Greater Magellan developments

Yay! After a difficult incubation period with cracked eggs and an abandoning mum, Mrs. Magellan's eggs finally hatched in our incubators to produce 5 wonderful goslings...

These little stripy balls hatched out to great applause from duckery staff after the nail-varnish repairs on their eggs proved successful. Their dark eye patches give them a menacing air, but their activities are far from illicit... After 2 days under a heat lamp recovering from their hatch, they were put outside with a group of 5 Abyssinian blue-winged geese where they enjoy nibbling grass seeds, performing a bit of leg ballet, and general laziness. Unless young geese are put to grass very quickly indeed they will end up tucking into each other and not least the polyester carpet so strong is their innate desire to graze! As such then these 5 babes found themselves out in the early June drizzle at just three days old for their first taste of Gloucestershire.

As is typical with South American Sheldgeese, these guys will grow very slowly indeed. Whereas true geese species such as Snow geese can hatch and fly away within 70 days, Sheldgeese can take more like 5 months! As non-migrants their feather growth reflects this, their gorgeous stripy feathers covering the body and neck first, leaving the little stumpy wings well and truly until last! I am crossing my fingers for a tasty 2:3 ratio...

Mum and Dad have since been placed into a pen on Tommy's Loopway, so head on down and whisper quietly that their goslings are doing absolutely fine :)

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