Taking care of a gosling: It’s harder then you would think.

Well we had another full day, full of tag team baby sitting the gosling and helping the baby regulate its temp. Who knew these guys are so helpless after they hatch.

They can’t walk or even move for almost two days, so they can’t regulate right away. But they can pant when hot or peep to alert you they are uncomfortable.

So for the past two days @alaskatactical and I have been tag teaming the gosling. Helping the baby regulate its body temp and strengthen their legs.
So we made a makeshift incubator with a heating pad and several layers of towels.

We checked on the baby ever 15 mins for breathing and heat.

While the gosling was still working on balance, I set up the play pen for the ducklings and let them play. While they where playing I changed their brooder box to the larger one.

We finally where able to get the baby to drink water and eat early today. The gosling did best with the duckling showing them how it’s done. It encouraged leg movement, strengthened the neck, and helped with beak-eye cordnation.

But there seemed to a problem. The gosling was doing the wiggle butt and squat for pooping, but nothing happened. The baby was backed up. Butt fuzz got stuck. So I put the baby in a bowl of warm water and used a tooth brush to break the fuzzies loose. Took a few dunkings and scrubs to make sure it was all clear.

• Make sure you check your ducklings/goslings/chicks for blockages, it can kill them. Poop is a good thing, check bottoms and count poops •

Once I got the blockage cleared and the baby dry it didn’t take long for them to pass waste. Yay!!! Then a half hour later more, and so on. The first one was like meconium, black and sticky. Then the next clear and a small about of green, then a small amount of green and bubbles. The amount of green started to increase at around the fifth poo of the day, and the bubbles went away too. I made sure everyone was drinking electrolyte and probiotic water.

Since we got the ducklings in their new box, and the gosling started to show great signs of walking , running and hoping today. We decided that we needed to get a better light for the brooder box so everyone can share. We looked into ceramic heat lights as an option, it is also suppose to help maintain healthy light cycles.
So we needed to go to town. Not just for a light, but also for feed.
So I had to get the babies box ready to go.

I used hand warmers under the towels for the heat source, I also grabbed extras incase we had a dud. Brought some food, water and silicone bowls for the food and water.

The trip took longer then expected. A ceramic heat light is harder to find then you would think. We eventually went to PetCo and found one for $40, that’s a bit much so we got a ten dallor 150 watt reptile heat light for a smaller heat light we have.
Plus light cycles are very confusing this far north, we can have close to 24 hours of day light in the summer.

The big brooder box is 18.5 inches tall, so the temp should be between 77° to 82°F according to the bulb box. Since the heat light is on one side they have different stages of heat. Their food and water are on the cooler side.

Good News:
The baby goat on splints is doing great! She even went outside and came back in the coop. She is eating well from mama too.

My seeds are already sprouting.

I have also been able to find more potato buckets and painted them, I also found my potting soil.

There is hardly any more snow or ice in the drive way.

And Wasilla is banning plastic bags! 💗👍

This is a vacant lot in Wasilla, all the white spots in the photo are plastic bags. Photo taken today.

Bad News:

Now the sad news. The other baby goat, a boy, was smothered while we went to town.

I don’t think I can do this with the goats much longer. I have suffered my own losses, then to see this happen over any over again is becoming to much. 💔

This is our Life in Alaska

All photos and content are our own. Please do not use any part of this post without our expressed permission. Thanks for not being a dick