The goose heart starts beating before it hatches, as I found out listening to an egg with a contact microphone
[audio:http://www.the-oak-tree.co.uk/blog/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/130515_gooseheart-in-shell_LS100967.mp3|titles=gooseheart]So far we have 14 baby goslings, and two eggs from the final batch (from our own breeding geese) are starting to “pip” (break through the shell, as you can see in the photo of the egg on the microphone above).
Joanne picks grass grass for the younger ones, who are still inside in a special insulated and heated pen, several times a day from our back garden.
And here is the sound of baby geese with a whole load of fresh grass – life doesn’t get better than this!!
[audio:http://www.the-oak-tree.co.uk/blog/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/130515_goslings_LS100969.mp3|titles=goslings feeding]They have baby gosling crumbs to eat too, but they prefer grass!
Meanwhile the eldest of our goslings, who are growing up fast, went outside in our back garden for the first time today! They are in a specially heated and glass covered home and run (they are still little!) but they just loved picking their own fresh grass…