Newer laptop, forgive me if I scream a few times. I get random glitches when I type for too long.
So we've been incubating eggs for a while now and this is the first year that I've had a ton of issues with it. Two sets of eggs have died within the shell before I could even sneak them under a mama goose. Then there was the chicken, who would not stop being broody, so we stuck a duck egg under her. So now we have Dobby the duck with a hen as it's mom. It's working out fine right now, even though the Dobby is almost as big as his/her mom and s/he's only 3 weeks old.
We honestly didn't think she'd sit long enough to hatch a baby duck. That's at least a week more brooding time than a chicken. But she did and the only assistance we gave her was to move her nest
down to the lower level when the duck was hatched so it could get out easily.
They wander around and I make sure there are puddles for the little one to drink and wash from. Now the duck is big enough to jump into the sled we turned into a pool, so I'm happy to see her/him washing while Mama is around scratching for food. The difference in species doesn't seem to make any problems.
So we've had 3 goose girls in the coop playing hot potato with their eggs. Georgie and her daughters Minerva and Pavarti have nests in there and when one goes out, the other sits on the nest but leaves another one open. The eggs get cold and any hope of a baby goes with that egg freezing.
I decided to start candling the eggs when they do that, and any viable ones go into the incubator. We had one that internally pipped a few days ago, so I popped it under Carrie, who is brooding in the garage. She's been brooding the longest and has been consistent. The egg hatched last night, and this morning the baby was out seeing the world. Daddy Aberforth has been his very attentive self.
We've had to put barriers between him and other brooding mamas because he keeps chasing them out of the garage. So there's a concrete block here, bale of straw there, and the girls are hidden from Ab's wrath as Daddy.
I am still surprised at the role that males take in raising their kids within the realm of geese. Right now, Ron has his kids out every day with Auntie Luna as the kids' Mom has adopted another nest full of eggs and has gone broody again. Then Auntie Eleanor joined her.
So every day, Daddy Ron takes Remus and Nymphadora out and they graze grass, take baths and wander around together. Ron takes his role quite seriously. I've remarked to Dave that it's great that Ron has finally found his 'cojones' so to speak. He was quite the neurotic dude there for a while.
One day soon we have to wrap up Nymphadora's wing as she has angel-wing. It's simple to fix, IF and that's a big IF you can keep the wrappings on them for at least 3 days, 4 is best. Then the wing is trained to go where it should and she'll have no problem with it.
Knitting wise: I've graduated from washcloths to burp cloths. Well, actually we're using them on the arms of our recliners to keep them nice and pretty. I've discovered Hobby Lobby's "I love this cotton" which is the SOFTEST cotton I've ever worked with. Right now, my local store has some colorways on clearance for under $2 so I'm snagging them while I'm in town selling plasma. It's kind of a reward for buckling down and dealing with the pain of venipuncture twice a week. Photos later.
We honestly didn't think she'd sit long enough to hatch a baby duck. That's at least a week more brooding time than a chicken. But she did and the only assistance we gave her was to move her nest
down to the lower level when the duck was hatched so it could get out easily.
They wander around and I make sure there are puddles for the little one to drink and wash from. Now the duck is big enough to jump into the sled we turned into a pool, so I'm happy to see her/him washing while Mama is around scratching for food. The difference in species doesn't seem to make any problems.
So we've had 3 goose girls in the coop playing hot potato with their eggs. Georgie and her daughters Minerva and Pavarti have nests in there and when one goes out, the other sits on the nest but leaves another one open. The eggs get cold and any hope of a baby goes with that egg freezing. I decided to start candling the eggs when they do that, and any viable ones go into the incubator. We had one that internally pipped a few days ago, so I popped it under Carrie, who is brooding in the garage. She's been brooding the longest and has been consistent. The egg hatched last night, and this morning the baby was out seeing the world. Daddy Aberforth has been his very attentive self.
We've had to put barriers between him and other brooding mamas because he keeps chasing them out of the garage. So there's a concrete block here, bale of straw there, and the girls are hidden from Ab's wrath as Daddy.
I am still surprised at the role that males take in raising their kids within the realm of geese. Right now, Ron has his kids out every day with Auntie Luna as the kids' Mom has adopted another nest full of eggs and has gone broody again. Then Auntie Eleanor joined her.So every day, Daddy Ron takes Remus and Nymphadora out and they graze grass, take baths and wander around together. Ron takes his role quite seriously. I've remarked to Dave that it's great that Ron has finally found his 'cojones' so to speak. He was quite the neurotic dude there for a while.
One day soon we have to wrap up Nymphadora's wing as she has angel-wing. It's simple to fix, IF and that's a big IF you can keep the wrappings on them for at least 3 days, 4 is best. Then the wing is trained to go where it should and she'll have no problem with it.
Knitting wise: I've graduated from washcloths to burp cloths. Well, actually we're using them on the arms of our recliners to keep them nice and pretty. I've discovered Hobby Lobby's "I love this cotton" which is the SOFTEST cotton I've ever worked with. Right now, my local store has some colorways on clearance for under $2 so I'm snagging them while I'm in town selling plasma. It's kind of a reward for buckling down and dealing with the pain of venipuncture twice a week. Photos later.
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