Need up to 30 seconds to load.
[Music]
hey guys it's Morgan gold shot farm and
I wanted to make a video to just give
you six quick tips that you should be
thinking about if you are trying to brew
goslings or ducklings especially if
you're doing it your first time but even
if you've done it before there might be
a couple of things that you find useful
in this video so I hope this helps you
are so stinking adorable little Gosling
yeah hey how's it going so tip number
one is you need to be thinking about the
safety of your goslings and ducklings
above all else these little ones are
adorable and cute and funny
they're completely defenseless they're
relying on you to protect them keep them
warm keep them safe keep them fed and so
as you're thinking about getting little
birds like this know that that's a
tremendous amount of responsibility and
it takes a lot of work you have to make
sure you have a brooder set up which is
keeping them warm for the first few
weeks of their lives until they get the
chance to feather out like if you look
at this one right now it's just got its
little soft baby fuzz going it doesn't
have real feathers ducks and geese can
live in very very cold temperatures but
when they're little like this they need
to be kept warm usually it's the mother
sitting on the baby birds that keep them
warm when they're when they're actually
young but if you're doing this in an
artificial setup you're going to need
heat lamps of some sort or some sort of
heating plate something to keep them
you're also going to need some sort of
protective area to keep them safe it can
be an enclosed area that you can keep
out predators we have this room here and
I've actually got them in this broken
100 gallon tank it's pretty much the
perfect space for housing a few of them
there's probably a few too many right
now but I'm going to be actually selling
a couple of these guys very shortly and
so will free up some space for the
others there's all sorts of brooding
setups that you can use I actually
recently built a shed for being able to
brood my ducklings and goslings outside
but because we're still at the edge of
winter I mean heck it just snowed here
no
in Vermont this morning I'm raising this
batch of birds here inside but really
what it comes down to it is you need to
be able to keep them at a safe
temperature it starts at about 90
degrees right when they're first born
and then it progressively lowers you
also don't want them to be too hot
either because they'll feather out much
slower which really impedes the
development of the birds the second
point I would make is that water
management is everything some of the
biggest messes and the biggest
smelliness is in the biggest health
hazards for your birds are gonna come
from water you want to keep their
bedding dry but they also need to have
access to water where they can dump
their bill into water and get a good
healthy drink that's a big part of how
waterfowl like ducks and geese actually
eat their food they actually keep it in
their bill and they swish it around and
they need that water submersion to be
able to do that you know some people try
to brood little ducklings or goslings
with like little nipple waterers that
you'd use for a chick and that actually
won't work they need to be able to dunk
their head the problem is though they
are water fowl so their inclination is
to try to go full-on swimming and go
crazy and that's not good either and so
what I've found that's work best is when
they're tiny in their in their first
couple of weeks I actually use a poultry
feeding trays and I'll fill those up
with water that way they can dunk their
heads in and get the drink they need but
they can't go any further than their
head the downside here is though that
you have a limited amount of water that
you can hold and so you need to have
several of these to be able to supply
the right amount of water for your Birds
I will also say I'm not a big fan of
waterers like this the reason is the
ducklings and goslings will splash and
make a mess in here and all the water
will drain out and then all that water
is gonna spread on your bedding and just
make a total mess it's gonna stink it
could potentially get your birds wetter
than they should be I have used these in
the past but right now at this point I'm
opposed to using this when it comes to
water the other tip I'd offer you guys
up is that I will sometimes make like a
platform or a screen and sit it over
like a piece of Tupperware or plastic to
catch the water and so when you have it
over that screen I'll usually like to
use two-by-fours and hardware cloth the
water drains through and doesn't get the
bedding or the birds nearly as wet when
they splash around with it so I strongly
advise you to use something like that
[Music]
the next tip I'd offer up is make sure
you give your baby ducks and geese some
sand or some sort of grit I usually
actually just use regular old sand it's
cheap and easy to supply what it does is
the birds will swallow it and use it as
part of their digestion so it helps them
actually break down their food better it
helps them digest better particularly
for geese it's really important geese
are eating and shredding all that grass
they need something to help them break
it down and the sand does a nice job so
what I'll usually do is I will just take
a dish like this and set it down inside
right near their food and water don't
way they have access to that as well
they can dig in and explore if they're
interested now for my next tip it's all
about the outdoors
particularly for goslings but for ducks
too the earlier you can expose them to
the outdoors the better
in fact when I built that new brooder
I've actually constructed an
outdoor area that I can let the birds go
out during certain times of the day so I
can keep them outside during the day as
they get a little bit older but bring
them back inside at night because our
temps drop below the 40s on a regular
basis but even before I'm bringing my
birds outside I will often start to feed
them grass as early as like 2 or 3 days
old the reason for this is the grass is
really their natural food and natural
part of the diet for the Gosling and
they get to break it down and shred it
it gives them something to do and so
that they're not so bored and if they
don't pick at each other nearly as much
there's also some vitamins like niacin
that are contained in some of these
plants particularly if you can get
things like dandelion greens and so
really often as I'm raising these baby
I will feed them like a handful of grass
just like this everybody's sleeping so
this might not work
hey guys something new something fun
what you're gonna find is the older that
they get the more vigorous they're gonna
eat it and as they get a little bit
older and they can get used to you
giving it to them they go crazy for it
the next tip I'd offer up is that you
should just spend time with them get
them comfortable with you the more time
you can spend with your baby birds the
more they're gonna be spending time with
you as they get older if you just leave
your birds by themselves and have them
always stay with their flock they're
just gonna always be comfortable with
their flock and they're not gonna be as
comfortable with you they might even be
afraid of you I made that mistake with
my earliest batch of ducklings that I
ever had and even as adults today they
still are terrified of me and now some
of this is a little bit dictated by the
breed and variety that you have like so
an Emden or pilgrim goose is very
affectionate and very human friendly
Indian runner khaki Campbell ducks are
much more skittish Pekin ducks are
actually pretty friendly it really
depends on the variety that you have in
terms of how they're gonna be with you
but then also how you raise them so it
is a combination of that nature and
nurture but if you spend time with them
now they will spend time with you later
now for my final tip I'm gonna have to
take you guys outside
[Music]
[Music]
[Music]
so the last tip that I would offer up
for you guys is to make sure that you
have a plan for your baby birds long
after they stopped being baby birds
where are you gonna house them how are
you gonna feed them why are you keeping
them having a sense for all these things
are really really important you know are
you gonna have your birds live on
pasture and you're gonna move them in a
mobile chicken tractor or a mobile
chicken coop of some sort are you gonna
build them a coop that's stationary and
predator proof are you gonna offer them
predator protection like my buddy Toby
over there you know thinking about those
things now while they're still small is
important because you might need to do
preparation you might need to build that
chicken tractor or build that coop make
sure you have that plan you know so for
example for me the the Gosling's that I
have inside there that I just recently
hatched out I've actually sold several
of them and so I don't actually plan to
raise all of them inside that room for
all that long I actually have a seven of
her going off farm later today if you
guys are interested in finding out what
we do here on our farm be sure to check
out this next video and also hit that
subscribe button
Peter Gould Shaw farm we're raising
geese and ducks trying to build a
sustainable farm here up in northern
Vermont and usually we like to tell some
good stories along the way so I hope you
guys follow along thanks
