31 days later

 

 

 

 

 I spotted a fragment of shell when checking on the feed  for the sitting hen.  One of the eggs was very sloshy  so it was removed . And we have 2 goslings 

 So we will move them on and put them into a bigger run out on the grass. 

One goose a-laying

 We have restricted the geese to a lawn as part of the Bird flu restrictions.  

Weve found a nest 

And it has some eggs in it . 

 Previous attempts at hatching geese  have been unsuccessful

So weve  created  a pen and some netting to stop predators getting at the eggs whne the goose is not sitting. 

5 eggs so far . Once she starts sitting on them , incubation period is 30 days. 

The geese are coming

Well, hatching , actually

We've been rescuing goose eggs from the nest  and when we had collected a few, put them in the incubator.  And after a month, one of them has started to hatch

Google says it can take 3 days for a goose to exit the shell. So check back on thursday

one and ???one more

The first gosling emerged here. 48 hrs later there is still only one that we can see.

So  we've risked the pecking , and had a look.

Of the remaining 2 eggs, one is obviously infertile, and we can hear the sloshing sloshing sounds of it contents when gently shaken.

And the other ?

Well we aren't sure. The risk of leaving the egg where it is is that the hen will get fed up andjust abandon it. So we are going to give it another 48 hours or so .

sadly,again

We were told geese aren't particularly good mothers.

And I found only one of the goslings  up and about this  afternoon.  There were 2 running around at lunchtime

the other one had died lying at the side of the run.  No idea what had  happened to it .

Trodden on by the mother and trapped perhaps?
fallen in the dish of water and drowned ?

Geese and a parenting fail

We spotted the goslings a few days ago , and have been keeping an eye on them from a distance.

the adults went off to have a splash in a falt bit of the burn.

and the goslings tried to follow - and got stuck between the clumps of grass, and unablt to get out.

  So they clearly can't be left to their own devices.

One of the chick runs has been brought  out of storage .

 And at least the  goose and the goslings wont go their separate ways  until the little ones are a bit bigfger and can fend for themselves .

New arrivals

It started here

When we looked there were  still unhatched eggs under her .

We will hopefully know more over the next couple of days