alert and curious.

: Our gosling is also growing quickly every day. It has bright, clean eyes – a sign of good health in a bird. This gosling is very energetic and already flapping its wings.

: This gosling is also 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.

: Here is my operations manager, Stephanie Lofaro. Her office is just across the cobblestone courtyard. She enjoys checking in on our young residents whenever she can.

: And just outside is the goose pen, where 13 adult geese reside. These are two Pomeranian guard geese – always sounding off their “alarms” as soon as visitors arrive.

: Here are two Sebastopol geese and two Chinese geese.

: From mid-winter to early spring, it’s mating season for the waterfowl. Because geese prefer to mate in water, it is safer to provide them with shallow containers. They seem to like them.