more adventrures in homesteading......a goose in my bra - FaunaClassifieds
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General BS forum I guess anything is fair game in here. Just watch the subject matter doesn't get carried away too much.

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Old 11-07-2008, 04:37 PM   #1
Cheryl Marchek AKA JM
more adventrures in homesteading......a goose in my bra

I said I wouldn't let myself get attached to another one~ but it may be too late

When I hatched my very first eggs last Jan I had tremendous beginners luck. Seemed like I could hatch anything in those little table top incubators. I even hatched an emu in one!! (that sad story is why I told myself I would not turn another into a pet).

But~ my beginners luck has run it's course and I've been pulling fully devoloped babies that either pipped and died or failed to pip at all and died from the incubators for a while now. I've tried turning them by hand and using the egg turner~ more humidity~ less humidity~ more heat~ less heat......The only thing I'm sure of is it's not the parent birds fault since the Turkey hen hatched 6 baby ducks from the same parents I can't get live hatchlings from. So~ I've stopped putting eggs in the incubators. I've ordered the turbo fan kits and new therm wafers for them~ and as soon as everything in them either hatches or dies I'll bleach them out and start again.

So~ for weeks I've been pulling dead babies. On the 5th the first two goose eggs were due to hatch. One was already dead (you can tell when you candle) but I could hear the other squalling. He'd not even cracked his shell. I knew he was gonna die. So..........
I opened the egg.
I couldn't stand listening to his squal and I knew he was dieing in an egg he couldn't get out of for some reason.

The baby is alive~ but it's just not "right". I think it's blind (white spots on it's eyes) and it's legs don't work at all. It's not spraddle legged~ but it's feet are curled and weak. So~ I put braces on it's feet to open up the toes (wire and scotch tape braces like I saw on a website) and I built a little goose traction device for it



That worked pretty well for an hour~ but then he got strong enough to flip himself out of the traction device and he winds up on his back~ squaling and unable to right himself on his weak legs and braced feet. So~ I came up with a place I could put him~ keep him upright~ and be sure he was safe while both my hands are free to do my chores......................

How does one avoid becoming emotionally attached to goose in her bra???


He's two days old now~ won't eat or drink (I offer several times a day) and can't walk. I do NOT need to be emotionally attached to the crippled goose......but it may be too late.
 
Old 11-07-2008, 06:19 PM   #2
Wolfy-hound
Awww... I know how easy it is to get attached, especially to a "special needs" animal.
My aunt recently built a sling for a injured chicken that hung from bungee cord.. so it could walk around supported.. she hung the thing on the porch so it could look outside. I've tied splint, supports, and all sorts of off devices onto injured/misformed animals, in attempts to help them. Sometimes it works, and sometimes it doesn't. All you can do is to try.
HUGS.
 
Old 11-07-2008, 08:47 PM   #3
kellysballs
I hope you get your incubator issue worked out. I know it can be tough losing little guys for no apparent reason. I volunteer at The Bird Rescue Center in New Smyrna Beach. We lose lots of birds every baby bird season for no apparent reason. All we can do is our best and know that all the effort is worth it for the guys who do survive and fly away. I also tell my self that if when I die I would like to be full warm and safe like the little birds at BRC, instead of cold hungry and scared like they were before they came to us.

I know your situation is a little different but if this little guy makes it every thing you have done will be worth it and if he doesn't take solice in the fact that he was comfortable, warm and felt safe when he went.

Good Luck!
 
Old 11-07-2008, 09:42 PM   #4
TheFragginDragon
I wish you the best of luck Cheryl. Don't get down on yourself for getting attached, as I think you would be denying your true nature if you didn't get attached in some way.
 
Old 11-08-2008, 10:53 AM   #5
Cat_72
Awwww Cheryl.

I know often my baby geese won't eat or drink for a couple of days after they hatch, hopefully your guy will perk up and decide to soon.

Usually, if the babies can't get out of the eggs, it's becuae the humidity has been too low. Do you mist the duck and goose eggs, especially in the few days before hatch?

I've had baby kittens and puppies in my bra, but never goslings....I have a feeling that could get mighty mesy if he gets to eating and drinking, lol.

Best of luck, lady.
 
Old 11-08-2008, 10:00 PM   #6
John E Dove
Ms. Marchek,
Your post stirs up so many emotions.
We have been keeping poultry (geese, ducks, chicken and turkeys) for 20 years and well know the heart break of the chicks and poults who do not make it or are born with birth defects. We even have a blind chicken named Henny Peepers, who was hatched blind yet remained undetected until we moved her and her siblings out to the chicken coop. She now has a 6 X 2 X 2 pen in our living room and is one of the most personable chickens I have ever had.
From experience I want to warn you on the odds against the survival of a lone gossling, even a fully healthy one, but there is that other side of me that shows up every spring during the hatching season which says never give up just be prepared for the loss.
If you really want to hatch poultry though I'd suggest spending the $50 for one of the cheap poulty incubators that automatically change the egg position. I see them offered in the feed store every spring and I know from experience they work reasonably well. I think the "Little Giant" brand can be purchased with the auto turner. Of course they never turn them completely but that is not required for sucessful hatching.
 
Old 11-09-2008, 10:49 AM   #7
Cheryl Marchek AKA JM
Thanks John. The baby did not make it. His little legs could not support him even after the leg braces~ and he would not eat. He was gone this morning. Hate that.

I've got an egg turner. I think my current hatching problems are a combination of things. All three of my incubators are still air incubators~ thermal air ones move the humidity and heat better for poultry so I have ordered thermal air fans for two on my incubators. My incubators are old and the wafers may not be holding my temps properly so I have ordered new wafers for the two I am getting the fans for. Humidity may be the issue as the babies are not getting out of the eggs~ so even though the reseviours are full I am spraying the 4 goose eggs still in the last incubator at each turn (Have to hand turn the goose eggs~ they are too large for my egg turner). I may have picked up a bacteria in my incubators that is killing the babies so I have stopped putting eggs in the incubators and bleached the empty ones~ the one that still has goose eggs in it will be bleached on the 20th when the last egg either dies or hatches. Once I have them all bleached~ the new fans and wafers in the two I will set some chicken eggs to see if the problem is solved. If not~ I'll keep working at it~ I really want to hatch several of the Turkey, Goose and duck eggs this spring.

On the bright side~ the last four duck eggs were due to hatch on the 8th. On the seventh one was dead and one had made a small crack in it's shell. I went ahead and cracked the shell without tearing the membrane and picked out the shell in a circle around the three live ones. They succeeded in getting out of the membranes and seem fine today~ they can walk, see, eat and drink~ they got out of the eggs before it was too late. I think this ads to the theory that humidity may be my problem~ so again with spraying the last 4 goose eggs at every turn.
 

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