First mating problems etc.

[chris87]

I am a beginner rand have an unrelated May 2014 hatched pair of geese and have 3 questions please, the answers of which I cannot find in my books.

1) If I take some eggs from the laying goose and incubate them what is likely to happen when I return them to the goose's field?

2) The field is re-sown with "Pony Paddock seed" but I have an unpalatable weed problem, dare I spot treat these weeds with selective weed killer or do I need to hand weed. I have only got this one field so can't re-site them for a few weeks.

3)The vet gave me a wormer to put in the water pot but the geese seem to throw most of it over themselves despite having a separate bath, can I give them the undiluted wormer orally by syringe please?

 

[dorsetduckowner]

Hiya

Welcome.

Question one: Do you mean when you return the goslings to the field in regard to how the adults behave toward them? What breed are your geese?

Question two: I would hand weed, however many herbicides are safe for animals, but i would check with the company specifically before you use them. Geese are grazers and usually only graze short grass, but check first.

Question three. I would prefer to worm with Flubenvet. Don't give them the wormer by syringe, you will likely overdose them.


zo
x

 

[Marigold]

What kind of weeds are you dealing with? If they're unpalatable to geese, and thus not eaten, the problem wouldn't seem to be poisoning, but if there are a lot of weeds it would of course reduce the grass available. Not all weeds are poisonous, except perhaps ragwort, which can be pulled up quite easily by hand. Acorns from an overhanging oak could be a problem maybe, I know they're poisonous to sheep and horses, as is yew of course. Tap-rooted ones like burdock or hogweed are much more challenging than nettles, for example, which are harmless but a nuisance, but can be pulled out and then kept cut until they disappear. Do you mow the field at all, or just rely on the geese to keep it down?
Another way of dealing with single weeds is to use a Weed Wand, ie a small gas powered flame thrower that burns the weed without using herbicides. Depends a bit on the scale of the problem - weed wands do take a while to burn a weed right down and are not so effective on tap-rooted weeds. I use mine mainly for starting bonfires, it's brilliant for this.
Could you perhaps divide the field and treat one half at a time, spot-using an effective herbicide such as Roundup? I hate using thus sort of thing but if correctly applied it will deal with deep- rooted weeds more effectively than trying to dig them up. Dividing the field could also rest and rotate the grazing for you.

Had you considered just letting them try to rear a brood themselves? Not sure if this would be a bit difficult for them as they're so young. I wonder if you've found the sections about geese on the Poultrykeeper website? This link about hatching eggs might interest you. It says that it s not so easy to hatch goose eggs in an incubator and it sounds a lot more fun to do it the natural way!

http://poultrykeeper.com/incubation-and-hatching-geese/

 

[chris87]

Thanks very much for all the info, I have printed it down.

 

[chris87]

To dorset duck owner..........Re Q 1 The gander is Embden type and the goose Toulouse.......... yes, 3 weeks (or less if you suggest) after any incubator success I was contemplating returning the goslings to their parents.

Q 3 I was going to give them the dose stated on the pack via syringe so avoiding overdose but of course it would be undiluted!

 

[dorsetduckowner]

Unless your geese are grelag or canadian it is unlikely they will accept a gosling they have not hatched themselves and even then they need to be mixed with an existing group of goslings. The goslings at that age will still need brooding so you will need to raise them yourself until adult before you let them mix with the adults.
I think you need to speak to your vet about the worming dose, but I syringing a goose isn't easy, you may get some down the windpipe. Unless you have tube fed before I would opt for a different wormer...
zo
x

 

[chris87]

Thanks very much for that

 

[chris87]

Hi again, I have decided after your advice above, not to reintroduce any incubator hatched goslings to their parents but have other questions I'm afraid. I hear that Toulouse geese, like mine is, can lay 30/40 eggs but can sit on between 8 to 12 eggs what happens when they have got their full sitting compliment do they stop laying or just continue? If they continue is it good to remove the latest eggs. If they stop laying do they recommence after hatching and if so how long after

 

[dorsetduckowner]

Hello
I am not sure about Touloose geese, but I have Roman geese and they usually lay about 10-16 and then incubate them. You sometimes get more than one goose laying in one nest and then both mums try and share. usually once they have laid a clutch they don't lay anymore.

Mine lay more than one clutch as i remove the eggs every couple of days (we don't want goslings) so I would say they probably lay a lot more, until they eventually give up and abandon the nest.

perhaps the figure of 30 eggs is if they lay 2 clutches.

zo
x